Project Organize- Pens, Pencils and glue-oh my!

How many pencils are enough for one family? 5, 10, maybe 20?  Certainly not more.  And yet we have a lot more.  How about pens?  And glue? And, you get the idea.  It is starting to feel like an office supply store around here.

Not sure why we have so many of each.  Not even sure where half of it even came from.  But I am pretty sure we have enough to last until the rapture.  I mean, really, when was the last time you remember throwing out a pencil or pen?  And yet we still buy more.  Those silly back to school sales get us every. single. time!  We don't even GO back to school here- we school year round.  And so all those supplies begin to gravitate throughout the house.  A few here, a few there, until they are everywhere.

I thought the stacking plastic bins were the answer.  And they will have to be for some items like folders and notebooks.  But they, too, seem to be multiplying and taking up more floor space than I like.  Oh, how I would love to open a closet and actually see the floor.

And so this caught my eye. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/107593878570124386/

And I have been debating it ever since.  (see why I am not a huge fan of pintrest?!  Those images call my name and then haunt my dreams!)  After a long debate with myself, I gave in, bought a $5.00 shoe organizer, and decided to give it a try.  What do you think?

Adult stuff at top, kids stuff at bottom!

For now, I have decided not to label the pockets.  I fugured we could see what was in them!  ;)

A little more floor space!  We keep the block basket handy for when little people come to visit.

In the spirit of decluttering, I will note that I did throw out a lot of old pens and dud pencils!  Even a few sparkly craft items left over from the girls that I am pretty sure the boys are NOT interested in. And now I have cleaner drawers and fewer plastic bins. 

I have even seen this done with toiletries!  What do you think???

Blessings!

Join me next week for Project Organize- Clothes!

Project Organize- A Peek in the Bedroom

It's not often I invite people I don't know into our bedroom.  Actually, not even people we do know usually.  I know that a bedroom is supposed to be a quiet refuge, a place to go to relax.  But ours- not so much.  At least not on a regular basis.  Instead it seems to be the catch all.  A place where things pile up, get stored and take up residence, whether they belong there or not.  It doesn't help that because we are in a rental home, our "office" and all that encompasses is in our bedroom as well.  Yes- desk, computer, papers, files, and more papers.  It's all in there.  And usually in disarray!

After our closet purge, I decided it was time to stop avoiding the bedroom and get busy.  I failed to take as many before shots, but here is one of what the desk typically looked like.

Pitiful, I know.  I think because this space is not on the main floor it is an area that we do not work at and so things just get stacked and forgotten.  NO MORE.  Not only did we clean it up, but we moved stuff out. 

You have got to love a shredder!  This entire black garbage bag, yes, that is the super sized one, is full of shredded papers.  I do not want to even tell you how long we have been hanging onto some unneeded paperwork.  That bag alone probably just cleared out another 20 pounds.  I kid you not.  The movers are going to love us.  Lean and mean!  haha

The second problem spot is my bench.  This is not the one that always sits at the end of our bed, but there is usually one there of some sort, depending on what house we are in.  It is always covered.  Always. 

So now it is not!

And it is going to stay that way! (It helps that our house was suddenly put on the market, but that is another story and I am determined not to go there!)

We also purged from nightstands and my dresser, even leaving an empty drawer.  Can you believe it?  Hubby's dresser is housed in the closet so it was in last week's purge.

The final result- a clean, uncluttered, retreat!

Now to keep the kids out!
Speaking of kids, see 'ya next week for the teen's closet!