Organization 101

I am a bit obsessed with organizing. I have trouble thriving when things are cluttered in my life. Even something as simple as the laundry room being messy (as it is right now) leaves me feeling uneasy. I've learned to let some things go since I've had children...their closets and play areas get messy and I've learned to just let it ride until bedtime. I know in the scheme of things it is not important. However, in my own little corner of the world I find a wonderful sense of fulfillment if I can get something completely organized. I thought I would share a few projects with you that I've recently tackled:

As many of you know I take a TON of pictures. I'm not kidding when I say a TON...over 1,000 each year. Keeping these photographs organized has been a sort of stress for years. I know I could store them online, however our family loves to look through photos! I was unable to find a photo album that would hold as many pictures as I wished and I really didn't want a couple photo albums for each year. After searching the web for a solution I came across the website SendaFrame.com A fantastic website that has expandable photo albums. The one I purchased below can expand to hold up to 1,000 pictures - PERFECT! You can also have it engraved so I put our family name on it and the year. I figured I would just purchase one a year and add pictures to it as they are taken. Eva and Jaden LOVE it because they can easily look through it and I feel better that the images are protected so they are not damaged.

I purchased this binder at Target a little over a year ago and I love it. It holds ALL pertinent information in it that might be needed in an emergency. Everything from life insurance policy numbers, to credit card info, to information on our wills. It also has a place to keep track of any and all doctors, dentists, etc. that we use. It's just nice to know that in the event of an emergency (and my prayer is we never need it) all info is easily accessible in one place.

I love trying new recipes and I found that my cabinet with my recipe books was getting completely cluttered with recipes that I had torn out of magazines, copied from friends, etc. I had to find a way to keep it all organized and I surely was NOT going to re-write everything on recipe cards. My solution was to purchase an empty binder and fill it with page protectors.

Then I just slipped in all of my torn out or copied recipes and not only were they organized, but they were protected from getting dirty while I was cooking! I also used subject dividers to organize the recipes according to genre.

The other thing that is beautiful about this is that if I try a new recipe that I don't love I can just pull it out of the sleeve protector and pitch it - so easy!

I hope you find these little tricks helpful! I know that this Happy Housewife loves absolutely anything that makes our day to day life run smoother!

My Challenge: Share some of your own organization tips on your blog for us all to see too!! Let me know when you do so I can be sure to check it out!! I'm always looking for new ideas!