Office Cabinet Reorganization

School has begun!

(Do you hear the cheering?)

Just before school started, hubby and I decided we really needed to get some things organized here at home.  Our home office is a little nook in the corner of our kitchen and it's kind of Grand Central Station... everyone moves through there everyday.  Papers are piled all over:  bills, coupons, important papers, kids' schoolwork and teachers' papers, etc.

If I didn't get this ready by the first day of school, I knew we were in for trouble.  (Have you ever seen the pile of paperwork that comes home on day one?  Geesh... multiply that by four, and you can practically swim in it.

Here's the cabinet over the computer last month:

I adjusted the shelves when I unpacked last year to make the bottom ones tall enough to hold books and files.  Then I unpacked all papers/binders and just piled them in.  The wooden file case on the bottom left held all important school papers that came home:  teachers' notes, PTA papers, tests/projects I wanted to keep.  

Do you see the problem?

The file barely fit in there... I had to remove the entire box to file papers (and I hate to file!)

Here's a shot, mid-organization.  The paper sorter boxes on the left are from Target.  The magazine files on the right were a buck in the Target dollar section.

Here's the left cabinet now:

The paper files are labeled to hold all kids' papers (look how many are in there ALREADY... only one week of school... geesh).  Semesterly, I'll sort through them and put the kids' papers into their "save box".  I made the tags with index cards, Cricut letters and my new LAMINATOR.  Yes, it was well worth the whopping $18 purchase at Amazon.

Here are a few standards for us:  coupon drawer holds coupons till I can sort them into the coupon binder;  change is just that... money from emptying our pockets and/or bottom of the purse :) ;  bandaids, which I thank my friend Kathleen for that idea.  How often does a child run inside with a scraped knee.  Now with Neosporin and bandages in the kitchen, it's easy to clean up instead of running up to the bathrooms.  The coupon binder is for carrying to stores.  The Box Tops box came from Target as well (dollar section!)  

And here's the right cabinet:

The top two shelves are paper sorters that hold some important binders (VBS, important numbers/papers of the family, etc.)  The third shelf down holds $1 buckets filled with kids' supplies like crayons, gluesticks, markers, etc.  With the large island, where much homework takes place, I always need these school supplies.  

The magazine files from Target on the bottom hold things like manuals, directories (can't believe how many we have:  church; old church; elementary school;  old school; each class; Bible study group; etc.), magazines, and more.  I debated turning them the other way to make it look neater, but decided I'm too lazy.  This way, I can grab the item I need if it's visible without pulling out the entire file box. I also added a little dry-erase board for any notes I need to remind myself of (why not?  It was a buck in the dollar section, too!)

The magazine files.

The buckets (sorry, had to use flash... need more lighting in this room)

In the next couple of posts, I'll show you a few other additions to the office.  :)

We are SET for school!

Bring it on!