Thursday, January 27, 2011

"I Know Right Where You can Stick it!"

I have a weird thing about hanging stuff, by magnets on the front of the fridge, I know its weird, because I have yet to meet anyone who does not stick stuff on their fridge. I don't know why, but it is the first thing I see when I walk into my kitchen and if its covered in papers, magnets and lists, It just makes me feel cluttered. Not to mention that stuff constantly falls of, gets lost , or ends up on the floor. My kids, play with and rearrange all the magnets, nothing is straight or even, its just a mess...There must be a better way!!!

Today I am going to introduce you all to my Friend the Cork board!!


My board is 3ft by 4ft, approximately, we started with a smaller one, but out grew it. They can be pricey if you buy one new off the shelf, this one is normally 50 bucks, so I would look at goodwill, closeout stores, garage sales etc...I buy cute boarders to go abound it every 3 months or so, at the teachers store here in town,( and I get a MOPS discount too:) But that is not necessary to do, I also get the big over sized push pins so the girls can use them to hang there own things.


My Girlie's bring home hand fulls of papers, drawings, assignments etc...every day. This was not that big of a deal when it was just one daughter, now that its doubled, I had to think of a system, and this one I love!.
Here is the rule:
SAVE THE BEST, DITCH THE REST!

Go ahead and let them choose what they love most of all, put it  up on the board, with all of  the  home work, important papers,sports schedules,  book it sheets, awards, permission slips, etc...
everything will be in one place. When they bring home new things, go ahead and REPLACE something that is already up.

Now if you have sentimental kids, (like I do)...most of the pitching and replacing has to be done while they are away at school. If there is something I want to keep that no longer fits on the board, it gets 3 hole punched and put into a binder.
 1 binder per child per year of school.

 This may seem impossible for the mom who is sentimental. I have an overwhelmed girlfriend, who has a
tote per kid, filled to the top with papers, from just this year so far!! Ahh! She has 4 kids, so lets times that by 4, and just told me she needs to go buy more totes, and doesn't even have a place to store them! What?...No wonder you are overwhelmed, and don't know where to begin! Poor thing...

Here is what I suggest, get rid of anything you don't absolutely LOVE or need. When I look through the binders from last year, I know that I am looking at their best work! I don't miss anything I  threw away:)


It keeps my refrigerator doors clutter free, as well as my counter tops, table tops, desk tops, and my mind!

**If you don't have kids, you can get a smaller size and stick, important papers, to do lists, church directory, calender, grocery list, take out menus, receipts etc... and keep your counters clutter free too!
I have been using a cork board since long before I had kids!
OK...that was your Quick Tip for the day!!
~Now go De-Clutter Your Lives~




2 comments:

  1. kathy - can you come organize my fridge? I can't find it under the papers....

    Have I told you your inspiring!!!!!

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  2. yes!! When kindergarten starts, that is when the papers come flooding in!! But if you have a plan it is not problem at all~ Glad I could be of help!!
    and yes...once my refigerator was lost...and now it is found!!

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