Back To School Paper Clutter Organization

SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION Y’ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little man is starting school today and he couldn’t be more excited! I’m also looking forward to getting back on a solid schedule.

In order to start the school year off right I created a space to tackle all of that mail and school papers that come in our home everyday and end up filling our countertops.

Earlier this year when I began my organizing kick I created a family command center binder to eliminate paper clutter and to help manage our home better. I love our binder but the problem I found was that the binder itself was still taking up space on our counters so I started tossing ideas around on how to tweak our system.

I decided that to be able to truly get our paper clutter under control I had to get the binder off the counter. But I don’t have any free drawer space and if I put the binder out of sight I would forget about it so the best option was going to be dismantling the binder and figuring out another solution.

I searched the web for a system that would work and I finally decided on the Kvisssle Wall Magazine Rack from Ikea to hold nine file folders (9″ x 12″ I think) that I found in the Target dollar bin. I labeled them according to the papers that end up on our counters the most. They are similar to the files in our binder but they don’t take up the space.

The categories that I thought would help us the most are: artwork , school work, CSD (our school), bills, taxes, papers to be filed (that need to go up to my office into the filing cabinet), sports & medical, coupons & menus and emergency numbers. These are the things I thought would work best for us but you can chose anything that works for your family to catch those papers before they land :)

I plan on transitioning our binder to hold more of little man’s school stuff (school pictures, art work I want to keep, etc.) that isn’t as time sensitive.

I hung the folders at a height where little man can reach them so he can file his own school work and artwork when he unpacks his book bag. I also added the hook so he can hang his bag in the same space.

We don’t have a mud room or even a true entry so I think this area is really going to help us unload as soon as we get home and will eliminate anything extra our on countertops

I had an old stool sitting in a closet with a leg that had come loose so I fixed it right up with some Gorilla Glue then gave it a quick update with a little spray paint.

And of course we can’t go anywhere without our lego man in tow.

We’ve even got a new school work system in place and the beginnings of our daily scheduled. But…it’s day 1 and I’ve already broken it since I’m up late finishing this post. Well, there’s always tomorrow right?!?!

How do you keep your paper clutter under control? Do you have as many piles as I do laying around?

Now I’m headed out to drop little man off at his first day of 1st grade! I hope y’all have a wonderful week friends!

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