Organizing for Real People, on a Real Budget (aka, a Tiny Budget)

Organizing Challenge Week 1:  To vote for me, go to Organizing Made Fun It is titled "Organizing for Real People."  I could use a few more votes!   And now, on the my post.....

Have you ever seen those fantastic organizing websites where everything is simply beautiful?  They went to the Container Store or someplace and spent a mint, then put everything away. Or they are incredibly talented with a paintbrush, and had it all finished months ago.

For the rest of us, it's not that easy.  It's not that I won't spend the money if I need to, but I prefer to do as much as I can with what I have, because one of my commitments this year is to keep working to get out of debt.  That's really important to me.

I've decided my approach to the organizing challenge is to do what I can as cheaply as I can and still improve my daily life by being organized.  There is also not a lot of time to go shopping with the challenges, or to repaint a cabinet, so unless you already have the beautiful containers and everything covered in pretty paper, just getting it done in time is a challenge.  I hope the purpose of the challenge is to get the rest of us (not the rich already organized) to get our act together and get organized.

Having said all that, here is my 90-minute office makeover.

Before: General view

Before: Printer Stand and paper supplies in drawers with outdated labels.

After: Drawers with updated labels

Printer Stand with Essential Things, all clean and nice.

After: Binders with labels on spines, matching the labels on the drawers. That fat knitting book is the one that is sitting on my desk in the before picture, and the dictionary is no longer on the floor. 

After: Top of Bookshelf.  I use the white board to reflect on current goals. Each colored stone represents an area that I have achieved.

After:  Top of Desk Hutch.  The little shelf is just a shoe-box.  Maybe in another phase I can cover it or line it with pretty paper.

I only spent 90 minutes total. I didn't get to the actual surface of the desk, but I plan to take time later this week.  The drawers in the above picture contain things I generally use by hand, not things that go with the printer--notebooks, blank cards, etc.  And the labels are in the black magazine holder because they did not fit on the bookshelves or printer stand.

I think real houses are like that; there's always something that doesn't fit all your carefully laid plans.  You do the best you can, and the main point is being able to find the things you need.