Wednesday, November 12, 2008
How embarassing
This is a corner of our kitchen counter - dedicated to bills, magazines, cards, newspapers, and anything else we feel like propping over there. It needs help. As you can see, we attempted an IKEA wood organizer, but it only worked for a week. Part of the problem can be attributed to the fact that we get so much mail and don't take the time to go through it right away, so it starts to pile up and then we think it's appropriate to store other things on the pile {like those batteries, that lotion, and do I spy ipod headphones?!}. Any ideas for helping me out? Do I get a bigger organizer that we can put on the wall? I really want my counter space back, and at the rate we're going, I'm going to end up relinquishing my whole kitchen to mail! :)
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8 comments:
Get a tray with sides. You can just put everthing in the tray - mail, batteries, headphones, lotion - until you have time to deal with it. Corraling those things into a defined space will make the counter look much tidier.
I have trays and bowls in several spots in my house to do just that -corral things.
Move the IKEA box to your office or elsewhere. Use a decorative jar or glass to hold the scissors and pens. The vertical mail in the box makes things look busy. When it's all laying flat in a tray, it should look less jarring.
Man, after rereading what I just wrote, I sound like an Apartment Therapy know-it-all!
If this is your most concerning corner of your home, clutter-wise, then flylady.net would call it your "hot spot." She would suggest you set a timer for 3 minutes before you go to bed tonight, and clean it off. Put the cards and batteries and whatnot away. Pay the bills. Stick into that little organizer things that GO there, like pens and scissors, and possibly things you want to keep for awhile before you throw them away, like cards or letters or whatever.
After 3 minutes, STOP. Do it again tomorrow night. Pretty soon, it will be cleaned off, and the only thing to take care of each day will be the stuff you put there that day, and it will take much less than 3 minutes.
If it's not a "hot spot," and it doesn't concern you all that much, then I like Jennifer's idea! :) But I know that for me, a clean countertop feels more organized than a countertop with things I need to take care of, whether they are confined to a box or not. But it depends how YOU feel about it.
That flylady is pretty smart, yes? :)
go through the mail as you walk from the mailbox to the kitchen. my apt. and my walk is sure to be much much shorter than yours and by the time i get to the kitchen, anything that is Thomas' goes in the basket by the door, anything that is junk gets thrown in the trash, and if its mine and needs immediate attention it goes in my purse or it gets filed (i pay all my bills online so the statement just gets filed)
btw - i have those blue thank you cards ;-)
Herb said to designate your kitchen table to mail like we do! Ought to try it for 8 months like us. Problem is we are never home to look at it.
Dawn is right! The flylady is awesome! I just keep taking her words of wisdom and plugging away! I am not always succesful, so I start over again! Mail is the worst!!
ami the only one who loves mail? :)
I LOVE mail...it is the paper clutter that I cannot conquer!
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