52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 34 --Coupon Binder Re-Do

I have lost track as to what week this would be for me.  I found orgjunkie into her challenge and haven't kept up with getting something done each week.

From the start I went around my house taking photos of all the places and things that I wanted to get organized.  One of those things was to get my coupon binder going again.

Recently I bought 60 coupon binder pages from momsaves.com.  Along with my order I received a bonus of 22 Sunday coupon inserts from past weeks.  I paid $34.85 for my order with shipping.  The first thing I did was to go through the free inserts and pull out all coupons I knew I would use right away.  I came up with a total of $31, which made me feel better about what I spent.  I didn't end up using all of those coupons before they expired, but  since then I have cut out the rest of the coupons and have used a few more.

Putting together a coupon binder is no easy task.  It takes a lot of time to just cut the coupons, then there is the process of putting them in to the binder.  I did my old binder by ABC type order.  This time I chose to use categories.  I printed the coupon category pages courtesy of Rebecca from Extreme Couponing.

I am not done putting in all of my coupons.  I still have some of the abc letters to get out of my file box and in to the binder.  One problem I have run in to is that some of my sections are full and I have no more pages.   I will continue to put in all that I can however.  I still wanted to share.

I took this before photo showing my abc file box, a stack of coupons to be cut out and my "old" binder.  Also the tab divider pages I rescued from our garage sale items to use for myself.  My old binder pages were much more frugal as I made them myself with old page protectors I had already around the house.   I also used gallon size ziploc bags.  I sewed (by hand) across different ways and cut openings.  Now that I'm thinking about it, probably not all that frugal as I know that I had to buy the ziploc bags.  I've not used my binder for so long that the coupons that were left inside of it expired in 2009.

Here is what I have now.  I can't wait for my first chance to go shopping and carry my notebook with me.  I would like to have a zippered binder, but in pricing them I didn't see anything that I could, or wanted to afford.  I'm hoping to find one cheap at a yard sale before the season is over.  I will be taking the binder in the car with me every time I leave the house because you never know when a bargain will come along that you didn't expect.

I am linking this post up at orgjunkie.com

 

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 30 (Week 7 for Me)

I say week 7 for me, but the first week I didn't complete anything.  I also didn't complete anything last week.
With my wedding tomorrow evening I wouldn't have completed anything this week, except for the fact that we are having company over all throughout the day tomorrow.

One of my projects was to clean off Steve's desk.  Let's bear this in mind.  We had a drawer in the hallway with nothing in it yet.  That drawer now has all those misc. papers in it that you see in the before photo.  In other words, those papers still need to be looked through and organized in some way.

This is related to this week's topic over at orgjunkie, which is organizing school papers.

Before:

 After: (ignore my sandals still on the floor  LOL)

 Now if I could just get my own desk done.  I still have a couple other organizing projects I set up for myself after I see the challenge.  Click the button below to go to orgjunkies blog and see what others have been organizing and de-cluttering this past week.

 

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 28 (Week 5 for Me)

Friday again. Seems that working this challenge is really the only thing keeping me going on my attempt to organize and de-clutter. That's a good thing though, and exactly why I was glad to find orgjunkie and the challenge.
However, it seems that motivation comes the day before it's time to do the post so that I have something to post. I suppose that is ok too as long as things are getting done.

This week I re-claimed my kitchen counters.
Check out this before photo.....yuck!!  Let's see.....my mom's muffin tins that never were returned to her, a box of bread,  back of I don't know what, recycle items, and a lot of misc. junk.

Ta da!  This is what I have now.  This took me close to an hour to find places for things and wash everything down.  If you could see the white crockpot in the corner of the first photo, it's now up in the cabinet and replaced with a 6 qt red one.  It was hilarious...we were sitting at supper last night and my 14 yr old looked over at the counter and said, "We have a toaster??  I didn't even know that."  It was hilarious!

I have an awful confession to make........the coffee table is staying pretty cleared off, but the 2 side tables are needing help again.  One is my daughter and grandchildren's stuff, the one by me is my stuff.....it will get cleaned off though as it's become my sewing machine table since my craft room had to be turned in to a bedroom while they all live with us.

 I am posting this to the linky over at orgjunkie.  Please click the button below and hope over and either join in, or see what others have accomplished this past week.

 

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 27(Week 4 for Me)

This weeks post on I'm as Organizing Junkie is getting your kids to help.
I have a lot of grandchildren and this past week 5 of them have moved in.  I have one side of my hall storage basically just for them.  I will have to include a photo next week if I think about it, but the bottom drawer is for their drawing, coloring, and art supplies.  The next drawer up is for the girls' toys, the next drawer up is for my grandsons stuff, the top drawer is full of different card and peg games.
In the doors above one shelf has the doll house, odds and ends for the doll house, puzzles, bath toys, and I am working at getting more board games in there.  On shelf has board games that we got from one of the grade schools, so the boards are out with games supplies in ziploc bags.  The top shelf houses the Lego and Duplo blocks.
The kids know what goes where in the cabinets.
With them moving in, they brought more toys with them.  Fortunately, they are divided into containers for each type of toy.  My daughter is keeping them in their bedroom in the basement and lets them just bring one thing at a time up here to play with.

Now, with all that said, this past week my project was the other side table.

Here is the before photo.  Come on...why was there a drill in the house instead of in the garage?  All the magazines are now sorted and in our garage for a sale.  Other misc. items are either thrown away or put where they belong!

And here is after--all cleaned off and so far staying that way minus the jar of instant tea that mysteriously came in here from the kitchen  LOL

 Click the button below and see what others are working on in their organizing and de-cluttering and/or add your own!

 

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 26 (Week 3 for Me)

I did manage this week to get one more little area re-organized. Of course the trick isn't getting it done, the trick is keeping it that way.
The coffee table from last week has stayed fairly uncluttered, but I've had to work daily to make sure things that don't belong on it get put away.

This past week I worked on the side table that sits between my desk and the recliner.
Check out the before and after photos. The wild sunflowers I cut from my front garden where they were taking over the other flowers in the bed. I then pulled the ones out from the middle. So, I guess you can say that I decluttered that flower garden as well LOL
I do have a plan for my clean table top....I've been wanting to work jigsaw puzzles in my spare time(yeah right). I'm hoping this table top is just the right size to work puzzles on. I find them relaxing, and besides, I want to put them together before boxing them back up and putting them in a garage sale.

Before: Jasmine's books we are using for school were scattered---sewing I was working on----crocheting I was working on----empty Dr. Pepper can----books I need to read for review---and more!

After: The school books are stacked---my coupon box is on the bottom--my stack of books to read and review on the bottom in the back. On the top is just a few things for pretties and 2 coasters.

I am linking this post with:

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 25 (Week 2 for Me)

Last week as I reported, I had good intentions but didn't get anything done.
Another kind blogger pointed out to me that starting with organizing my desk was just too large of a project to be first, and to start with something smaller.

I have been working on de-clutttering my desk over this past week here and there. It has a ways to go!
I decided to make the coffee table my first project. I love the coffee table, but why do they always become one of the places to just pile things??

Here is the before photo:

Ack! Those items are now in their proper places, or the recycle bin, or the trash! I hope to really work hard on keeping it cleaned off. Just having the one table cleaned is already making the living room look more inviting. Here is the after photo. Hubby's laptop will again sit on the end of the coffee table for now...at least until I can figure out some other place for him to work on it? He leaves it on and open 24/7 as he runs scripts to play his silly facebook game.
Here is what it looks like now (minus the laptop)

I'm not sure which of my chosen projects I will tackle for next week while I continue to work on my desk. Maybe one of the side tables is a good choice. I have taken before shots of all spots I want to work on. I will be kept busy for week.

Please click the button below to check out the challenge, get this week's hint, and click over to see how others are doing in their own organizing.

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 24 (Week 1 for Me)

Last week while browsing through blogs I ran across I'm an Organizing Junkie
Wishing I had known about this at the beginning of the year, I decided to jump in. We only closed on this house March 2nd of this year. I promised myself with all the extra storage and so many more rooms, that I would not allow myself to get disorganized, and not allow clutter to build up.

I did well the first 3 weeks. As I unpacked, I put things where they belonged...or where I designated them to belong. I kept all counters and tables cleared. I was doing well! It took me a bit longer to organize my craft/all purpose room, but I did get it done!

Just a few months later I am looking around and seeing junk, and more junk....piles of things in places where they don't belong. The side tables and coffee table, my desk, and my hubby's desk are just piled with stuff. My craft/all purpose room has turned in to a major mess.

With good intentions to start the 52 Weeks of Organizing challenge, I went around and took photos of the different places I want to concentrate on. My goal was to start with my desk. I did get started right away, but came to a halt. I've had 4 grandkids over all week. I've spent each evening at Bible school. I can't keep up with the extra along with my normal activities during the week!!

I still wanted to get started with my posting each week here, even without making any real progress. The kids go home after Bible school this evening. Not only that, my teen will be at Bible camp all of next week. I will still work pretty much strictly on my desk, and I promise before and after photos in next weeks post.