I’ve been looking for an inexpensive cute way to store my princess’s hairbows, and I realized we had an old french memo board that would be perfect for the job!

Check out the Shabby Nest for more Frugal Friday ideas!

I got inspired watching a repeat episode of Martha yesterday when I saw this picture of a wall of books organized by color.  Isn’t it cool?!  It’s the office of designer, Kevin Sharkey.  I thought it would be great in our playroom, since, let’s face it…my little monkeys aren’t so into putting things back into alphabetical order, or by size, or even by whom the books belong to.  Color seemed simple enough, plus it looks so fun in the playroom!

I’m back and ready to organize this week! Here’s an update:

• My first client has been maintaining the work we did in her bedroom, and best of all, she’s made progress in other areas of her house. Yeah!! I’ll post before & after pictures of her home as we finish each room.
• Savannah passed her test for her ice skating class! She’ll be starting the “Basic 3″ class sometime in March. She’s very fast going backwards!
• Phoebe learned to say “no” and to SCREAM when she’s angry…all in the same week. Lovely.
• I’m currently reading a book called Sidetracked Home Executives by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. It’s the book that inspired Flylady to do what she does. I borrowed it from the library, and I’m really enjoying it so far.
• While I was down last week with the migraines, I got inspired by a few of my favorite shows to work on some small projects. Two of my favorite TV shows right now are “neat” and “Mission: Organization”. They always have great ideas!
• This week I’m finally tackling my recipe disorganization!

I’ve been frustrated by my collection of recipes for a long time now. I have recipes ripped out of magazine, entire magazines with pages dog-eared, recipe cards, and of course, a collection of books that grows every year. They’re taking over my kitchen! I really love baking, but cooking is another story. I have a sweet tooth so that’s a big reason why baking is more enjoyable for me, but also, I have a 7 yr old so that makes cooking a lot more challenging. Kids are picky! Mine is anyway. As I try different recipes in my books I always note whether or not we all liked it, if it could have used some tweaking, whether it was worth the time to cook it, etc. There’s probably a dozen dinner recipes that all 4 of us really enjoy and that I try to cook on a regular rotating basis. I finally got the right idea on how to organize all of this mess on a blog called Forever Whenever. Thanks for the idea, Kim, and for permission to post it here Take a peak at her site to see more pictures and ideas.

The basic idea is just a 3-ring-binder with dividers to keep all your favorite recipes in one place. There’s also room for the take-out menus! Yeah! My goal is to be finished by Friday, but here’s where I’m at right now…

First I gathered all my loose recipe cards that were shoved into a drawer and all of my magazines.

Next I gathered up my new dividers, some cardstock from my scrapbooking stash, page protectors, a glue stick, and a Sharpie. I used the dividers for Menu, Dinners, Breakfast, Dessert, and Take Out. I may switch those up a bit later this week if it doesn’t work out quite right. Then I took my messy cards and glued them right onto the cardstock. Of course I remembered to keep like items together, like two chicken recipes on one page, not a casserole on one side and a cake on the other. I did all of this while catching up with my DVR. Isn’t multi-tasking great? After I finished my show, I wrapped everything up and put it away where I was. I slid my take-out menus and my ripped-out magazine recipes into page protectors and put them behind the appropriate divider.

This is another look at what I was able to accomplish in the time it took me to watch The Amazing Race last night. The pile of magazine scraps and cards is what I was able to get rid of with the use of my new binder.

Quick and easy! While I’m working on this project this week, I’m also going to purge through my cook books that I don’t really love or that I rarely use. I don’t need this taking up valuable real estate in my kitchen!

I learned, on OnlineOrganizing.com, that this week is “Pay Your Bills Week”. I’ve written about ways to save money in an earlier post, and one easy way to save is to make sure you pay your bills on time. Interest charges and late fees add up very quickly! The most important part of bill paying is to make it a routine, or to have a schedule that you follow.

It took some trial and error before I found what worked for me. Even though my husband gets paid biweekly, I like to sit down with the bills and the budget every week just to keep my family and myself on track. I typically use Tuesday as my bill-paying day. I picked that day because it comes before my grocery and my errand days. Getting in the habit of this has made it a less mundane task. Also, paying your bills online can save a lot of time!

Another tip is to keep everything you need in one place: bill statements, stamps, addresses labels, calculator, check register, etc. I use my nifty bill organizer that I purchased at Target, my home away from home, last year. Before I bought that, I simply used a zippered pouch that I kept in the same 3-ring binder that I kept my budget in. You could also use an over-the-door shoe organizer to house all of your supplies. Those shoe organizers are handy for SO many things! What works for you?

While I would have liked to work on my closet again this morning, Phoebe makes that a little difficult.  Since she was playing nicely in the kitchen, I thought I’d work on some cabinets that have been driving me nuts lately.  There’s the before and after shots.  Look how much I was able to purge!

There are many different ways of thinking when you’re purging through clutter, like “Have I used this is the past 12 months?”, ” Do I love this item?”, or even “Does this thing still have a purpose in my home?”.  I was able to fill a medium sized plastic tote full of things that don’t have a reason to be here anymore!  I condensed all my cake decorating supplies and put them in a plastic reusable bowl with a lid, and then I whipped out my label maker just for fun  I also found some cute decorative plastic storage bags that I had bought at the beginning of the school year for Savannah’s snacks.  And I learned that I don’t need to buy aluminum foil, plastic freezer bags, or parchment paper for a long time!  I had more than I thought I did!  When your space is cluttered and you can’t find what you need, you often spend double having to buy more of the item!