Hey Honey, You're A Packrat!

I may have mentioned in a previous post that I'm a packrat. My husband thinks so, he is constantly telling me, 'Babe, no we don't need that',. When I go visit my mom I look around and I realize I definitely got it her.  I save papers, books, tchotchkes and I tend to push everything into corners so the main living areas are clean (I still like a very clean home if that makes any sense). Most of the time its not because I have some sort of emotional connection to these things but I just think I might need it for something...one of these days. 

I like to think of it as my organized mess, not the scary ten-rows-deep, occasional rigor mortis cat, therapy required scenes you see on TLC's "Hoarders". I'm actually kind of religious about clearing the table after dinner, making the kids clean their rooms and their toys up before heading to bed, and having a clear study area for their homework. So this year, I decided it was time to try and get my act together for one particular area of note in the house, the Library.

In preparation of the tons of papers that come with the kick off of back-to-school (why can't everything be digital?!) I took one look at the kids reading corner (a hot mess I know) and I went straight to the store to get a bookshelf to tidy up and create a proper family reading nook.

The shelf itself was super affordable, $59 from Ikea. 




We created two piles so we could begin our edit (one Keep and the other Discard). I just want to say we threw away one entire garbage bag full of broken crayons, dried-out markers, etc. Yay!!


In the end I organized the kids reading and workbooks by age/child and I put their art supplies in bins for easy access. This is the final shot complete with our family vacation album from Mosaic and my photo collage from CanvasPop on top. Looks good right? Now, let's see how long this lasts :-)


I'd love to hear about any new home organization projects you've taken on. You never know, your clever idea just might end up here on the blog.