Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Not Perfect But Still Helpful

All year I have struggled with the influx of papers. Papers from school, from preschool, from three Sunday School classes, from Wednesday night club. I managed to juggle everything and purge what needed to be chucked and save what I wanted, but there were often piles of things waiting for Mike to see or just sitting around on the counter or couch or desk because I hadn't decided what I was doing with them yet. I have had, in my mind, a plan for dealing with such a mess for quite some time, but only just got to it. You know, after all those paper producing programs were finished.

Here's what I came up with for a hall closet door right next to our kitchen:


I used outdoor decorator fabric that I've had for years, leftover from covering my kitchen chairs the time before last. I didn't have a long enough single piece to simply fold it up and make a pocket and just keep going, so I made the pockets and then sewed them on. That actually ended up kind of nice as I got a double pocket. Each pocket has an identifying initial on it and is currently still coming in handy for holding summer journals (composition books were 25 cents at my Walmart. 25 CENTS, people!! I don't know how you feel about Walmart, heck I don't know how I feel about Walmart all the time, but I bought 12. Just sayin.') and the boys' summer reading lists. I am disappointed that I didn't think about the fact that they wouldn't lie flat with heavy notebooks in them, so that is currently making me crabby. But mostly, they're helping me organize a small thing in my life that can really be a big mess.


Now if I could just figure out what to do with the rest of the piles around here ;-)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cute project! Is there any way to slip some plastic needlepoint canvas in the pocket fronts? That would give them some stiffness.

blue china studio happy said...

That turned out great. Like the initials!

One Photo said...

That is a great idea and turned out so well. We have so much paperwork, it fills a double filing cabinet and that is the only way I can keep on top of it. The joys of a wanderer's life paperwork follows us wherever we go.

An Art Nest said...

I throw everything away. Yes, everything. It drives my friend crazy (she keeps graded homework papers that her kids have done and I think she is crazy)!
I started photographing some school crafts/drawing that I thought were sweet and I store them on my computer. That way I'm not hoarding the 80+ sheets that come through daily ... besides, that's what a car is for, ya know, to filter all that stuff out before it goes into the house - LOL ~

Jen said...

Oh man, this is one of the never ending issues of my life! It makes me a little crazy. Every time I go through a pile of papers, my husband brings in a heaping pile of mail, and I want to scream! If you figure out a solution, please let me know!

Scented Sweetpeas said...

Fab idea! I think schools must go through a whole forest of paper every year :-( Have they not thought of e-mail gggrrr.

Nicola said...

Such a GREAT idea! I need something for above my desk(ish) area. Love the colors!
Nicola

Anna said...

Very, very clever! Well done!