Organize Files in My Filing Cabinet

When we got married, my husband had this nicely organized filing cabinet. I looked at him a few weeks ago and said, you know this filing cabinet looks a whole lot worse since I came into the picture. He just smiled.

I knew I needed to do something about the organization, but I kept putting it off. I do that a lot!

We were at home together the other night, and I decided to pull everything out and organize what was there. It was good for both of us to be involved since part of the stuff was his from before we got married.

We ended up getting rid of about a 4 inch pile of paper from the filing cabinet. Oh, did that feel so good! And now, I think we can both find what we need.

Here is a picture of what everything looked like before. Yep, didn't want to go look for anything in there!

As taxes are coming up, now would be a great time to take some time to organize all those files!

How I Organized 
I just used the tabs that came with the hanging files.

For each of the sections under our file labels, I put the tabs on a different side to help differentiate the sections.

I simply cut up copy paper for the labels and wrote on them with a thin sharpie. Yes, not elegant. but super easy.

Our Files Labels
Car Insurance
Health Insurance
Home Insurance
Liability Insurance
Life Insurance

Car- separate file for each car
Retirement
Utilities

Work- one file for each of us

Health- one file for each of us

School- I put in here transcripts, certificates

Home Buying

Current Taxes- in this file, I will put everything that I need for the year in order to complete taxes. Once they are filed, I will move the return to the past taxes folder.

Past Taxes

Will Your Files Look Like Mine?
I am sure that these files will vary some for you, but they are what worked for us. Life brings different along for all of us and unfortunately brings different papers that we need to keep.

I would love to hear what else you might keep in your filing cabinet.

Unsubscribe from Email Lists

Are you ever inundated with emails? You sign up to get something free and you have to sign up for an email list. I do use a secondary "junk" email for most mailing lists.

Are you one that opens your email and you delete half of the emails without even looking at them?

 A few weeks ago, I saved those emails I didn't care to read for about a week. I sat down one evening and hit unsubscribe. Oh what freedom this task has caused. I don't open my email and just hit delete several times each day.

My challenge for you today is to instead of hitting delete without opening, open and unsubscribe. Enjoy the freedom that the lack of emails causes!

Organizing Owners Manuals

Do you have a stack of owners manuals stashed away somewhere in your house? You go through them and realize you have gotten rid of a few things, but still have the manual. And of course the one you are looking for is not where you usually stash them. Sound familiar at all?!!

Here are my manuals after I was done tucked into a 3 ring binder.

I took a folder and some sheet protectors that I had from college and took on our owners manuals today. I divided the piles into like items. Then I took all the info from each item, for example I took the freezer manual, receipt, and any thing else that might come with that item and stuck all of the info in a sheet protector. I then stuck them in the binder in alphabetical order. 

Here is my stack of manuals before. 

Here are all the manuals contained nicely in one place.

Free project for me! Any other simple ideas that I can do to get things in order around my house? Ok getting up off the couch and just doing would be a great place to start :)

Redneck Freezer Organization

Everything has a place, and this is not the floor as food is falling out of my freezer!

For some reason, my freezer does not have a shelf. Not a problem if everything in the freezer is square, but how often does that happen? Needless to say, that I had stuff fall out at me. Yikes!

My mom randomly had this rack at her house that came from some old appliance. She willingly cleaned it off and volunteered to get rid of the shelf.

Right now, I think that the shelf works perfectly. I feel a little redneck, but hopefully it will keep things off the floor.

Not perfect, but a little better. Man, I should have flipped over that pizza box! 

What kind of redneck things have you done to make your life a little easier?

DIY: Burlap Earring Holder

I had been looking around on pinterest for different earring holders, and I found the perfect plan with supplies that I had on hand.

• I took the glass out of a picture frame- these were the pew decorations for our wedding. I had originally gotten them at dollar tree for $1. 
• I cut my burlap to be slightly larger than the back of the picture frames. This can be easily picked up at a fabric store. Or if you live near a coffee shop that sells coffee bags. You can also buy burlap on amazon by the yard. 
• I spray painted on an "m" on the burlap using a stencil I made out of paper. Read about how to make a stencil here.
• I wrapped the burlap around the back of the picture frame and hot glued around the edges. My husband got me a hot glue gun for my birthday!
• I reassembled the frame and it was ready to go.

Easy enough! And now my earrings are neatly displayed...and I can find a matched pair. Always a plus!

If you don't want to take the time to make your own earring holder, I have some available in my etsy shop.

Now, I want a little candelabra to spray paint and hang my necklaces on...

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