Last May Once upon a time while we were still house hunting I created this “home decor binder” to hold all of my magazine pages for inspiration. I gave it a cute cover.
I added some “thickers” to make the inside cute. Because if you are a scrapbooker you know that thickers make everything cute.
Except it wasn’t. This binder has driven me crazy for the past year and because I am now using it almost daily, I knew it was time for a better system. The problem was that it was too much work for me to keep punching holes in the pages. Seems like such a little thing, but when you are constantly putting pages in and pulling pages out it becomes a pain and before long, my binder looked like this…
with all of the pages clumped together at the front and spilling out all over the place because I kept thinking I’d punch and categorize them later.
Problem with that thinking is that I have no time right now for laters.
Then (as I mentioned yesterday) I went back to Staples to bask in Martha’s office supplies once again and what did I find!? ANOTHER aqua accordion file!? Only LARGE! How did I miss that the first time!? I knew in an instant it was the perfect solution to update my home decor binder and make it more user friendly (ok – more Erin friendly). :)
I dashed home and the second Kole was down for a nap I pulled all of my magazine clippings out of my old home decor binder and got to work re-organizing everything in piles.
And a pile for everything else I could come up with that I need to remember for the new house. Whenever I categorize things in piles like this whether it’s magazine clippings, photos for an album, kids’ school work, toys … whatever it is… I always tear apart sticky notes to quickly label each pile. Then everything is in order out in front of me and I can start on the next step.
It easily fit all of my magazine clippings with room to spare. And I have a lot of magazine clippings!
Then it folds up nice and snug with the grey band that goes around the bottom. Which is another huge bonus. Much thinner and easier to store than that bulky binder. Now I don’t have to worry about punching holes to keep things organized. And it’s a breeze to find any inspiration picture I need in a snap. Win Win. I’ll take it! :)
So now you know why I’ve been smiling lately. My new built-in binder and home decor file are working like magic! In fact, I have another idea of something else that needs organizing around here. And it just so happens that once again, this large accordion file would make a fabulous solution!
Great binder…Great idea! I saw a magazine the other day. (I wish I can remember which one.) It had the most beautiful white kitchen. I thought of you! Things seem to be moving along. You will be in your new house before you know it! Do you mind sharing the square footage of it. From the look of your last post it looks like you will have so much more room and so much fun decorating it.
Have a fun weekend!
Great solution Erin! I am the same way with “later” things… they never happen :) Good job finding a way to make organizing work for you.
You’re really going to get me to make a trip to Staples :)Seriously, I’m already thinking of what I could organize in something like that! Great idea as always.
you are going to have so much fun when you get to the decorating stage! I can’t wait to see what you do in the new house.
Oh my oh my. Do I love things like this! I think you’re my organization soulmate! ;)
Love,
Sarah
the Reverie blog
love this! Keeps everything so neat !
Our Target dollar spot had those, in the same color, yesterday :) Score! They were Target brand so not the cute Martha Stewart but same color and everything. Awesome find!
Great idea! Loving all the MS goodies at Staples.
Thanks everyone!
Courtney – sounds like a great Target day! Love those!
:)
Ha! I have this same system. I started my accordian files of torn magazine pages back when we were shopping for our first house. Now that we are on house #3, that thing is jam packed! I’m so excited to see what you do with those inspiration files in your new house!
Again. We r twins. My binder issue was EXACTLY as you described yours! Only I did not have Martha around to be my solution. BUT I too found my solution at Staples! I bought three PRETTY spiral bound notebooks (you know the ones with cute designs on the front and back) and I assigned each notebook a category, home design, home decor and holiday decor. Within each notebook, I divided into six or more sub categories (organization, paint inspiration, kitchen design etc.) and I glued a piece of card stock and added a sticky backed clear tab to the edge of each divider page. Then, I sorted my magazine pages and glued each one onto a notebook page within the correct section of my notebooks. I store the three volumes of my “Home Inspiration” in a cute wire tray thing along with a couple of other binders (scrapbook inspiration binder and card making binder) which are the SAME cute design as my notebooks! It has been an easy system to keep up, but I am limited to how many magazine pages I can fit. I have started cutting more specific details of whole pages and gluing more than one thing to a notebook page and that has worked great too. Now with Pinterest, I don’t buy as many magazines so I think I won’t have to worry about adding more volumes too soon! Anyway, just wanted to share my solution since I thought it was funny we had the same dilemma. I don’t think there are many people out there that come across such a dilemma!
So I have been reading your blog for a while and just enjoy it. I just came across this post and love the aquamarine paint colors. I know that is from a Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. I was wondering if you knew what month. I didn’t know if said on the bottom of the page.
Thank you Leslie! I don’t know what month that is from. I’ve had it for a while now. Sorry I’m not much help!
You are talking my language! I have folders of mish mash of ideas. I have to get myself sorted out :) Great idea!!
Nice! My method (well last time I actually stuck a torn out page in a binder) was to put each page into a plastic sheet protector. But that in itself is a pain the the butt…I like your idea because it’ll be easier to purge the collection when I come across something I no longer care for…and not have a random empty sheet protector.
For the longest time, I kept all my tax receipts in an accordion folder like this…til I realized I don’t really have THAT many receipts. Ever one to reuse and recycle, I thought, “what else could I use this for?” And then it came to me: all my ‘loose’ knitting patterns! Yes, I am a knitter – which requires its own category of organization ;) – and I had lots of torn out of a magazine or photocopied from a book or a friend gave to me, etc. patterns with no home except some overfilled file folders. Now they are categorized by: shawls/scarves, long-sleeved sweaters, tanks/short-sleeve, bags/totes and “other” knitted objects.