Cross This Off the List . . .

Ok, so I have been dying to get more organized. I swear, I take one step forward, and slide and fall two steps six steps back. This summer is the year of MISSION ORGANIZATION (read that with a deep, drawl-ing, echoey voice - sounds good, right? Didn't I say this in January too, though??).

Go to my Pinterest account for the original source.

So I have been wanting to do this forever (of course I found it on Pinterest in fact, one of the very first things I pinned last summer when I was told about this Godsend by my friend Beth. I then proceeded to waste the next 3 days of my life getting everything organized (ha, ha - my Pinterest is more organized than my house!) and pinning everything I loved!!

I love the idea of these storage boxes. We have a lot of guests and items are usually left behind. I try to keep them in a certain spot but then they get moved, shoved, borrowed, and so on! I also have the random item to return to the store or donate and again, they just get randomly placed wherever. I was going to put them in the hall closet but since I don't usually open it every time I leave the house, I thought this location would be better. This is the door from the house into the garage. I pass by here a lot more so I will see what's in the boxes on a more regular basis (no so out-of-sight-out-of-mind). So here's my solution -

I wanted the containers to be see-through because I would not always remember that I had something to return/donate/etc. I already had the shelves as you can see by below (quickly look away and scroll down if you have an adverse reaction to clutter/crap/junk/etc... because this will send you over the edge!).

But now it is all gone, most of the pink storage to my niece Presley as we no longer have any pink in our house anywhere - a thought that made my husband (and only male in the entire house) very sad. So again, here is the finished project:

I was going to print out fun labels or paint chalkboard squares but then I was perusing another blog site (and apologies because I could not find the original source) but I saw these Martha Stewart peel-and-stick chalkboard labels. I was overwhelmed! I was overjoyed! I was over the jank labels I was going to make! I immediately grabbed my car keys and handbag and headed to Staples (appears to be the only local place I could buy them). Yes, Tropical Storm Debby was on it's way but that didn't matter to me!

Score!!

Again, me being me, I ended up buying 2 sets of the larger labels (6 labels 3 3/4"x5 3/16", I think around $5.99 each) and 2 smaller sets (12 labels 2 1/2"x 3 3/4", I think same price of $5.99). I can't wait to start labeling everything! Trust me, you will see plenty more of these posts coming to a blog near you! I had chalk at my house but had heard about these new markers that write like chalk. I couldn't find any sets of different colors (Michaels was out and I didn't feel like going to Jo-Ann's because you know, Tropical Storm and everything) so I found this one white marker in the Bridal section at Michaels.

Another score!

I then, giddy as a school girl, head home and actually finished my project. Here are the categories I came up with:

Left behind by guests or borrowed by us.

Being a former retail employee for years, I never use to return items to stores.
Now that I am on an organizing kick, I am working hard at returning something
that won't work for the reason I bought it.
(In fact, just cleaned my closet yesterday and am donating 3 items with tags still on them - ugh!) 

This will be used for any odd item - return library books,  take to be repaired, whatever
we can think of. We can just write it on the chalkboard label and wipe it when done.

I just love it and actually just took a load down to the Return to Owners box. I think I might add the person's name to the label to help remind me. This will work great and create a spot for all those random, transitional items. Now I just have to train my family but that is for another post!