No more homeless papers

Thanks to simplify 101, I finally figured out what do do with all those papers that didn't have a home. You know, those papers that are on your fridge, kitchen counter, and desk because it doesn't make sense to file them away, but you can never find them when you need them. It's what the folks at simplify 101 call a Command Central Binder.

I was able to put mine together using supplies I already had lying around. I grabbed a binder, dividers, page protectors, post-it notes, a pen, and all some homeless papers from around my apartment. Types of papers that found a home in my binder include business cards, doctor appointment reminder cards, prescription information, medical information, rabies certificates, and apartment information. I would like to get some of the page protectors with little slots for business cards to add to it, but before I spend any money I want to make sure this solution works for me.


As a side note, I got really excited that I had such a cute binder and dividers that I wasn't using for anything else! I love office supplies. And having cute things makes organizing so much more fun! Well, at least it does for me. The last time we tried to get organized, we started off by getting excited and spending lots of money on stuff at Office Depot but we didn't end up doing much organizing. Did we really need a pretty, pastel rubber band ball?! Oops. Hopefully doing things the other way around this time will work much better! There's nothing like a recession and a new baby to make you count your pennies!

To start it off I made sections for each family member, as well as sections for pets, the apartment and resources. I made post it labels for now instead of writing on the tabs because I want to see what makes sense as I continue to gather and add things.


I also decided to use this basket I already had to corral our binder and newly organized coupons. It will live on our kitchen counter. Hopefully we can keep it updated and organized! If we do, it will keep our counter clear and save us the time we currently spend searching for things!


Here's the project breakdown.
Total cost: $0 for me! (approx. $10 if you need to buy supplies)
Time spent: 45 min.

For more information on how to make your very own binder and what kinds of papers you can keep in it, be sure to visit simplify 101.

Where do you keep your important reference papers? Do you share my love of cute office supplies?