Skip to main content

Organizing Paper, Bills and Stuff!


Where to begin? It's a new year, how about a new organizing system? I don't know about you but during the entire holiday season, I really wasn't doing a very good job of keeping my papers organized. So for the past few days, I have been finding the papers that I had been stuffing into those "little places" everywhere! It drives me crazy when I do that! We sort of have an office in one of our extra bedrooms. I'm not really an "official office" type person. My room is first a music room and second a place to keep my bills and paperwork. I'm a messy musician. If you are a musician or if you live with one, I know you get this! Sheet music, equipment, cords, amps, mixers, wires everywhere! So, I began with all of that first. For my sheet music, I have tried notebooks, binders, portfolios, expanding files, boxes, etc., I've tried it all and I finally found a system that has worked for 5 days! Yes, this is a record! After many days of nagging asking politely, my husband finally carried an old vintage dresser upstairs and placed it in the closet of the music room/office. I cleaned out the drawers and put my microphones, cables, music books, and other musical equipment in there.
I needed my sheet music to be easily accessible so I decided to store my new pretty filing boxes on top of the dresser. (I bought 3 snap together filing boxes and decided my 3 large plastic totes were going away). Then the sorting process began - ugh! This lasted 3 hours! I had some pretty recycled file folders and labeled the tops A-Z. I organized each piece of sheet music alphabetically and it all fits into one box. I love it! All duplicates and songs I don't play anymore were recycled. This the part where you might need a fresh pot of coffee and take a break.
After my 8 hour break, I returned to my project and began sorting old and new bills, junk mail, and current files. I started with my second pretty file box and labeled the tops with specific titles such as Car Insurance, Utilities, Tax Info, Mortgage, etc. Again, it all fit in one box!
The third, larger file box is filled with 7 years of tax records, family history information, and research info on decorating, DIY projects, vintage items, craft ideas, etc.
Luckily, my husband had installed shelves in the closet so I used a large binder and plastic sleeves to store my product manuals. My banking information is stored in binders on the shelf. I also sorted my Cd's, kept only my favorites and stored them in a small fabric bin, some tape and office supplies in another bin, and a phone book and some envelopes on the same shelf. I also had to keep some extra framed artwork under the shelves, these are items I trade off with other art in our house according to the seasons. So even though it's not my first choice of storage, it makes the prints easily accessible.
By the time my organizing project was complete, I had thrown away 2 huge garbage bags of stuff, donated 1 bag, and 1 bag went to off to recycling land. My room is beautiful, calm and no more scattered papers stuffed anywhere! Remember not all projects are quick to complete, take breaks or you'll get frustrated and not finish. This project took 3 days to complete from start to finish but it was worth it!
Don't forget to share some of your organizing tips with us, we love to hear from you!
~ Simply Tammi
Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Grandma's Bread Pudding and Caramel Sauce

I was trying to think of something for dessert last night and homemade bread pudding was my choice. Our Dad was not a dessert lover but bread pudding was one of his favorites. Our grandma made the best bread pudding, hope you like it! Ingredients : 5 cups slightly dried out bread, any kind. I used Italian bread.  1/4 cup raisins (optional) 2 cups milk 1/4 cup butter 1/2 cup white sugar 2 eggs 1 T vanilla 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon Caramel Sauce Ingredients 1/2 cup butter 1/2 cup white sugar 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 tsp vanilla Directions : Cut the bread in cubes. I cut some of the crust off (on about half of the bread). Place bread into a greased casserole dish or an 11x9 inch pan. Add raisins.  Microwave milk and butter about 4 minutes on 60% power or heat in a saucepan over medium heat on the stove. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg and cinnamon. Slowly add the mixture to the egg and milk an...
Read more

Grilled Orange Roughy

My favorite food choices are often related to family memories, so I wanted to share one of our favorite grilled fish recipes. Our Dad used to take us fishing and we grew up eating the fish we caught ourselves. Then came the time when we had to start buying fish, I searched for types of fish that didn't taste too "fishy". It's hard to accomplish that in the Midwest, we don't always have many choices. We were introduced to orange roughy during a trip to San Diego where my great-uncle treated us to some of the most wonderful seafood we had ever eaten at an establishment called Anthony's. It was the first time we had eaten orange roughy and it was white, flaky and not too fishy tasting. After a few experiments, this is my favorite method to prepare it at home. Serves 4 or 2 with leftovers! Ingredients: 4 orange roughy fillets 1/4 c fresh cilantro, I use a small handful * if you are not a cilantro fan use fresh dill, about 1/4 c chopped 2 tsp garlic powder o...
Read more

Homemade Goulash

Last weekend I made meals for the freezer. It takes a few hours but this will save you time during the week (in case you have nights like I do when you don't feel like cooking) and your family will love it! I adapted this recipe from Paula Deen (it's called Bobby's Goulash). I used organic ingredients but use the products of your choice. I would have liked to use fresh tomatoes from the garden but my tomatoes weren't quite ready. You can also make it gluten-free by using gluten-free elbow macaroni. It's so tasty - my family loved it! Ingredients : 1 pound ground turkey 1 pound lean ground beef 1 -2 small onions, diced ( I used red onions) 1 (28 ounce) can tomato sauce 2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with juice 3 cups water 3 cloves garlic, minced 2 T Italian seasoning 3 bay leaves 3 T soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce 1 T seasoning salt course ground pepper to taste 2 cups elbow macaroni (uncooked) Putting it together: Brown meat and onions in a lar...
Read more