Mission Organization - Mail Station

Happy New Year! I hope everyone is pumped for a new year. I think it's going to be a good one.

Like many people at this time of year, I'm super psyched to make 2012 the year that I get my ducks in a row. A girl can dream, right?

I've been really struggling with trying to keep my house organized with kids and a full-time job, and I feel like my house is constantly in chaos. I know it doesn't have to be that way though, so this year I'm working towards making my house less chaotic and putting some FOCUS on my goals.

That's my word for 2012. FOCUS. If you've been visiting me for any length of time, you know I need that. I tend to multitask like a rabid Chihuahua, and it's proving to be counterproductive.

I hate that.

I started using a new List app though, thanks to Mattie Cake, and it's called Toodledo. It allows me to prioritize, subdivide, compartmentalize, and any other -ize I want to do with my lists. It's FAB. Anyway, I've spent the last three days doing a big 'ol brain dump into Toodledo, so every single thing I need to do is in there and prioritized, so I can FOCUS on one thing at a time without having to remind myself about fifty other things that also need to be done right now.

The first thing I'm focusing on for Mission Organization this year is mail. I know. It's a four letter word of the highest magnitude, and I'm going to whip it into shape.

With this.

Isn't it pretty? It's my new mail processing station.

I needed something upstairs, where we come in the door, because I don't have the time or the motivation to deal with the mail from start to finish when it comes into the house during the work week.

I will open and sort the mail when it comes into the house, and file things according to how I need to deal with them, downstairs, at the end of the week, when I have time. Not today. Generally it's a Friday night task for me.

Here's a peek at my hanging file sections.

My sections are BILLS, RECYCLE, TO SHRED, CATALOGUES, MAGAZINES, ZOE, ANNIKA, MISC.,  and STORE COUPONS.

 I absolutely love it, and now I don't have mail cluttering up my kitchen table, my kitchen counter, and at the top of my stairs.

I had a lot of fun CUTE-ifying my new mail station. As you probably noticed, it's just a wire hanging file jobber thingie. I added some ugly olive colored hanging file folders that I plastered with pretty scrapbook paper. I just stapled the paper onto the folders because I wasn't in a picky mood like someone else I know.

I even had these way cute red flower brads to further extend the cute.

Then I got the brilliant idea to hot glue flowers and buttons right onto the wire. It worked great because the little holes allowed the hot glue to seep in and really grab onto the file unit. I even messed up a couple times, and the hot glue came right off with a little motivation and a pair of pliers. And don't worry, it didn't hurt the mesh file thingie one little bit, although I did pinch myself with the pliers.

Smashley saw me making my Mail Station and she decided that she wanted one too. Except she doesn't like the same colors that I like. She's all about the pastels, all the time. It's like Easter in her house, all the time.

Her sections are different too, but that's because it's for her and she has different needs than I do.

Plus, she's really picky and she did not like the fact that I was stapling the scrapbook paper onto the folders. Not one little bit. So I exercised my not-used-very-often nice gene, and I used tape runner for her folders because she's so high maintenance.

I do like her flowers too.

This button came off a blouse I used to wear. I can't wear button up shirts on account of my bazooms are unwieldy.

This button was a victim.