Clay has been on vacation since Christmas. It’s really great having him at home, except for the massive piles he creates. Like this pile of Andes mint chocolate chip cookies, it’s not so bad, but it’s HUGE! The bad thing is that I will eat a lot of them. (Sorry for the blurry photos, my phone takes very suckalicious photos….and let’s not forget that I own it, which means it’s going to be a pretty bad photo regardless.)
After he was done with the cookies I handed him this pile. It’s his In-Box. It drives me crazy. He knows exactly what’s in it….so he says. I shuffled through a few papers in it and guess what I found?
That would be a parking ticket. Clay looked at it and said, “Well, would you look at that.” Yeah, it’s been paid and then went in his In-Box where it promptly got buried.
I’m trying to organize our tiny office, so he’s sorting through his pile and I’m just looking at the little room wondering what the heck I should do to make it more functional. Clay has already proclaimed that his In-Box will most certainly look bad in a few weeks so I shouldn’t put it anywhere visible.
Here’s what a I need for that room and it all needs to be as close to free as possible. Hahahaha! I’m serious. I need drawers or at least a filing cabinet, but it has to fit under the counter top which is too short for a regular file cabinet. Okay, now discuss this amongst yourselves and then tell me you have the perfect answer for my office space. Until then I will be sorting through piles of crap.
I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas and I wish you all a very happy and organized 2012!
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Can you post some pics?
For lesser used stuff, put a shelf above the door.
Have you thought about some of those milk crate things? They are set up for files, and I don’t think they cost much from walmarts.
Baskets/bins could be used for each family member. Attached under a shelf?
Here are some things I’ve done, not because they looked good, but because they were cheap and worked for a particular space:
1. Small trash cans that are either letter or legal-sized paper-wide can hold hanging file folders.
2. Those cheap carboard assemble-it-yourself shoe cubbyhole or children’s toy cubbyhole thingies can be reconfigured to hold files, either horizontally for hanging folders or vertically to hold stacks of manila folders.
3. Plastic milk crates
4. Brief cases (an assortment from the Salvation Army)
5. A ready-made wooden bookcase from the Salvation Army for which I cut off the top shelf to make it fit.
If you’ve got a Wal-Mart or similar store nearby, there are some nice plastic stacked bins on rollers that could double as a file cabinet and they aren’t necessarily as big as a standard metal office filing cabinet.
Plastic wheeled file cabinet things are available at Ikea, Office Max etc. The casters make them easy to move about. Or the ever so skilled architect in your family could maybe repurpose an old chest of drawers or dresser so that works under the counter top. If the organize thingies aren’t that stylish, you could make a fabric curtain to go under the front of the countertop and disguise it. Velcro and casters..they are good things!
Does Kansas have an Ikea? Because that place has IDEAS. For small rooms and organizational challenges I love that store. The idea is to utilize the wall space all the way up to the ceiling and leave the floor space less crowded.
Lordy….first “sparkley butt”, then “piles”. I was just about to refer poor Clay to a proctologist when I read further. I second the Ikea idea…try to get to an outlet and study the office set ups. Then, leave without buying anything. Pick up some milk crates and square or rectangular baskets and a handful of 1″ X 12″‘s on your way home and have at it. You’ll figure it out.
And, um, perhaps buy Clay’s next item of clothing at an actual men’s store. Maybe try http://www.deluthtrading.com for affordable and indestructable clothes. Just a suggestion…!
Tracy B.
Tracy B.
For controlling piles around our house I use Sterilite Show Off Containers. You can find them at Wal-Mart, Target and other places for about $8. They fit file folders, are stackable, and easy to move. We use them for filing, for legos, for Christmas items, pretty much anything I need to organize.
http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=25&ProductCategory=248§ion=1
Files? File cabinets? Heck, I just put a cardboard box under the low table serving as a desk next to my computer, and I toss everything keepable in there!!! Problem solved! (Until you need to find something urgently…..)
I say close the door and walk away it will be there tomarrow. Then I would not be the only one evading the issue of office messes.
Target sells these little (14 – or so x 14) particle board cubes in several different colors (white, light wood, black), that are fairly cheap. Some are open with a shelf, some have drawers.
You can stack them in any configuration you wish (one on top the other, side by side, like a pyramid), and they fit super well in weird places. We use them for extra storage in all sorts of tight spaces, and they makes everything look neat since they’re the same color/size.
Hope that helps!
Best of luck with organization. Sucks when you’re doing it, but feel so, so good when you’re done!
oh my it’s been a while since i stopped by your place…I see you’re still hilarious…I was laughing before I started reading at the fuzzy picture of a man with cookies. I pray you have a great year in 2012! Can’t wait to read all about it!
Check out the web site pinterest. There’s a lot of topics and many wonderful reuse/design/craft ideas. Wanna make an upright pallet garden? It’s in there.
http://pinterest.com/
I’m the same way Clay. I can make piles of cookies and forget about the non important stuff like parking tickets.
No wonder my wife says that you and she are kindred spirits.
She’s married to me. I’m also a Piler. yes, it’s true, I admit it. Piles of stuff, pretty much everywhere.
She’s super-tidy and organized, and it pretty much drives her insane when things are dis-organized.
I’m trying to change. Really. it’s hard. Ask Clay.
First, the cookies look yummy!
Second, I have files. I have a place for all my mail. Cowboy has a basket. I take care of my business and take to folders in file and file. Cowboy’s basket is always overflowing. He cannot seem to make it to file. Then I have to end up doing it for him. That is how our filing works!!
April, come back! And blog regularly. I miss you.
Fairly sturdy shelves can be made using old bricks or cinder blocks & boards. The holes in the cinder blocks can double as letter holders, & if you want to get real fancy, you can paint them & sand the boards. We always have a few piles of leftover project junk behind the garage–maybe you could offer to haul off some of your neighbors unwanted leftovers!
April where are you?
It is still January. April is not here yet.
Please tell you have not stopped blogging. Please.
There are blogs that I read and then stop and I forget them. Yours is NOT one of them- I need you and your funniness and charm. Please.don’t.stop.blogging.
April! Where for art thou? Please don’t play hard to get…we miss you!
Tracy B.
Did the piles bury you? Come back!