Five on Friday: Organizational Tools

I am an organizing junkie. If the Container Store had a location in Richmond we would have to take out a second mortgage, I could spend hours strolling the aisles and that would be painful for our bank account. So today, I am going to share my 5 favorite organizational tools.  I am a big fan of the blog IHeartOrganizing and she inspires me to reduce clutter and at the very least motivates me to organize the required clutter in a way that lowers my clutter-induced-anxiety.

1) Label Maker/Silhouette -

Silhouette - this is a new tool for me and I am just starting to get the hang of it, but this puppy has a ton of potential, I am already starting to see how this tool can transform simple boxes or bins, into fashionable organizational beacons. 

Label Maker - this is old school but she gets the job done. I love to use this bugger to label file folders, the labels are just the perfect size.

2) Take Out Menu Organizer & Home Maintenance Organizer -these little gems look clean and organized on the bookshelf and the labels and folders are very helpful. You could easily make something like this for far less than what they retail for, but these were gifts and I just adore them. Binders in general are an easy way to organizer paper - from calendars to warranty booklets and instruction manuals.  That actually reminds me, I need to put together a binder for all the warranty and instruction manuals taking up valuable space in a few drawers around our house.

3) Gift Card Organizer - people laugh at me all the time when I whip out my gift card organizer, but I love it. It helps me keep all of them together, it reminds me what I have and where I could "shop for free" when I have something I need to pick up, and it helps me keep all the gift cards together in my purse, instead of trying to put them into my wallet.  My Mom is a big gift card giver and it is one of the things I love about her, some people think that gift cards aren't personal enough for gifts, but holy Moses, they are practical son of a guns!

4) Canvas Bins -these are heaven-sent. They can be used for a variety of things. My personal favorite right now is to organize sheets in the laundry room closet, I have a bin for each bedroom, because all the beds are different sizes, and we have a lot of white sheets, so it prevents me from having to dig through all the sheets to find the queen or king, it keeps them organized. I can imagine I will begin to use these more when my Parents bring down the armoire for the home office, it will house all my craft and home project supplies, and I can already see it now!

5) Over the Door Pocket Storage Thingy - I have several of these hanging on doors all over our house, the one on the back of the laundry room door keeps all extra toiletry supplies like shaving cream and razors (great coupon deals means you have extras laying around that need some organizing).  The ones in the girls bedrooms organize their shoes as well as their hats, both winter and summer. And the one on the coat closet when you walk in has the family hats, and a few pairs of shoes that are helpful to have handy.  The uses for this mamma-jamma are endless.