Creating an Organized Work Station for Mom

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With school back in session, it’s time get your kids organized and ready to start out the year on a good foot, and this means Mom has to stay organized too!  In our household I’m the keeper of the calendar and the books!  If there’s paperwork to keep up with, events and due dates to remember, and bills to be paid, that falls under my jurisdiction!  I actually love taking on these roles though!  And I’ve always been really good at organizing, so it’s the perfect job for me! (Plus, I love school, so keeping up with Noah’s stuff allows me to live vicariously through him! haha!)

I love my desk!  It not only serves as the place where I can keep up with everything I mentioned above, but it also serves as a work space for blogging and getting my Etsy orders together.  As such, my work space needs to be neat and tidy, and I need a lot of tools to stay organized, so I can make sure everything gets done and our household runs smoothly!

If you enjoy being organized just as much as I do, or if you need a little help in this area, check out organizerd.com to learn about some of the best organizing products on the market!

You can find everything you need to create an organized desk space or work station at Walmart.

You can find all the Post-it® products you need in the office and school supplies section, alongside other great organization products.

A few Post-it® products my home office wouldn’t be complete without include Post-it® Flags and TABS and of course, Post-it® Notes of all sizes and colors!  (I recently purchased Post-it® Notes Cube 3×3 Pink & Aqua Wave Mixed case and Post-it® Super Sticky Notes 3×3 90 sheet single pad electric yellow.)

And other products I like to have at my desk include:

-calendar/planner (I write down everything here, including blog stuff, bill due dates, and anything having to with Noah’s school stuff.)

-marker board and calendar

-file holder basket and folders (I also have a file cabinet not shown here that I use for bills and important files.)

-pens, pencils, and markers

-binders or spiral notebooks

To create and keep an organized workspace, you need to remove all unnecessary clutter, and you need to create systems that are simple to understand and maintain. (And then maintain them!)

When I say maintain, I’m referring to how you write things down and where you keep things.  For example, as soon as I get a new blog project or I learn that Noah has a new event he needs to attend, I immediately write those things down in my planner.

Another example involves paper.  You should have a special place for any kind of paper that’s going to come across your desk.  I have a folder (in the black basket) that is especially for bills.  After a bill is paid, it goes in my main file cabinet in a specific folder (electric bills, medical bills, etc.)

In my black basket, I also have a “To Do” folder where I can put miscellaneous papers I need to perform a task with, and I have a receipts folder where I can place any receipts that will be used for my tax deductions. (At the end of the month, these are to be recorded on a spreadsheet and then filed away in an accounting binder I keep.)

These basic procedures help to keep me organized, but they only work as long as I perform the tasks regularly and stick with the systems.

I’m known to keep a Post-it® Note or two on my desk for reminders and even for brainstorming in my writing!

But they also make a great organizing tool.  Because Post-it® Notes come in a variety of sizes and colors, they are great for organizing your organizer. In the picture above, I’ve placed Post-it® Notes beside relevant dates and written down the important event information.  The Notes are convenient because they can be easily removed if the event changes. No more scribbling!

I’m also using a color code system.  Here I have a neon yellow, which denotes that money is due at school, while the blue notes signify school events we will be attending.  (For your own organizer, you may choose to use a different color post it for each member of your family, and perhaps you have a color for blog related task and another color for appointments, etc.)

You can also purchase smaller sized Notes, so that you can place multiple Notes on pages similar to the ones shown above, or a single Note directly on the calendar squares in your planner or on a dry erase calendar.

I also find Post-it® TABS and Flags/Pagemarkers to be helpful.  I have a small binder where I keep Noah’s school stuff each year, and I’ve used TABS to create three separate sections:

-School – This section is where I keep print outs of the school calendar, important dates, and other important school notes.

-Band – Here I keep copies of the band newsletters and field trip information.

-Accounting – This is where I keep information, regarding payments for school, band fees, and trip payments, and other important financial records for school.

 

What’s your favorite organizing tool? How do Post-it® products help you stay organized? Tell us by leaving a comment on this post. Also, check out other fun ideas here