Brag About Friday, er...Sat-...ummm, Sunday!

Note: I actually wrote this post on Sunday but my stupid camera cable is acting up and I didn't get the pictures until today. Grrr!! My birthday is at the end of June and if anyone should need an idea of what I would like for it...ahem, Gary, friends, family, strangers...anyone at all, that would be a camera.

Should we just rename it to Sunday?? I can't believe I am back down to only posting once a week! It is crazy busy around here. Chasing after one walker and one almost walker is a full time job. But I am also just taking time to finish some needed household projects and other such stuff. That's why this brag is all about what I did! Yay me!


This month's challenge was any shelf or surface. The front of my fridge has been a love/hate thing for a long time. I love a clean look without pictures, papers and crap! However, I cannot ignore the whole huge surface of potential for reminders, family pictures, and various artwork.

So here is my before. Ahhhhh!!!!!

As you can see it holds seed packets, coupons, pictures, appt. reminders, school papers, drawings, Zach's responsibility chart, take out menus and don't even get me started on the side. Oh my!

What happens is, I will have a coupon and stick it on the fridge; 1 free dinner with the purchase of another, pizza coupons, % off at Kohl's, Lane Bryant, Old Navy, Bed, Bath and Beyond...well, you get it. Every little bit I will go through it all and 95% of the coupons will have expired. Just a few weeks ago I had $10 of Kohl's Cash that had expired (oh...oh...that one hurt...badly).

I need a place where I can glance before a shopping outing and see what coupons I have, when they expire and where they are to. I need a place where I can put take-out menus. I also really need a central calendar. But I am so not good with the whole wipe-off calendars I have to write new every month. (The one in our office still says December, Oy!). I need something different for Zach's chart which I print off new each time.

So...

(drumroll, please)
AFTER!!

Oh, I know...I'll wait while your heart settles down.

Enter Org Junkie's wonderful review of this fridge file system.


Me lurves!! It has four super duper strong magnets on the back. It comes with a wipe-off calendar, but I made my own paper one with Microsoft Publisher. That way I can pencil in future month's appts. I put everything on here including when coupons expire and where they are to. One of the pockets holds these coupons. One will hold menus. One will hold important papers from Zach's school that I need to take care of. The last one will hold my stockpile inventory, and sale ads from the various stores around town. I need to finish the labels. I made one with my Dymo Label Maker.


And then I found Dry Erase Sticky Paper at my local Mardel. It is not this particular brand but similar. I am sure you can probably find it at any office supply store. And the wheels started turning, my friends. I imagined a wipe-off board to cover the whole fridge!! Alas, the area is only on the right side above the Eat pad. But I still am in love with it. It sticks like contact paper and is easily removed. Here we will list groceries we need, leftovers we have that we forget about ALL the time, items to be returned, and again, any coupons I have.

Yes, I know I am going a little over board with the whole coupon thing, but I will not have expired KOHL'S CASH EVER AGAIN!!

Ahem...sorry...

See that nifty little green holder? That is for a school locker that I got on clearance at Target in September last year. It holds the wipe-off markers. The purple holder is also for a locker that is leftover from my teacher days. It holds...everyone together now...coupons!; small coupons that will get lost in the big file. And we really don't want any to get lost, now do we??

The red lined item is for Zachary's new responsibility chart. It is a wipe-off page cover that we just slip his chart down into. He puts his faces right on top of it and it gets wiped off after each use.

Yay, for less paper and printer ink being used, not to mention that he can now take care of it all himself. No more, "Mom, I really need another chart." or "No, I can't put points on my chart because I don't have one, because you need to print one out."

Last but not least, the Eat pad where I can write down our weekly menus.

At the bottom, I will put some toy magnets the girls can play with along with photos inside plastic magnetic photo frames I have had for awhile.

Where is the artwork? That is for another post. I got a really cool idea from a Family Fun magazine. Hopefully I will be tackling that next.