Beth shares how her childhood love of covering books helped her get organized.
“The first day of school was always my favorite. The stack of dirty, dog-eared textbooks sitting on the heater in each of my classes was like Christmas morning. I couldn’t wait to get off the bus and run down the street with 15 pounds of books on my back…just so I could start covering my books.
I didn’t want pretty paper or stretchy fabric to cover these books…that was cheating. Give me a good brown paper grocery bag, a roll of packing tape and I would make my own, crisp-cornered, clean and pretty book throughout the year.
My covering obsession has recently come back and has helped me get organized…all thanks to a meandering trip through the dollar store where I found several rolls of cute contact paper. Cute contact paper?!?! I didn’t even know such a think existed, especially for a dollar.
My first inspiration came with the idea of covering a shoe box to neatly store our cloth napkins in the open space next to the kitchen table. Then the ideas just started rolling faster than I could unroll the contact paper (and find the right sized boxes)… Empty cereal and bulk-product boxes beware!!!
Magazine holders can do so much more than just store and organize magazines. Paid bills deserve a pretty place to go when I don’t know what else to do with them but they are not ready to shred.
For some reason, three paper boxes showed up in my garage all at the same time and some plain file storage boxes I bought years ago but never put together started taunting me. So was the heap of “stuff” under my craft table. It was “organized” in messy re-used bags, but it was “Beth organization” as I’m sure my mom would call it.
Someone elses’ trash + 1 nagging room + one trip to the dollar store = one perfect solution! Even my to-do box is pretty and dresses up the multi-use space on top of the black filing cabinet.
Covering things up, especially when done on the cheap, makes organizing more fun and productive!”
Beth is a stay at home mom who tries to make organizing my home fun, crafty and as cheap as possible!
For more ideas to help you simplify and organize one day at a time, visit Organized in 365.
Cori says
I picked up the same exact contact paper a few months ago! I fell in love with the pattern. So far I’ve covered a magazine holder, plant pot, and an adjustable mini desk–all formerly ugly. I really like your idea of turning so-called trash into super useful containers.
I still cover my books with paper bags! 😀