The Posh Space

Eco-Friendly Organizing, The Office – Part 1

{Photo from Real Simple}  

In honor of Earth Day, April 22^nd, this month I will be bringing you eco-inspired, green style, upcycling organizing ideas for different areas of the home.  I have been searching the web to find tons of ways to reuse, repurpose, or recycle common items to help you get more organized this spring.  So check the blog every Tuesday in April for my Eco-Friendly Organizing Series.

What is eco-friendly organizing?  Call it upcycling at its finest, it is organizing using common products in a different way than they were originally intended so that you don’t have to buy brand new products every time you have an organizing project.  Let’s get started by seeing what we can do with some old CD spindles and some cereal boxes.

Pictured above Real Simple Magazine shows us how we can use the tops and bottoms of cereal boxes (even the tiny single serving boxes) to organize an office supply drawer.  You could even use decorative paper or spray paint to make these match any color scheme. This is a great example of how organizing doesn’t have to be all about expensive containers.

Don’t toss out those old bread bag tabs!  Keep tabs of which cord is which by labeling bread tabs and attaching them to your cords.  Love this idea from Apartment Therapy.

{Photo from Pinterest }

Use an egg carton to catch small office supplies in a kitchen or desk drawer.

In contrast to the DIY cereal box idea from Real Simple, above they show us how to use mini loaf pans to organize office supplies.  In this photo you can even see that they put all those pans on a large cookie sheet.  Who knew muffin pans came in so many sizes!

{Photo from Make Magazine blog}

Repurpose those old CD/DVD spindles to keep your cords from becoming cord spaghetti!  Fill up one container with one long cord or add a few small cords.  Add label to the outside so you know what kind of cord it is without having to open the box each time you need something.

{Photo from Shelterness}

Reuse old tuna or chicken cans to organize office supplies in a drawer.

{Photo from Pinterest}

Altoid tins have tons of uses, but here we see how you can repurpose these tiny tins into drawer organizers.

Woo!  So there are seven different eco-friendly ways for you to start getting your home office organized.  Which one will you try?

Office Candy – NEW Fun Organizing Product Site

Another fabulous find from the NAPO 2012 Conference was a brand spanking new web-site called Office Candy!  OMG was it an organizers dream!  This web-site carries beautiful and fun products to help you stay stylishly organized.  Boy, if this both isn’t office eye candy I don’t know what is!

Office Candy is passionate about finding the most beautiful, practical, and best office supplies around.  This is evident in the bright and beautiful file folders pictured above.

Pictured above are some notepads that are both fun and functional!  These are so FUNNY!

I will be doing a mini desk makeover using some of the Office Candy Products I purchased at conference.  That will be coming next week!  ALSO, Office Candy gave me a sweet little goodie to give away to one lucky reader, that will be announced in the next few days too, so keep checking the blog!

Are you inspired to make your office beautiful?

Office Organizing: Part 7 – Lists

{Photo from MomAgenda}

The final piece of this 7 part series of Office Essentials is lists.  You know the ones: your lists of calls to make, appointments to schedule, things to do, who needs to go where and when (AKA-your calendar), and your shopping list just to name a few.  Here are some of my favorite picks for keeping track of yourself and your families’ schedules.

{Photo from MomAgenda}

To-Do’s and calendars converge in the hip and helpful Mom Agenda allowing Mom to keep track of projects, appointments, and things to do all in one place.  There’s even space at the bottom to write your dinner menu for the week!  Although many people are using calendars and note systems on their phones there are still many people who would prefer to write things out and the MomAgenda can do the job beautifully.

{Photo above from Planner Pad}

The Planner Pad also combines both your calendar and your tasks.  The Planner Pad allows you to separate your tasks into different groups or categories which I really liked.  So you could create a category for each family member if you wanted to in order to keep track of their activities and projects.  You can visit the Planner Pad web-site if you are interested in learning more about it or see my blog post “Planner Pad is Worth a Try”

Last but not least is the most nourishing list of them all: your weekly menu and grocery list.  By planning in advance what’s for dinner you are saving yourself headaches of figuring it out at the last minute and ending up with take-out again!  When you start planning your weekly menu you will also find that your grocery trips decrease!  Before I started menu planning my husband and I were going to the grocery store just about every day!  Now I purchase the items we need for 3-4 days.  This has saved my both time and sanity.  Weekly menu’s/grocery list should be easy to find at your local super store, office store, and even many craft stores.  But in case you just have to have one right now I have created one you can print yourself.  Click her for the PDF.

I hope this has you inspired you to try to find the right system to manage ALL those lists in your life!
Have you tried one of these planners?  Let me know what you think.

Office Organizing: Part 6 – Desk Supplies

{Photo from Kootut Murut}

You've probably hear the saying "everything has a place and everything in its place".  So of course this rings true with your office or desk supplies.  But how do you corral all those pens, clips, scissors and other supplies while still maintaining a beautiful space? I'm glad you asked!  Pictured above blogger Jutta from Kootut Murut (she lives in the Netherlands) shows how you can paint ordinary jars making them perfect for holding some of your office supplies like pens, pencils, markers, and scissor.  Since pens just so happen to be one of the biggest clutter offenders I see in people's homes these little jars might be a nice way to keep the pens to a minimum.  Only keep what fits in these lovely jars.  I love these colors!  Wouldn't this be cute with baby food jars?

{Photo above from Chez Larsson}

Benita from Chez Larsson used a collection of white glasses and a sweet little apple dish to keep her supplies close, cozy, and tidy!