Filing the Unfileable

I struggle to keep my home organized.  In reality it isn't very organized at all, but I know where to find most things.  I tend to have piles of things everywhere.  Things I want to keep or have to keep for some reason, but don't know where to put them.

I know that I simply need to have a home for everything I own, but I just lack the knowledge of where those homes should be.  Part of what makes this especially difficult for the majority of my piles is that most of the things that need to be stored together, need to be periodically accessible, climate controlled, or contain things of various sizes.  For example:

So I can't just file them away in my filing cabinet.  I've tried that.  It really doesn't work.   My solution:  spend some money.  Happy Birthday to me!  (I'm "thrifty," to put it politely.  So this was a tough decision for me.)  I think it was worth it.  Especially since I lucked into a sale.

I bought twelve Bigso Stolkholm Letter Boxes.  Two each in red, orange, green, turquoise, navy, and plum.  I wish they had yellow too, to complete my rainbow, but they look great even without it.

Now those ugly, messy piles of paper, etc. that made me feel so bad and unproductive every time I looked at them, now make me feel so good.  Not only because I found them a home, but I love the rainbow colors and they brighten both my home and my attitude.

Eureka! moment: As I was going to take pictures to show off my pretty rainbow boxes I didn't want you to see the post-its I had used to label two of the boxes.  They looked messy, and that was not the point of the picture of my pretty home for things I'm keeping.  (Feel free to ignore the pile of books.  I do.)

I know I used the post-its because I didn't want to waste the little card labels that came with the awesome, pretty boxes.  Ridiculous!  Especially since the little cards each had two blank sides.  Enough for a redo whenever needed.

Still I hesitated to actually label those two boxes.  They are only partially full, and my brain kept telling me I might want to change the way I've labeled them.  Then, Eureka!, my brain remembered that I use Frixion pens for my planner and I could spare a little of my precious Frixion ink and label my pretty boxes with erasable ink.

Now I've gone ahead and labeled all of the boxes, and they all look so much better.  Don't you think?  (Yes, I've straightened the boxes.  This is the "pretty" picture. No, I didn't bother to take care of the books.  This picture isn't about them.)