Organizing Solution--Chalkboard Clipboards

Keeping track of papers on my desk has always been an issue for me.  I constantly feel like my desk surface spontaneously generates a mixture of coupons, pretty pictures, and grown up paperwork.  In an effort to turn the crazy into order, I came up with the following solution:

It's SUPER easy to execute.  All you have to do is:

1. Buy traditional hardboard clipboards.  (Fun fact: clipboards are twice as much at Staples as they are at Office Depot!  At least, this was true when I did my price matching.)
2. Paint clipboards with chalkboard paint.  This a) turns ugly brown clipboards into more attractive black clipboards and b) allows for easily changeable labeling!
3. Hang clipboards with clear 3M command hooks.  (I promise 3M is not paying me for an endorsement--I'm just obsessed with how easy they are to use!)
4. Label clipboards with chalk, and then load up with papers!

I love how it clears up horizontal space on my desk, and also gives me a visual reminder of things like to-do.  Also, because they are clipboards on hooks, you can easily take down a clipboard to tackle that to do list and empty out the clipboard!

Simple Bracelet Solution

I recently decided to attempt to wear more bracelets, so I dug out my box of old assorted jewelry to find some.  I went through a huge bracelet phase in high school, but haven't really used them to accessorize in a long time.  (I think part of the reason for this is that I had the wonderful honor of having to wear wrist braces for a year or two due to carpal tunnel, and that period of time broke me of the habit of putting anything else on my wrists.  Gawd I'm cool.)  I've been seeing the trend of layering tons of bracelets on your arm, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  The result:

I kinda like the look, but halfway through the evening I realized that the majority of the bracelets on my wrist were purchased and worn during the golden age of 1999-2001, also known as junior high.  Thus, the following conclusions: a) I do indeed have slight hoarding tendencies, as these bracelets survived the mass cleansing of personal items that happened before my move a year ago and b) If you hold onto something long enough, it WILL become fashionable again.  Who knew power beads could be worn in the new millenium?

After rocking this look for a night and making 13 year old manda OH SO PROUD, I decided I needed a better way to store bracelets to encourage future bracelet wearing.  They currently were shoved away in a box, allowing my "out of sight, out of mind" tendencies to reign supreme--so I wanted something in plain sight.  Enter 40 cent IKEA solution!

I bought a pair of these vases for 40 cents each in the As-Is section of IKEA about a month ago, and they make for the perfect solution!  I can quickly throw bracelets on and off the vase,  and keep them in sight so I remember to add bracelets to my outfit in the morning.  And so, a simple solution to enable...err...encourage my accessory addiction!

Rainbow Bookshelves

A few weeks ago I helped one of my biffles pick up some IKEA bookshelves she bought off the internet from a couple in the city.  As we met the couple selling them to her, the guy mentioned that he used to organize his books by color, until he got sick of all of his friends making fun of him.  As rainbow order is my organizational technique of choice, I immediately decided this dude was pretty cool.  (I also empathized with the made-fun-of part, as I've had coworkers make fun of me for color coding my apartment keys in the order you use them to open the doors...in my defense, it takes 5 keys to get into my apartment!)  But his comment got me thinking about how one day I'd love to have an entire wall of bookshelves, filled to the brim.  Because my apartment is fairly small, the majority of my books are currently being stored in a closet in boxes...not the most user friendly method.  But, I am resolved to eventually have something like this!

Source

Is that not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?  I love the junction of form and function, as the books become a focal point in the room!

In related news, I've been working on slowly collecting the Penguin Classics books...I love their modern and graphic colors.  They'd fit nicely in being arranged by rainbow order!