Donating useless things is the cornerstone of my Simple Year project. But I’m also trying to improve my approach to dealing with things I need and want to keep. Today I decided to focus on craft and office supplies, notebooks and papers. I either don’t have designated homes for these items, or the spaces I’ve chosen don’t work well. I have a thing for tote bags so I decided to rethink the ones I’ve been using and think of something to do with a newer bag. I like this strategy so I am going to see if I can use it more throughout the house with other items.

This is what I started out with.

The two Thirty-One totes were crammed with Girl Scout supplies and general mess. The small green notebook had two lives, first for a photography class I took years ago, and more for notes I used during my very brief and mediocre basketball coaching career. It’s nearly filled so it went into the recycling bin. The aqua binder has all my home-related lists and notes, including my menus, and the purple notebook is where I jot down all my Simple Year ideas.

I have a desk in our office/library, but lately I’ve preferred to work in the kitchen because it gets better natural light . We have a nice table in our living room where we sometimes have dinner and play games, and I like to work there too. Because I work in three different spaces and I’m messy at heart, I tend to leave a mess of papers, notebooks and supplies in my wake. Several months ago I came across this idea, and my husband was nice enough to pick up a caddy for me at Sears. Of course, the caddy has been sitting unused for a while, but I decided to centralize my most-needed things in here, and I think it will work well.

Pens, tape, stapler, scissors and a few other important things.

Mine’s not as pretty as the one you’ll see at the link, but I don’t care. This is functional and that’s enough.

I’m in my third year as a Girl Scout leader, and I love it. For the first two years I was reasonably well-organized but this year I have not been able to find my groove. Somehow I ended up with two bags for all my supplies, though my handbook and the notebook I bring to trainings and leader meetings often floated from location to location, making it hard for me to find them when I needed them.

I sorted through everything because I was still lugging around supplies from two badges ago. I keep an overstuffed box of supplies in my laundry room, which I need to rethink. But for now, I have all the basics in one bag. Scissors, pens and tape are in the little cosmetic bag. Cosmetic bags are one of the things I liked to collect, and I pared them down a lot in January but now I wish I had thought of using them for supplies. I was glad to at least find this one.

This bag has never been so neat.

Finally I put my home binder and notebooks in the Uniqlo bag, which I got for free when a new store opened. I really didn’t need another bag but it’s a great size and I really like it. My laptop will fit too if I ever decided to go work at the library or a coffee shop.  I’m chairing a PTA event, which will be over next month, so for now the folder with all the papers I need is in the Uniqlo bag too.

My work life, sorted into three bags.

I now need to find good spots to keep the bags. I’d been keeping the Brownie bag in the coat closet, but stuff kept falling out. I’m thinking about keeping it in the car then bringing it in the house to include supplies when needed. So far I’ve done a pretty good job of maintaining the spaces I’ve already worked on, so I am hoping to say the same about my new bag system. Stay tuned, next Monday I will issue my first progress report.