28 Reader Space: Jenna's Fantastic Filing System

Why do you organize?  Just pause for a minute before reading on, take a moment to think about it...

What did you come up with?

For me?  It's to make life easier.  To simplify.  To spend more time doing things I love {more organizing, lol}...

Organizing can really change the way you live your life.  And the best part is when you find a new system that works so well for you, that it's easy to maintain and you enjoy using it!

That's what was fortunate enough to happen to a very smart reader of mine.  She created a new system for her paperwork and now there is no turning back because she is hearting her time investment so much, that she gets excited to file!  Who knew right?!

Jenna wrote:

Hi Jen!

I was recently introduced to your blog and love, love LOVE all of your organization ideas and style. Your posts are so motivating and I can't wait to implement many of your ideas into my own home. I read your latest post about the binder challenge and it reminded me of a solution I came up with for our office. 

We recently moved across the country and a couple weeks ago I finally got around to organizing all of our files. Before we had a traditional hanging file cabinet with that was cluttered, overstuffed, and nearly impossible to find what we were looking for. An idea came to me to just use binders {one for each category} and sleeves to neatly store and display all of our papers {and other odd shaped things that would normally get lost in a hanging folder}. My husband was adamant about sticking with hanging files but I knew once I had everything organized, he would never want to go back.

Fast forward to today... and I cannot tell you how much simpler my life is! Filing is something I honestly look forward to now, and I even get excited when I have to look something up. It feels great to know that everything is in its place and so easily accessible {not to mention nice to look at while I'm sitting at my desk!}

I have included a before picture during the organizing process with all of our papers sorted for each binder, an inside shot of how I've utilized the sleeves within the binder, and a few outside shots of the new setup in my office. I also bought an adorable wall file holder from the container store to store urgent papers, with matching aqua striped file folders from Walmart. I would urge anyone who has trouble finding or sorting important papers to utilize this method, it's honestly a life saver!

I have more pics, info and cost breakdown of the process here in my blog: http://jennasuedesign.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-alternative-to-file-cabinet.html

Take care and keep the ideas coming! :)

Alright my friends, my favorite part!  Sharing the awesome story through photographs!

Here is Jenna getting her sort on!

Here is an example of the inside of one of her binders:

And here she is keeping all those binders all orderly and tucked away!!

Don't you just LOVE the pretty paper?  It made a huge difference I must say... here are the binders before she spruced them up a bit:

Completely organized!  And effective... and then with the help of a little paper... POOF!

Purely Lovely!

Um, I would want to keep those binders at my finger tips all the time too!  SO MUCH FUN!

And I am completely smitten with the other things she has done to make her space pretty and effective as well!

Great job Jenna and THANK YOU for sharing your solution to filing with us!  It's an incredible alternative for those looking to stray from traditional filing systems or for those that just don't have the space for a filing bin or cabinet!

It's also proof to what I consistently preach.  Life is easier through organization.  Simple as that.  And it doesn't have to be pretty to be organized, however, organization is more fun when it's beautified.  The end.

What do you think of Jenna's system?  Don't you just get crazy happy for individuals when they find incredible solutions that change the way they live!?


And a button for you:









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So what did you come up with?  Why do you heart organizing?  Anyone else spruce anything up with some pretty paper lately?

Want to be featured in a Reader Space edition?  Have an awesome organizing story to share?  I am looking for projects that have made a positive impact to your life.  Please send your story and photos to iheartorganizing@gmail.com and I would heart to feature them right here, on the blog!!  Photos should be high resolution and un-editted.  Please include a description of the project, including any costs, inspiration, and how it has changed your life and routine for the better!  Oh, and no worries my friends, we will NEVER judge "before" pictures because that just wouldn't be nice!  Only love goes on at this blog!  More Info HERE.