Organizing Stationary: Get it Together

I've been going through a lot of my things since I've moved and have realized that for someone who hates clutter, I'm not as organized as I thought! I'm constantly finding things I didn't know I had because I didn't have a good, organized way to store them. If like things are stored together in one place in a way where everything is visible, you'll always know what you have. It's that simple!

I've found a lot of greeting cards that I've forgotten about in the past week- many several years old. I've also lost track of cards I've purchased only days before because I didn't have anywhere to put them. I needed a system quick if I was going to keep up with the increased correspondance that comes with moving far from your family and friends.

So, I went to Staples and found this little guy:

It was perfect for storing cards. It was long enough for those long, skinny cards and about four inches deep to provide ample storage. Instead of having fixed dividers like those accordion files, this box had free floating labeled dividers that allow you to make each section as large as you need it.

Originally my plan was to just organize my greeting cards, but after searching through my boxes of stationary I realized that the problem was much larger. I, in fact, did not need to buy two new boxes of stationary- I already had a ton and had no idea! This is what I had to condense: two photo boxes of miscellaneous stationary, a shopping bag full of personalized stationary for the wedding, and two brand new sets of cards along with all of my greeting cards found all over the house.

First things first, I came up with a list of labels for the dividers after seeing what I had- best to do this on paper first so you don't have to get out the whiteout. I only made labels for holidays I knew I would be buying multiples of. I also designated sections to cards that I would stockpile. Sometimes its hard to find a good sympathy or I just can't say no to a funny birthday card- now I have a place to put my stash. Here's what I decided on for my box:

• Blank- both greeting cards and sationary
• Birthday
• Congrats/Celebrations- includes wedding, baby cards
• Get Well
• Sympathy
• Thank You
• Valentine's Day
• Easter
• Mother's Day
• Halloween
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas

You will save a ton of room and be able to actually see everything if you take things out of the original packaging. My photo boxes were full of boxes of stationary that only had a few cards left and the way they were stacked made it hard to see what was there. I put all of my stationary into the file box with the blank cards, making it much easier to see all the pretty things I had. I only kept cards in the boxes that I could use decoratively later. I stored my personalized stationary in one of the photo boxes for safe keeping.

For the smaller sets of cards, I place the card under the flap of the envelope to keep them together. For larger sets of cards, I simply used a rubberband to secure them so they didn't get mixed up.

In the end, I had a beautifully organized and much smaller stack of stationary! My brain instantly felt at ease.

To finish of my little box, I'm going to tape a printed list of all holidays, birthdays and other yearly occasions on the underside of the flap. I also want to jazz it up a little- maybe a decorative bit for the clasp, some washi tape stripes and a pretty label!

I hope I've inspired you to get organized! How do you organize your stationary?

Link Up
The Blackberry Vine
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Making the World Cuter
Between Naps on the Porch
Skip to my Lou
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Randee's Organized Chaos
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Inspired by Felicity