Get Yo' Organize On

Not sure about you, but my front hallway often looks like a bomb went off - like 5 of them.  The front hallway operates as a mud room, sports gear storage, shoe/backpack/coat dump site, office, mail sorting, and miscellaneous crap catcher.  One area I'm trying to improve is the mail organization.  I have a mail slot on my front door, so the mail is underfoot when you open the door each afternoon.  Then we pick it up and throw it on the front hallway table along with the newspaper, my purse, things to be signed for school, items to be filed, keys, an old sandwich, you get the picture.  Exhibit 1:

So my first project to correct this was to install some lucite/acrylic mailboxes along the entry.  I bought these from Target for only $2.99. 

It was actually very easy, I used a level to ensure they were straight and used Scotch Command Strips to hang them - they're super strong, you can move them if you change your mind, awesome product.

Then I added labels to each box so that I can quickly put things in their place.  If you don't own a label maker, you totally must - I get way more a kick out of using it than I should, but I love it and I think they're about $15-20 at Target, Walmart, Office Max.  For this application, it gives a much neater and sophisticated look to something that would probably be fairly sloppy looking if hand-written.

The boxes are: UNSORTED MAIL, SORTED MAIL, and MAGAZINES/CATALOGS.  

The SORTED MAIL box has some pretty file folders added for further sorting of bills to be paid, things to file, receipts for taxes, etc.

I think it turned out looking sleek and neat and will give me a CHANCE to stay a bit more organized and have a cleaner entry way.  More plans to come on getting coats/shoes/miscelaneous under control.  I'm also thinking of adding a few small hooks for keys, some sort of small bin that my hubs could put his wallet in and a heavy duty hook under these boxes for my purse.  Organized spaces are much easier to keep tidy.  (And you get to use a label maker!!!!)