Things I Love Thursday: Our Home Organizer

When we moved into our house, there was an odd little wall on the side of the oven, right next to our dining area, that we weren’t really quite sure what to do with. We put our trash can there, but the majority of the wall still seemed too bare.  I am a big list-maker (in fact, I first contemplated writing this post solely about how much I love lists in general!) and decided to get a message board to put up. I found one at Target that is half white board, half cork board.

I don’t think we had any idea at the time what a hub this would be for our family. It is such a great way to keep up with what we need to do and where we need to be – not to mention a great place to display a regular rotation of J’s artwork.

Here’s what our board looks like right now:

On the cork board side we’ve got some coupons, paint samples (for painting the trim on our house, which I am INCREDIBLY excited about… but that’s another post), a save the date card, a photo of my friend and her adorable family, and J’s latest masterpiece, a handprint umbrella. I also have a “FAITH” Christmas ornament that we keep up year-round to remind us of what’s important – especially when things get really hectic.

On the white board side we keep three lists – To Cook, To Do, and To Buy. The first is a list of meal options for the week – just main courses, because we usually have a lot of frozen veggies on hand so we pick whatever sounds good. After I get home from the grocery store each week I always update this list. The “to do” list is just what it sounds like – projects to complete around the house, usually, but sometimes it will include other things  like reminders to send birthday cards. The “to buy” list is where we jot down things we realize we need during the week between grocery trips. It’s been great for keeping us from forgetting to add things to our shopping list. Here’s a close-up of the white board:

Every family will find the method of organization that works best for them, and for us this has been wonderful. It’s definitely a thing I love!