Organization On a Budget - DIY Daily System

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For about the last year or so, I have had my eye on Pottery Barn's Daily System (shown above). Unfortunately for me, I can't quite bring myself to cough up the money for this amazing system. For all the parts - yes, it is purchased in parts - that I want, would have me spending upwards of $200. I'm all for organization that is both attractive and functional - but I'm not down with dropping all my cash for that perk.

Which brings me to my first project to share!

It's not perfect or completely finished - but I couldn't hold back my excitement about my project any longer. I just had to share. So far I have invested a total $23 into my system and I'm pretty excited about that. In all fairness, I did have the giant sized cork board going unused in my basement already - as well as the paint - so I'm not including those in my total spent. You can find a cork board this size at discount stores for around $5-10 - still not a bad deal.

Here is what I did...

I have been wanting to do something with is awkward wall of mine since moving in 8 years ago (true story! Eight years and no ideas on my end). You can't see in the pictures, but there is only about 3 feet of walking space between that wall and another wall as well as the door to our basement. Nothing ever seemed to work. When I fell in love with the Daily System from Pottery Barn, Chris and I agreed that it would be a perfect fit for that wall. But neither one of us had any intention of actually buying the system - again - budget issues. So the wall remained empty and my fridge remained covered in papers.

Until.... A light bulb went off in my head and a realized I could use that old cork board and paint it the color of my walls with our tub of touch up paint! I ran right out into the garage and started painting. I decided to tape off the cork and paint the trim of the board white to add some contrast. Easy peasy. The whole painting part was finished in 30 minutes, start to finish.

Then I went on a search for hanging pocket folders that would mimic the style of the Daily Systems folders. It took a while but I finally found these!

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They were perfect! And at $9 a piece, worth it in my mind. They are heavy duty, match beautifully and work like a charm. I did have to attach them to the cork board with my glue gun because the adhesive backing was not sticky at all. You can also just use the giant push pins that come with it, but they are huge and sharp and I really don't want one of my children to accidentally come in contact with one of those ginormous sharp pins.

I found simple and easy to attach tiny command hooks for a key holder. This came about right when we "lost" our second set of keys. I think that helped drive home the importance of having a place for said keys so that didn't happen again in the future. Thankfully two weeks later the lost set magically appeared inside the pocket of a pink stroller. Hmmmnnn... Did I mention this is out of reach for the smaller people in our house?

This is in a high traffic area of our house, so we decided to drill it to the wall. I just painted over the screws.



When I finally get around to buying more ink for my printer, I will type out the labels to give this a nicer appearance. I'm also on the search for a pretty calendar and a way to hold pens to the board so I don't have to keep walking to the other side of the wall for them.

 All in all, I'm thrilled with this simple little system. My refrigerator is cleared off and looks awesome blank - my mom actually thought we bought a new one! It's amazing what a clear fridge does for the appearance of a kitchen. I also love that now all the paper work I need for each child is easy to find at a moments notice. When Stella starts school, I will just simply attach one more folder to the board.

Have a great day!
-Lisa

Did You Notice?

I took a summer hiatus.

First and foremost, I want to say thank you for still stopping by here! I am amazed at the amount of traffic this blog has had - even without activity on my end. I am hoping that the combination of school and baby napping will allow some regular posting.

 We have had a busier summer than I had anticipated. The funny part though, is that I can't really tell you exactly what consumed so much time - but in the blink of an eye, here we are, gearing up for school again. This upcoming school year is a big deal in our house. Miss Hannah will be in class five days a week - for the first time. I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but our children are a part of a dual language program. The children spend half their day learning in English and the other half in Spanish. Prior to Austin starting the program, no one in our house spoke a word of Spanish. We (Chris and I) are learning slowly, however Austin, who will be entering second grade this year, can carry on simple conversations fluently. It's amazing! They will stay in this program until 8th grade and then they can choose to continue on into high school if they want. This year is the first time dual language is being offered to preschool children and 90% of the day is in Spanish - so it's going to be a big adjustment and I'm really hoping Hannah transitions well.

In an effort to prep for the upcoming busy mornings and evenings, as well as multiple piles of paperwork, artwork and projects, I have been organizing, baking and cooking like crazy. Some of which I am excited to share with all of you and will do so over the rest of this week.

Are you doing anything to get ready for the school year? Do you have any time saving tips or ideas to share? Please do!

Happy Monday!
Lisa