I have learned to just tune out this counter. I am pretty good at ignoring it, I'll clean it off a couple times a month when I'm looking for something. Otherwise, there it sits in all it's junky-ness.
The past two weekends I've been painting our main living area. We have an open floor plan so the living room, dining room, and kitchen are getting a fresh coat of paint. In preparation, I started cleaning everything and organizing as I went along. The junk counter was my favorite project because it didn't take me much time and it made a huge difference!
The method I used for organizing it is the same method I use everywhere- in my car, the kids closets, my closet, etc.
First, I remove everything and sort as I go. Here you can see my piles on the kitchen table. I had a pile for receipts & bills, kids art work, pens & pencils, important papers (like the school snack calendar), things to go to other parts of the house, and a pile for trash.
Next, I started putting things back, but in a proper place.
I have never had boxes or baskets on the counter before so I got a couple of "in-boxes" at Target (one for my stuff and one for KC). To the right side of this picture (below) you can also see the small cups I used to gather pens/writing utensils and the random things I find that I know need a home- I just might not know where that particular screw or stopper came from.
I also got a wooden tray that is large enough to keep the kids' art work in. I will eventually photograph this for a kids art book, but this keeps it corralled until I have time for that. I also plugged in our phone chargers so that those chords weren't tangled anymore.
When papers come in backpacks or in the mail we are able to sort them and when the pile grows too large, we sort through. The important thing about organizing is that it works for you. This is working for us.
Here are the before and after shots again. Can you feel the chaos leaving the space? I can! :)
Before
After
Great post! :) Is that pouch thirty one?
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