Sorted

One of our long-time organization issues has been mail sorting -- it seemed there were bits of paper strewn everywhere, for lack of a designated home! We finally tackled this issue with a customized mail/planning board, which now hangs in our kitchen.

The board itself is a piece of plywood banded with wood. A simple coat of wax gives it a bit of depth.

I printed a free calendar (there are oodles online!) on card stock. Having a settled place to write down all of our appointments has been such a help. A little galvanized tin can from Michael's holds our pencils. 

The dry erase board is a thin magnetic sheet (there's a metal plate from Home Depot underneath).

For the chore charts (used for Little Man and Rosa), I nabbed an idea from Ginny at small things (her sister used to sell similar boards on Etsy, but the shop seems to be closed now). The little brass hooks and vintagey tags appealed to me, and the littles love having their own boards! The wood is recycled pallet wood. We're still trying to figure out how best to use them, and honestly, the hardest part is for me to remember to put up the tags for them. I have a whole set of tags for each child (it's so easy to make more tags!) with a different washi tape on the back. When they've done the chore, they flip the tag.

The metal letter boxes are from World Market, and were the most expensive part of the project (even with a coupon code!). But after searching in vain for anything else that appealed to us and met our requirements, we purchased them -- and I love them! The bottom box holds coupons and flyers, and Pablo and I each have a box of our own.

I'm so pleased with how this came together, and how effective it has been. Nothing complicated, nothing fancy -- but it's also exactly what we needed (and nothing more). It's good to have it all sorted!