Does anyone else have one of “those baskets?” You know…the one where you throw all incoming mail, school papers, receipts, etc. Let me show you how I created a great filing system on a wall in my kitchen. This is only for short-term filing….bills needing to be paid, recent receipts, tax info for the next return…you get the idea. Long-term filing goes in file boxes at our house. Honestly, those are quite organized, but I struggle to keep on top of the daily paperwork. Here’s my plan:

Each day when I get the mail I will decide if it will go in recycling, in long-term filing or in one of the folders in my new wall “mailboxes.” Then every Monday I will check these folders and handle each item accordingly. I have found that “out of sight, out of mind” is a problem. My thought is that by having my filing system in plain sight and a good plan, I will not miss the important stuff.

A simple hack

I picked up some great wall boxes from Target’s Hearth and Hand collection from Magnolia. Don’t you just love the mix of metals? Beautiful design, Joanna Gaines!! I used masking tape to mark the holes for hanging with little dots. (Check the photo above.) Then I removed my strips of tape from the boxes and attached them to my wall, using a level to keep them straight. All that was left to do was to poke monkey hooks into the wall where my dots were. I have told you about these amazing hooks before, but I am going to tell you about them again! These mailboxes did come with hollow wall anchors, but monkey hooks are SO EASY FOR ANYONE TO USE…even a beginning decorator.

Notice that each hook holds 20 pounds!

All that was left to do was to remove the masking tape, hang my boxes and fill them with attractive folders…also from the Magnolia collection. Again…beautiful design, Joanna Gaines! These were slightly too wide for the mailboxes, so I did need to trim the tabs just a schniggle to make them fit. I also picked up some clips to attach at the bottom of each folder to keep papers from falling out when I take them in and out of my boxes because the folders are technically intended to be used horizontally.

The finished look!!!

I chose this spot in our kitchen because the cabinet shown in the photo below houses all of our office supplies, including our printer behind one of the cabinet doors. Look closely, and you will see our measurements on the wall that we made before my hubby gave me the awesome giant ruler. Also notice that I didn’t remove the tape before I took pictures! I got too excited to see what they were going to look like on the wall. 😉

Whatcha think? I would love to hear about how you handle your incoming paperwork!!! Wish me luck!

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Happy filing! God bless!