You know how expectant mothers go through a whole nesting phase?  Well I feel like I’m doing that in anticipation of our fast-approaching move in date, but only backwards.  After living in our temporary home (Charles’ grandfather’s house that my in-laws are gracious enough to “lend” us rent-free!) for almost 9 months, I have finally started to organize.

I guess for so long I was in denial that our temporary home was actually still a home to us.  As grateful as we are for this free place to live (and trust me, we are SO grateful), I have not felt like a true homeowner yet.  It still feels like we’re renting, living in someone else’s house.  That moment when we finally lock up the doors, turn off the lights, and lay our heads down in our Park Avenue house is going to be so surreal.  I’m sure it will take some getting used to…and some pinching myself to make sure it’s real!  I seriously cannot wait.

But back to the organizing.  When January 1 hit, all of a sudden I had a minor panic attack that all of our crap was in 4 different locations.  Some is at Park Avenue, some is in our current house, some is at Charles’ parents’ house, and some is at my parents’ house.  Whew, that’s exhausting just saying it.  I felt so very unorganized, which, if you know me at all, you know I hate.  So to cope, I just started organizing anything I could get my hands on!

I started with a new little mail station.  It’s nothing fancy, just a place for us to automatically sort our mail, which is important since we have mail coming to about 3 different locations right now!  There’s a “To Pay” folder, a “To File” folder, and an “Unsorted” folder for our lazy days.  Plus I have a folder, Charles has a folder, and Charles’ grandfather has a folder (he still gets mail there, and we take it to him at the retirement home).  On the front, I’ve attached a monthly calendar, which also includes dates that bills are due.  I must be the biggest nerd, because coming home and sorting the mail has become a real thrill to me.  I know, it’s sad.

The next stop on my list was our filing cabinet.  Charles and I are both pretty good about saving what needs to be saved, but we both had gotten in the habit of just throwing it in the drawer with the intent to file it later…which of course never happened.  So over the weekend I organized all of our important documents, and broke everything down into 7 main categories: Park Avenue, Joint Financial, CPG Financial, SPG Financial, CPG Work, SPG Work, and Miscellaneous.

Next, I picked up a bunch of these little plastic baskets for $1 at Target and started using them anywhere and everywhere, like to organize the medicine cabinet and my nail polishes.

Then I turned my organizational prowess to our finances.  I kept finding printables here and there that I liked, but I couldn’t find one place that had everything.  And you know I can’t have that stuff all mismatched!  So I created my own.  They are so simple and definitely nothing special, but it made me happy to get all of this information in one place.

First I created a tracker for monthly bills.  This helps us in our budget to know what we are spending each month.  (Hint: the “A” column is to note whether or not it is an automatic draft.)  This tracker is especially important for us right now, since we are paying two electrical bills, two water/trash bills, and two gas bills (one for each house).  I also created a quick guide with all of our account information for easy access.

Next I created two trackers to help us with our tax preparation.  This will help keep all of our donations, expenses, etc. in one place so that we can easily see what we’ve spent at the end of the year.

Up next?  I’m hoping to tackle our gift wrap box.  It needs a lot of help after the holidays! Here’s a little inspiration:

{via}

{via}

{via}

I’d also really love to snaz up our filing cabinet a bit.  Maybe something like this:

{via}

{via}

{via}

PS- The above printables are free for your use! Enjoy!

Linked here.