A lil' more organized

Friends...
Right now, as I was typing (well, reading all of your blogs, first) a HUGE branch fell off of our tree and landed on our neighbors fence. You see - we are in the middle of a fairly bad ICE STORM. Ew. God has constantly had His hand of protection over us... the branches ALWAYS fall either to the left or the right onto our neighbors fences...and NEVER on our home. PRAISE BE TO GOD! (because those are some big branches) Not to worry, tho. Everything will be alright.

Anyway, this morning I wanted to share two more organization ideas that I have recently incorporated into my newly organized life. (bah - don't look at my living room this morning...) We can't have it all together at once, can we?! :) Ahem... One is the coupon organizer and the other is making the most of storage space.
This little coupon book to the left here is very helpful to me. I know ladies who have very extensive binders, trapper keepers (remember those), photo album type things... but, this works for me. And the key is not to do what everyone else does - but find what works for you. So, last year I purchased this small coupon keeper from Gooseberry Patch and it has been doing a great job. There are dividers for each "section" of food things and an added section for "restaurants/misc" which I love to slip in all those gift cards, date night ideas, etc. I used to take just the coupons I was planning on using to the grocery store - but recently I've been taking this whole book. It's small enough to fit in my purse and now that I have ALL my coupons on hand I am finding better deals that I can actually take advantage of. Nothing worse then seeing and deal, knowing you have the coupon AT HOME, and having to settle for something else. {pout, pout} Here's a look inside... Nothing too fancy, but very helpful. Need more coupon-controlling ideas? I'd LOVE for you to hear about my binder-lady friend, Miss Amy...she is on the ball with this stuff!

Next... using storage wisely and to the max! When we bought this house some of the selling points for me were: 1) the built ins! 2) the big basement 3) two car detached garage. I loved those three things because I figured we'd have plenty of space to keep our stuff, and keep it well. Meaning, coats won't mold if left forgotten for 3 years. (why yes, that HAS happened to us) My most favorite thing is our hutch in the dining room - it has 3 large pull out drawers and two smaller ones towards the top. Here's a peek - and yes, we are still trying to decorate so I'm not set on this whole picture frame haven look. :) Anyway, in the last few weeks I have gotten my act together and made this space into an awesomely organized storage machine! Top right small drawer is now for games and our one lone phone book, top large drawer is gift bags, wrapping paper and small gifts to be given, middle drawer is for table linens and small crafts and bottom drawer is now home to ALL of my reusable shopping bags. Wanna see? This is so helpful for me. If I need a quick gift bag I can now just go to my drawer and pick one - rather then trudging through our disaster of a basement to find the big box full of them. Same with games. And since I'm constantly using the shopping bags it just makes sense - and clears out some space under our sink for other things. And this project took all of 2 hours. :) {sigh} The feeling of being organized is a good one. Now, I just need to conquer that basement...
I'd love to hear your organization ideas. Coupons, storage, etc. I'm always looking for new ideas as I'm new to this whole home owning thing... :) Happy Wednesday!