I think EVERYONE has that one spot in their house that they struggle to keep organized. Ours is our built in china cabinet. It’s the place we dump our keys, purses, wallets, mail, magazines, packages, and any odds and ends that haven’t found a place yet. (Any other believers in “a place for everything and everything in it’s place?”) Here’s our messy corner:

I got sick of looking at the mess, so I decided to tackle the project, and in just a few steps, I was able to make it look presentable. I realized that our bar would make a great mail management station, and would ease the eyesore of seeing this  massive mess the moment you walk into our home. The bar is right by the dining table and both entry ways, but its much smaller, making it more difficult to “pile file” on it.

 First- back to that rule of a “place for everything-“ I put the books where they belonged and the Etsy package in my daughter’s room. I also busted out the paper shredder, and destroyed anything that had personal information. If you deal with junk mail right away, it can’t multiply and overwhelm you quite so quickly. I’ve found that if the shredder is in an easy to access spot, you can manage the mail much more easily. I put mine in an out of the way spot behind our dining table so it’s not quite so noticeable.

Continuing with the thread of managing household papers, I found this really neat monitor stand that I’m using to hold important papers in for storage until I can put them into our filing cabinet, or keep them there for easy access if I need them sooner than later.

I’m a magazine addict- I subscribe to at least 10- so I always have something in my to be read pile. I found this clean lined, simple magazine holder where I can corral all my publications. I also get a fair number of catalogs (Pottery Barn, Anthropologie, and Boden come to mind) that I like to peruse for inspiration when I get a spare moment.

I added a few personal touches, like this sweet painting from L’Isle sur la Sorgue that my aunt picked up when we traveled together there when I was a little girl, a cool vintage frame, and a snap I took during our babymoon in Cabo San Lucas in 2014. I also placed an orchid because plants make me happy.

My built in cabinet now looks like this <big smile>:

This little clean up took less than  $30 and an hour. Never underestimate how much you can accomplish in little pockets of time! What little projects have you worked on that took a little bit of effort but gave you a whole lotta payout?