Hi there! Welcome to another January Organizing Challenge.

During the month of January we're organizing papers and today I'm showing you how I organize my inspiration.

Now before I go into showing you how I organize the inspiration that I find in magazines and such, let me explain how I organize the inspiration that I find on the web.

ORGANIZING WEB INSPIRATION

I’m sure that most of you have heard of Pinterest. If not, here's their words explaining what Pinterest is all about: "Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. People use pinboards to plan their weddings, decorate their homes, and organize their favorite recipes. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests."

ORGANIZING ALL OTHER INSPIRATION

Even though I do enjoy Pinterest, I find all kinds of inspiration through magazines and such. Below, I'll explain how I organize it all.

his one is another semi-easy task. All you need is a few binders, sheet protectors and page dividers.

(and long before Pinterest came around, if I found something that inspired me online, I would print the page and file in my binders.)

In the front of my binder I have a printable page that I created to keep track of some of my very favorite websites.

The very first binder I have is for any Decorating Inspiration that I find in magazines and such.

I sort the inside of the binder with dividers by room. As I go through magazines, if there's something that catches my eye, I tear the page out, pop it into my 3 hole puncher (or I use clear sheet protectors) and insert into my binder. I keep very few magazines in my home. If I want to refer back to something that interests me, the pages will be here in my inspiration binders.

I've created a separate binder for my organizing inspiration too.

again this binder is sorted with dividers by room.

This tear out is from a pottery barn magazine. I loved those buckets on the shelf and this page was my inspiration for my upstairs toy room. I've already shared parts of that toy room showing you what I used to create a similar look, but at a fraction of the cost.

and here's a little more of the organizing inspirations manual.

Now... going onto my creating & party inspiration binder...

this one is divided with colorful dividers...

... and sorted by inspirations that I would like to create, birthday party inspiration, baby or wedding shower ideas, scrap booking, card making ideas and other.

I simply add the inspiration that I find inside each section.

and my last inspiration binder includes

any outdoor & gardening inspiration that I find in magazines and such.

:)

The Better Homes & Garden magazine that I read often has container ideas AND what I love so much is that they tell you what each plant is. So... yep, you guessed it, I tear the page out and add it inside my outdoor & gardening binder.

There you have it. That's how I organize my inspiration.

Oh yeah and I almost forgot... I've talked about organizing my recipe inspirations on the blog before too.

Okay... now that I shared this post. It's your turn:

Get a few binders, dividers , sheet protectors and a 3 hole punch
Decide how you will divide the binders. I gather a lot of inspiration, so I've created 5 different binders. (Decorating, Organizing, Creating & Party, Outdoor & Gardening and Recipe Inspiration) Remember you can choose how many binders you'd like to use and how you want to sort them.
Gather all your magazines and whatever else inspires you and go through each one, tearing out pages and adding them to the proper binder. Once you've done this to each magazine you have, simply throw out or recycle that magazine.

The other day, a reader asked me where I keep all the binders that I create, which is actually a great question. I keep all of these binders in my craft room/office closet on a tall bookcase. I'm not sure if you remember seeing that closet here on my blog before, but it no longer looks the way it did a few years back.

Like I've said before, organization is a process and as my life/needs change, so does the organized spaces in my home.

If you don't have a bookshelf or some certain space that would work for you to store the binders, you can organize your inspiration into file folders and place the folders into a file box or cabinet.

What I share with you on how I organize my papers may not necessarily work for you in your home (you may not have the room to store lots of binders, etc.) It's simply just a way to (hopefully) inspire you to organize that area/space and make it work for you.

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,

DaNita