Losing track of the projects you want to get done around the house?  Us too!  As homeowners, my husband and I are constantly adding to a very long list of home projects and things we would like to get to around the house and yard.  The list had become overwhelming, the piles hard to manage, and some of our focus was getting lost.  So we created a file system for our ideas and to dos, and thus the “Home Projects” file was born!

Within our hanging file drawer system, the “Home Projects” file stores all of these great ideas and inspirations for around our home.  Having a place to stick those pictures, helpful articles and the research related to one project or another keep the pile under control and makes it easy to sort and track all of our ideas.

The file is made up of folders; one for each room or area of the house – living room, bathroom, landscaping and so on.  Tucked inside each of these folders is a main list of project ideas for the named area, followed by pictures, articles and research for those projects.  As we finish one project, we carefully flip through the folder and select the next one to tackle.  Having a system like this keeps us from losing track of our priorities and creates a routine for maintaining the seemingly endless list of things we need (or want) to do to make our house a home.

If you would like to create this kind of system for your household projects, here are some tips:

1. Start by collecting all of your ideas, articles and picture clippings into one pile.
2. Sort the pictures and articles by room/area of the home.
3. Weed through your collection of pictures and articles and make sure you are keeping only the ones that you either love or are possible.
4. Label each folder with the area and put related clippings inside. Use a small binder clip to hold multiple pieces related to one project together.
5. Create a separate list of the main ideas for each area and tuck the list inside the appropriate folder.
6. Label the outer folder “Home Projects” or the title that works best for you.
7. Set a time or date, maybe quarterly, to maintain the file.  Go through the folder and weed again, making sure projects and suggestions are relevant.

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