feeling like its easier to breathe

ok I'm pulling an Amber and posting twice in a day!  I think I deserve it after all I accomplished today!  I am actually pretty proud of myself for saying I was going to get organized and then DOING it.  (Amber, I think your comment about getting all your papers organized helped motivate me a little bit, too!)  I have a lot more projects to tackle as we pack, but I am super happy about getting this done!  This is what our "office area" looked like this morning:

This was just the beginning.  See the stacks of hanging folders in the top left corner?  Yeah, doesn't look too bad in the picture, but thats all our papers from the last 4 years, plus some that we individually had before we got married.  I printed out a list from online about when to get rid of what documents and started sorting my piles by the types on the list.  I started a recycling pile, and a HUGE shredding pile (I didn't take a picture, but I have a diaper box full of paper to shred next week).  In the end, I got all of our regular yearly statements that we shred annually into this file box (top right with red top) with some room to spare:

This box will probably go somewhere tucked away, because I don't need to get at those documents on a daily basis.  The box to the left has weekly folders for me to keep track of incoming mail and bills:

My cute binder from walmart with all of our family information also sits in this box.  I finally compiled all the information that when I need I spend too much time searching for.  I put a page with all of our past addresses (for some people, this might seem like too much, but this will be our 7th move in 4 years!), and past employment information (I switch jobs a lot, too). I also put our christmas mailing list and a copy of our card from last year (so I do something different!) and a file for each member of our family with our birth certificates/current photo/other ID.  We should probably have it in a box somewhere, but this will do for now and I know exactly where it is.

see my cute binder?  it makes me happy to pay my bills!

I did spend about $7 on this box from Walmart, because I wanted a small box to keep all of our taxes together in.  I might put cuter paper in it someday, but theres probably not really much point.

And this is how it sits on our desk for now, with our receipt folder for Jeremy's work expenses and another small folder for coupons (which I am determined to start using this year).  My planner is also handy right underneath them.

Ha, sorry for all the pictures, but I was just so HAPPY to have this organized.  It has been only slightly organized since we've been married, and I finally feel like everything is contained and easy to find!  When we move I'm going to have a desk JUST for mail/paying bills/writing center, and it will be so wonderfully neat and  hopefully make it easy for me to continue with this system!

Oh and here is Shea with his haircut.  I just cut the back and sides but left the front long..I think he looks a lot older with it though - or maybe he is just growing up right in front of me!

He was having fun snuggling with his dad, but cried every time I tried to take a picture

And after his bath tonight I let him run around the house naked.  He was having SO much fun, I took a 5 minute video. haha, I'm sure I will be blackmailing him with that some day.  But he just cracks himself up when he's naked for some reason.  I guess because I don't let him just hang out that way that much - too scared he's going to pee on something.  I'd show you some of the other cute pics, but they're a little bit x-rated :P

We went and put our deposit down on the house today and walked through it once more.  I love it even more and am SO excited!  They even painted the upstairs since we had been there and it is way nicer looking.  Can't wait to share pics with you girls when we move in!  I can't believe its only 2 weeks away!