organizing with clipboards

Sometimes I get frustrated by how little I can accomplish some days. I keep reasoning that if only Mr. G would take longer naps...I might be the most productive woman on earth. But then again, feeding my little bear cub, saving him from drowning in the toilet and other household hazards, keeping dipes clean, reading stories, and scaling the stairs together day in and day out is a mighty feat of productivity in and of itself.

I used to feel like a failure of a mama because the lad took such pathetic naps. To this day, he almost never naps for more than an hour and almost always sleeps for less, despite my best attempts at putting him to sleep in a consistent place at consistent times with white noise, a dark room, a security object and all. I'm over that now (feeling like a failure that is...the napping rituals still hold true). Once a cat napper always a cat napper I suppose.

The reason I drone on about my lack of get-to-itiveness is that I've been trying to post about my lovely new clipboards for the past week. And truth be told, I am a control freak to the core, plain and simple. I yearn to be more organized and efficient. That's why I was so inspired by this post over at the Creative Mama (one of my latest daily favs, btw) and also Marta's mini rendition that I simply had to experience these for myself.

Clipboards, ingeniously taking our messes to a whole new level, off the counter, on the wall, in a fancifully organized fashion. (p.s. I am beginning to feel like a one trick pony with all of the decoupaging I've been up to lately, but the possibilities are seriously limitless.)
Three full-sized clipboards, decoupaged with pretty scrapbooking paper, and labeled with my top 3 kitchen clutter-causing criminals: Market, Mail, and Meals.

My 'to Market' clipboard is where I vow to stick my

• coupons
• grocery store ads
• receipts
• weekly grocery list

Although we've transitioned to paying most bills online and are usually pretty good about immediately filing junk mail in the recycle bin, we still need a mail clipboard to hold:

• pretty invitations
• cards
• anything requiring follow-up or filing
  
• outgoing mail
  

Perhaps the biggest + best step toward a more organized existence: meal planning. I try to pick out 5-6 recipes that I want to make each week before finalizing the grocery list and hitting the store. It seems to save so much time during the week! Here is where I'll file:

• a list of this week's meals
• pertinent recipes
• magazine clippings or internet print offs of my latest discoveries

Lately I've been completely obsessed with printing out Real Simple recipes. This week, their Chicken Curry in a Hurry was a huge hit at our house. Definitely bridged the 2,123 mile gap between us and our favorite Indian place.