September 20, 2010

Mail Organization Hanging Pocket

One of the big challenges we have in our house is keeping all of our mail and paperwork organized. There are all kinds of documents, magazines, coupons, letters and bills that I want to hang onto but we can never seem to keep organized. We have a filing system for important paperwork we want to keep for the long run, but no good place to put the little things, like the daily mail.

I have been drooling over these wood wall pockets from Ballard Design to solve our organization problem, but the $50 price tag is a little steep ($90 for the four pocket version).


This weekend I stumbled upon a much cheaper system to try.  I found this little wire basket at a garage sale for just 50 cents:

While it's not as stylish as the beautiful Ballard mail sorting pockets, I figured it would be a good temporary solution to help me figure out if shelling out 50 bucks for the Ballard wall storage pockets is worth it.  In fact, it even reminded me of another Ballard organizational piece, their wire wall pocket:


  However, I wasn't really feeling the dark finish of my wall pocket:


I decided to spruce up this baby with my old friend, white spray paint:


Once the paint was dry, I found a little nook in my kitchen to hang up my new paper and mail organization system (on the wall where my summer fun list formerly hung):

So far I'm loving my 50 cent storage investment!  If this little hanging organizer can keep my mail sorted, I may invest in the pretty Ballard hanging pockets, but for now I will enjoy my cute little wire basket and organized mail!

How do you store and organize your mail and household paperwork?  I can always use some organization advice, so do tell!


This project is shared on Southern Hospitality, Today's Creative Blog, Silly Little Sparrow, Picture Worth 1000 Words, All Thingz Related, and Sugar Bee.  Stop by these great sites to visit some of the other projects featured.

6 comments:

Anita @ GoingALittleCoastal said...

Wow, you can't beat .50!! I think it looks great with the white paint.

Unknown said...

I love this...it is simple, but very stylish!

Thanks for linking to 2nd Time Around!

Vintagesouthernlife said...

Cute idea! I like it white.

Katie @ This Chick Cooks said...

This is cute! 50 cents is a great deal :)

Anonymous said...

its very cute and does the job perfectly...maybe you can distress it a bit and hot glue a small letter or number plaque to the front of the basket a la Ballards Design.

Jenny @ DIY Newlyweds said...

Totally agree, I've been looking for a little label plaque to add to it!