I grew up in a family that gives cards for every occasion.

The big (what most people would call normal) events warranted two cards – one funny and one sentimental.  The lesser holidays – you know, like Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day or Arbor Day – only warranted a single card.

Because of growing up like this, I do love giving and receiving greeting cards.

But, what do you do with greeting cards after you’ve read them?

I don’t know the answer to that question.

In our immediate family, we no longer give greeting cards, and instead, have, what we call, Greeting Card Journals.

This is just one more idea that was not originally mine and that I got from friends (others being this, this and this).

Each family member has their own journal, and on an occasion that warrants a greeting card, family members write in that person’s journal.  So far, we’ve mostly just written in them for birthdays and anniversaries, but as our kids get older, I can see also writing in it on other “milestone” events.

Why Greeting Card Journals?

1. They Get Re-Read – It is not uncommon for my daughter to ask to have her “birthday book” read to her.  She loves to hear the words written to her by her mom and dad from when she turned 2 and 3 and 4.  Instead of having cards that sit in a box stuffed somewhere, these greeting card journals are easily accessible.  I have been known to grab mine off the shelf and read sweet, encouraging words to give me a pick-me-up on a tough day.
2. Less Clutter – These journals stay on a family bookshelf.  We don’t have to find a place to keep and pack away stacks of various sized cards.  And they look pretty on the bookshelf.
3. Cheaper – There is nothing special about these journals.  I got them at Target a few years ago for $8 each.  Most greeting cards are $3-$4.  You can do the math to see how quickly a journal becomes the more cost-effective solution.
4. Keepsake – If our house was burning (and everyone was out safe) and I had one minute to grab something before we got out, I’d grab these greeting card journals.  In those pages are some of the sweetest memories and words that any of us have.  These journals are a record, not only of some of our best days, but also of the people with whom we shared those days.  And written reminders of how much we love one another.  That is gold.

I still buy and send greeting cars to other family members.  And I still oboe getting cards in the mail from friends and family.  But, for our immediate family, who would otherwise exchange hundreds of cards over the coming decades, greeting card journals are much better way to go.

P.S. For those of you who still want to send greeting cards, here’s how I make sure that I don’t miss one.

French door refrigerators are the greatest invention since the wheel.  This may be a overstating things slightly.  But only slightly.

I love having my entire refrigerator at the top.  Like most of us who grew up in the 80’s, until the last decade, I’ve only known a freezer on the top 1/3 and the fridge on the bottom 2/3 of the unit.  A whole new world was opened up to me when some brilliant engineer decided to switch up those two locations.

I don’t love having a big drawer on the bottom.

It becomes a deep abyss of freezer-burned veggies, bread, fruit and waffles that I can never find when I need them.

The top half justifies the button, but a big drawer isn’t ideal.

So, let’s try to make the best out of a non-ideal situation.

Because I will get asked, I will start by saying that we have the Kenmore Elite 29.8 cubic foot French Door Refrigerator.  A unique feature is it’s two slide out trays, in addition to the lower drawer.  If your bottom drawer freezer isn’t like that, don’t let it be a deterrent.  Us the same tactics and tricks for your one drawer that I use for my two.

Rarely do I think that purchasing containment is the answer to most organizing problems, but this is the exception.

The size and position of bottom drawer freezers require a little more to achieve maximum usage.  Or, at the very least, to not be the bane of my existence.

Since I’ve now suggested finding some containment, I think you can guess what’s coming next…. If you’re going to purchase product, (say it with me…), MEASURE TWICE, PURCHASE ONCE.

Measure the length, width & depth of the trays and the deep drawer.  Search for products using these parameters.  There’s nothing exciting about doing math and looking for fine print in product descriptions, but it’s less exciting to think you found a solution and shell out cash, only to find it doesn’t do what you hoped it would.  (For my own failure with this, check out this embarrassing video.)

The containment that I used in my top freezer tray is mis-match of what I had lying around.

The multi-purpose bins that I use in the deep part of the drawer are second only to my beloved shoebox bins on my list of all-time favorite organizing products.  They are at the top of that list for the same reasons: A multitude of uses & they’re cheap!

Thankfully, these multi-purpose bins fit perfectly in the drawer of our freezer, so it was just a matter of deciding on a size configuration.

My brain thinks in categories, so the easiest way for me to divide up the mess of bags in the drawer was to divide it into food groups.

Our freezer drawer categories are Fruits, Veggies, Bread, Meat & Potatoes.

Yours may be breakfast, lunch & supper.  Or they can be divided up by color.  Whatever works for you works here.

Measuring and finding the containment will be the hardest part of this organization project.  Once you have the containment, taking your bottom drawer freezer from pile of Who-Knows-What to Place Where Food Can Be Easily Accessed should take you less than 20 minutes.  That’s the commercial breaks during a one-hour TV show.

What do you find to be the hardest part bottom drawer freezer organization?

P.S. Feeling ambitious?  Use these tips to organize your fridge.  Sick of wasting frozen food?  This is how we avoid that trap.

It’s a head-to-head race between kitchen and bathroom counters as to which gets used more.  Maybe that’s why it’s so hard to keep them clear.

In our home, the kitchen is the center of everything and the kitchen island is the first flat surface as we enter, which is an equation for everything getting dropped there.

I am a big believer in using spaces for which they’re created and in order to do that with kitchen counters, you have to have usable counter space.

5 Steps to Clutter-Free Kitchen Counters

Create a Place for the Stuff that isn’t Cooking/Food Related

I get it.  I totally do.  This is where we spend most of the time AND there’s a flat surface.  That’s the perfect recipe for stuff to land where it shouldn’t.

To combat that, create a “drop zone” for the items that are not food or used for cooking food.  Don’t over-complicate this.  Pinterest can be your best friend or your worst enemy in this situation.  It can be as simple as a mail tray that collects all the paper and 3 tiny hooks for keys.  That’s it.  Done.  No paint.  No DIY.

Another option is to use vertical space on the side of your cupboards.  I finally splurged and purchased a few pieces from Pottery Barn’s Daily System to put on the wall next to our fridge that is right inside our door.  By using the vertical space on the wall behind the door, we’ve created a landing zone.  Keys, wallets, sunglasses, mail, pens and even our iPad live here.

Make Items Earn their Right to Live on Your Kitchen Counters

Hold each item that currently lives on your counters, and weed out items that don’t get used often.  You get to decide what warrants “often”.

I get tight in the chest when there’s stuff all over my counters, so my rule is that an item has be used at least once a week to earn the place of living on the counter.

What doesn’t get used often gets stored in cupboards, drawers or closets with other like items.

Use Vertical Space

Look at what you have remaining and decide what could be hung under counters or on your backsplash.

This is a preference thing.

If you simply do not have enough cupboard space for what you need, hanging items underneath cupboards is a way to get stuff off the counters and can double as decor.  It can also double as clutter, which is where the preference piece fits in.  If mugs hanging under your counters isn’t your idea of cute decor, then don’t hang them.  But, find another spot to store them where you have room.  Or get rid of some mugs.

A great example of using vertical space well in a kitchen is a paper towel holder.  It’s not so much decorative, but it’s really practical and it can get a big, bulky piece off the top of your counters.

Think Creatively About Other Storage Options

Do you really need that knife block?  Do you use all of the knives in your knife block?  Donate the knives that you don’t use and put the rest in drawer or on the wall with a magnet strip.  Are your drawers too full?  Go through and see if can make room by purging unused silverware.

Do you really need that k-cup stand?  Clear out a spot in your cupboards (near the mugs!) for k-cups.  In their box!  Or get fancy and put the cups in a basket (like I do).

Corral Small Items

If a coffee station with all of the fixin’s on your counter is what bring you joy, then corral everything on a tray.  It gives boundaries and makes it look cleaner.

Cooking is enough work as it is.  Don’t make it harder by having a workspace that doesn’t work well for you.

What do you find to be the hardest part of keeping your kitchen counter clutter-free?

Read more about how to Reign in the Mail Clutter or that other Kitchen Trouble Space – the Refrigerator.