Monday Made It - Rewind

Hello friends
I only have one more Monday left before school starts. I will be going in today to get the bulk of everything done. I thought I would do a rewind of some of my best things from last summer since I didn't need to redo much this summer!

Thank you to Tara for continuing to do Monday Made Its for the next few weeks. I will have my crate seats done this afternoon and will post those on here along with my in class work display wall. I am very excited about it! :)

I have had a bunch of questions about my organization here. This is my baby. It has taken me six years to get a beautiful set up like this. Not that it would take you that long, but it took me that long to afford all the bins, spend the time creating all the labels and figuring out how to lay it all out in a smart way. 

The best thing about it is that what you see in the picture is throughout the year. During the summer, I flip the bins around and have labeled what goes inside the during the summer months. That way, when I come back to school, I can find stuff AND it is still super organized when I have to pack my entire classroom away for summer. :) Double SCORE!

I got the gray bins from walmart. They are smaller than the typical bin. I got the latch boxes from Big Lots for $4.50 and that is cheaper than ANYWHERE I have looked. I got the mailbox from Really Good Stuff. I had a $50 off $200 coupon like three years ago. This thing is a beast. Yes, it was s$150 but I expect it to last pretty much until I retire. The black six drawers I have accumulated over the years while on sale. I only wanted black. (I wish I had jumped on the black train prior to when I bought all the white that just doesn't come clean)

They were expensive for some, and others, when I was patient, I bought one at a time from Joann with a 40% coupon plus our discount. 

The bottom gray containers are from Target. I had a parent buy them all at back to school night. They house all student jackets and backpacks. We put the lids on and I don't look at any mess for the rest of the day. It looks clean most of the time. 

I have had a bunch of people asking me about my rainbow labels. Here was the system I was going to use. It just became too much during my testing mode. Does anyone else test their products before posting them? I want it to be something I believe in, and during test, it was too much for ME. The kids loved it, but I did not. It just took too much time! But the labels are still as cute as ever. You can use them in your big tool box, or this baby one.

 

This used to make me cringe. I would have people ask, do you have cups or ribbon and I would, but I would either say no, or say - let me send a kid down. It was because I had a Monica from friends hoarder closet. It looked like this. It took me forever to get myself together.

I bit the bullet and bought a bunch of bins from target and dollar tree.  It was a lot of work, but now, I just show someone to the space and tell them to look at the supply list and make sure their item is there before they search. How cool  - right?!

I just love the labels, they are clear and they are in cursive because I don't allow kids in there.

Click on the picture above for the purple one

The most important thing is the list. I have stuff shoved everywhere, but at least I am not going on a wild goose chase anymore, at least in this closet. I have four different editable color options in this.

Click above for green. They are 50% off

Next up is my closet. This was another eye sore that just made me feel embarrassed to look at.  I could never find anything. I wonder why. 

This makes me smile, and send people in to look for things all the time. I am not embarrassed anymore.  I keep things in here that I don't use as often in my classroom. This is in my bathroom. So I have bins for teacher/lady business/restroom stuff. I have a make up bin!!! I wake up late a lot, so it is nice to know that I can toss some mascara on when I get to school. I also have a new student bin. In case I get a kid mid year, I can open my drawer and grab labels and folders etc without running like a chicken with its head cut off.  I also house all my worksheet workbooks from 10 years ago, pre TPT. I just don't have the heart to toss them. See that mail sorter system on the bottom? Those are all workbooks. Anyone else hoard them and feel like there will be screams of terror if you toss them? Maybe next year, I can free up all that extra space. Sigh.

This is a hybrid of two packs. I took two colors I love and cropped and pasted and made my own garland. It took forever, but it matches my colors perfectly. I love the blue in here.

This is my favorite piece in my classroom. Does anyone else use theirs daily? I have two different ones in my room and use both pretty much daily! If you are interested in these labels, let me know. I am happy to share them for free. They don't look perfect up close, but I love them.

I hope you have a great Monday and are enjoying your last few weeks off, or having a great start of your year if you are back!