Mama's Workspace

I am a full-time stay at home mom/wife. My priorities and needs on a daily basis obviously will not be the same as every other woman out there, but this space is working for me in this stage of my life, so I thought I'd share.

Part of my role in our family is to keep up with the bills, appointments, groceries, etc. Something helpful and downright important to keeping schedules straight for me is keeping my "mama workspace" organized. My husband will read this and chuckle because sometimes it gets very, very Unorganized, but I try. I definitely dusted and cleaned up my area before taking all these pictures, so it does not always look quite this nice!

First off, I love a physical planner to write things down.

The past two years, my mother in law has gotten me an Erin Condren planner and they are soooo nice!

It comes with this tiny little ruler -- fun! -- and I move it each week as a new one begins. It sticks up just enough out of the top to be able to find the current week easily.

I also find a particular pen that writes well on the paper, doesn't bleed through to the back side of the page, and fits into the spiral part. It makes me happy to have a specific planner pen and it goes right back to its spot each time I update.

That being said, sometimes I'm at the receptionist's desk at the ENT and two little boys are putting their freshly sticky fingers from a sucker they just received on the windows, so I need to move fast! That's when I pull out my iPhone and use the calendar there. On a regular basis, I link the two (my paper planner and my iPhone calendar) by just looking at them at the same time and making sure I have them both updated and have the same things in each. I typically leave my paper calendar at home on my desk, although I do take it in my purse occasionally. I know it may seem repetitious to have two calendars, but I love physically writing down things and I do not love setting reminders on my phone.

Second of all, I keep a couple of boards hanging up to look at pictures of my family (because you can never have enough of those) and also to tack up papers or receipts I don't want in the reach of little hands.

Each year for the past several years I have printed a wall calendar with photos of our family from month to month from Shutterfly. I have enjoyed looking back at pictures from the previous year, and it's easy for my husband to glance up at each morning when he's getting ready to see what all we have going on. He keeps up his work calendar, which is plenty for one person to maintain!
This year I didn't get around to printing one, and since we now have our beautiful large chalkboard in the kitchen, I thought it would be a great place to keep a big calendar for everyone in our family to see. We're just the first week in, but it's been fun so far!

 Let me talk about our desk. My husband and I both use this laptop, but I definitely use the whole desk more than he does, so I have it set up for my needs since he does most of his work at his actual office. I keep a little pillow in the chair because it keeps my back from hurting.

I think I got the pencil cup from Target and the wire basket came from WalMart. Obviously, I keep pens in the pencil cup, and the other basket holds papers I intend to deal with in the near future. The other is a candle from my sweet man.



The three drawers on the sides hold mah stuffs. The top drawer holds my planner, coupon book, and little notebooks.

The middle drawer is my note-sending drawer, full of notecards, address book, envelopes, stamps and also my label maker because there was room for it.

The bottom drawer holds computer paper and lined paper, extra ink, as well as staplers and a three hole punch.

Occasionally, little people get into these drawers and wreak havoc, but not often. I have several other areas in our house that are kind of "my spaces", too, but this one is where the important stuff happens. Keeping it organized helps me be more productive, pay bills on time, write notes more often to those who would appreciate them, and just Be Better ;).

If you have a similar role in your family, finding a space to keep the things you need and making them easy to find may be helpful. Here are some other ideas for organizing your desk area. Have a wonderful day!

Polished Habitat Desk Organization Reveal!

Dwelling by Devore - DIY naildoor desk

Joyful Thrifty Home - free desk organization