Refurbish in Progress

I found this bad boy:

at the Good Will today for (drumroll please...)

That's right! 19.99 WHAT?! 

I've always wanted to refurbish something like this, and am super excited to finally have the opportunity to try!

So, I will take you through what I did step by step.

First, I cleaned the heck out of it! There were crayons, thumb tacks, and even some onesies stuck behind the drawers... ew!

I used this stuff to disinfect everything:

It worked like a charm. It removed all of the surface gunk as well as took some of that 'old furniture' smell away.

After it was completely dry, I started priming it. I used a thick oil based primer so that I would not have to sand anything down ;) LOVED this primer.

I will keep you updated on my progress & the steps I take to make this as beautiful as it will (hopefully) be ;)

An Official 'Safe Place'

Something needed to be done. EVERY SINGLE TIME I move an important receipt, paper, bill, document, etc. to a "safe place" so that I don't lose it, I LOSE IT!!!

I can never remember where that 'safe place' was and it disappears into some other dimension where all of my important things watch and laugh at me as I endlessly search for them.  I have a feeling it's the same place where one of every color of my socks go...

Anyway, I got this idea from one of my girlfriends who got the idea from, you guessed it, Pinterest!

The original post is from a blogger/professional organizer named Leah. This woman's Fabulously Organized Home is..well...fabulously organized. You should definitely check out all of her awesome ideas.

Here is my take on one of them:

This whole project only cost me $20.- which is well worth it to never have to lose my 'safe place' again!

The filing box (which is stackable) was $10.- from Target and the filing folders were from Office Max and were about $10.- for the pack of 25!

My folders are as follows:

Birth Certificates                                                                         

Marriage                                                                                      

Driving                                                                                          

Social Security                                                                              

Medical Records                                                                           

Credit Cards                                                                                  

Taxes

Insurance

Loans

Accounts

Home Contract

Vehicle Info

Warranties

Awards/Certificates

High School Diplomas

Pets

Military

Furniture Invoice

School/Internship

Repairs

Memberships

Instruction Manuals

Receipts

Applications

Moving Info

AND, the filing box is a good size, so there is plenty of room to add more folders & sections!

Now, if I only had a way to keep track of those socks...