Conquering paper clutter with a hidden corkboard

The paperwork that the boys bring home from school was driving me crazy. Matthew has french and english spelling tests each week, with the words expected to be learned as homework. Cal also has a list of words that he has to study each week. Add in the notices about classroom activities, permission forms, book orders, etc., and my dining room buffet was constantly buried under a pile of papers.

I decided that what we needed was a handy little corkboard in the kitchen. But it couldn't be anywhere that I had to look at it, because seeing clutter hanging on the wall is only marginally better than looking at it on the furniture. The solution? Hide it out of sight inside a cabinet.

I decided on the cabinet over the microwave. It's closest to the door to the dining room, which is where the kids do their homework every night. Plus, it's on the periphery of the kitchen, so they won't get in my way while I'm cooking or cleaning if they're putting papers up or taking them down.

Today on my way home from work I picked up some cork tiles and pushpins. The tiles are 12"x12", and come in a pack of two for only $2. And the ladybug and bumblebee pushpins were too cute to pass by.

It took just a couple of minutes with my hot glue gun to go from this

to this.

Because the tiles are quite thin, I glued two of them together flat, and then glued the doubled-up tiles into the cabinet. I just eyeballed the center point and slapped them up.

It was so quick and easy that I'm tempted to put more of them up in other cabinets. It's perfect for hanging recipes, shopping lists, party invites, hockey schedules, bills, and reminders of things we have to do. The possibilities are endless.

But right now I'm just satisfied that we have a place to corral all of the school documents; no more lost spelling lists, and no more clutter!