Organization for your Inspiration

I thought I'd share a method I like to use to keep track of the new things, of all different genres, that I constantly put on my "To-Try" list. Here's the deal... I love reading magazines. I love getting ideas from friends. I love to be inspired, whether it be related to healthy eating, yummy not-healthy eating, kick-butt exercises, or just plain life in general. I don't love to try to keep track of all of these new ideas in my mind. I also don't love having random slips of paper or magazine tear-outs all over the place.  I love to be organized. So I have 2 binders that give me some "Organization for my Inspiration":

Whenever I find something that "inspires" me in some way I either jot it down or tear it out of the magazine I'm reading and add it to one of the above binders.  The first contains inspiring articles, exercise ideas and tips, and lots of beauty & fashion tips (because really, I could use all the help I can get in the Style department).  The second is specific for recipes... Ready. Set. Organize!

What you need:

Your inspiration, duh! Absolutely NOTHING inspires you? Then stop reading blogs and go get a life!

Mine happened to start out as a huge box of magazines with some corners dog-eared and random notes jotted down.

And your office supplies:

Binder, pen, dividers.

1. You need to determine your "categories" for your dividers.  

• My categories: Appetizers, Beverages, Breads, Breakfast, Casseroles, Desserts, Frostings/Fillings/Sauces, Fruits & Vegetables, Main Dishes, Marinades, Meats, Pasta/Rice/Potatoes, Salads, Sandwiches, & Soups. 

Depending on your personal preference you might want to have even more specific categories than I have listed above.  Or maybe you've decided that creating a Recipe Binder is a big enough step toward organization and there's no way you're actually going to create different sections. Either way, if you decide to go with different sections, label each divider for your reference.

Across the top of my binder I have used Post-It flags to create 4 subcategories in the Meat section:
Fish, Chicken, Beef, & Pork.

2.  Take your Inspiration, hole-punch each page, and distribute into the correct category.

3.  Admire your work thus far.  If you are like me, this is the point in the tutorial where you will notice that your "Dessert" category has far more ideas to try than your "Fruits & Vegetables" category.

4.  I use the front folder of my binder for the recipes I have tried & liked out of my binder's collection.  I put them in this spot until I write the recipe on a recipe card and add it to my recipe box.  This way I always have our favorites in our recipe box.

5.  Final step, create some sort of cover sheet.  Because what fun is a binder if it's not properly labeled.  (Note to self: Get label maker.) 

• My cover sheet is in my Grandma's words..."Recipes A through Z". Speaking of inspiration, she actually started the binder for me with some of her favorites so I had to keep some parts of it true to her.

How easy is that? It's so easy I got the whole thing done during the finale of Bachelor Pad (don't judge!) Of course, I also love that all the recipes I want to try are filed in one spot that can be tucked away in one kitchen cupboard!

Do you have any great ways you organize the things that inspire you? Are you working on any small organization projects similar to this?  Did you watch Bachelor Pad? :)

p.s. No updates on the kale front; HOWEVER this morning I did try a different breakfast smoothie, sans kale, and had a much more successful turn-out!