Getting Organized - Recipes

I used to keep my recipes and cookbooks on top of the refrigerator.  But then we got a new fridge that was taller than our old one and I couldn't really reach them.  Not that I cook a whole lot.  But still.  I wanted to display them on a nice shelf or something.  So I found this cabinet at Ross and put it in our dining room, below a framed shadow box of my great-great Grandmother's apron.  As you can see, it got quite messy:

See that busy looking pink and black binder at the very top?  That was my first attempt months ago to 'tame' the ripped out pages of magazines.  It wasn't working.

So off to Staples I went, where I found some products from one of my favorite people:  Martha Stewart.

I got a smaller black binder, some dividers, and some plain lined paper:

I wanted to keep my binder simple, that's why I only bought a 5-pack of dividers.  I labeled them Soup & Salad, Vegetables, Main, Desserts, and Snacks.

And then I went through all of my magazines, recipes scribbled on paper, etc., and weeded them out and only kept the ones I have made before or ones I know I'm going to try.  If they were handwritten, I recopied them onto the new paper.  If they were from a magazine, I trimmed them down and taped them to the new paper:

So much better!

And I have plenty of extra filler paper, so there's room to grow.

This project cost me about $20, and took maybe 2 hours.  I love Martha Stewart products.  They are high quality, simple, but not too boring.

I'm happy with the outcome!  (my new binder is almost invisible on the middle shelf all the way to the right)