I set out to town today with a specific goal in mind: I need to make/force/learn to be the most organized teacher there is… Now, I know what you’re thinking – there are teacher’s out there (you can find some of them on their blogs – like The Clutter-Free Classroom) that are truly the EPITOME of classroom organization…. Anyhow, as the saying goes, “Shoot for the moon, and if you miss, you’ll land among the stars 🙂 Isn’t that just the most encouraging, “2nd place is okay!” saying out there? [Insert sarcastic nod here]

I see all of these veteran teachers on sites like Teacher’s Pay Teacher’s that create and sell classroom labels/signs, custom binder covers, and everything else you can imagine related to the classroom…. and get this… ALL of it is drenched in a specific theme! I absolutely love seeing this but could never imagine having the time to find and execute all of this “fluff” during my last two years of teaching. Well, I have realized that you can use your summer vacation one of two ways: 1) Wine.Dine.Repeat OR 2) Prepare yourself and your classroom for an AWESOMELY ORGANIZED school year! I have obviously chosen number 1 for the last two summers, but this summer is a “#2 Summer” ALL THE WAY 🙂

I new I need some plastic storage bins and/or drawers and quickly remembered that I spent about $50-$60 on some at Target the last time I attempted to get organized 🙂 I thought I had seen a few junky ones in my new classroom (we haven’t been given the okay to move in yet), but I wasn’t sure so I stopped by the school to check.

Here is what I found… Three dingy, dust ridden, pathetic plastic drawer cabinets:

And there is nothing wrong with my camera.. The “clear” plastic was really that cloudy and the picture doesn’t do the “caked on dust” justice… And then it happened… A thought suddenly came to me from left field, “I could use some of that left over paper from my Decorative Wooden Letters and cover that cloudy mess up, all while transforming these things into an organizing system that agrees with my “Travel Themed Classroom!”

Six hours and $0 dollars later, what I have now is part of an all-new “Organized Ms. G” that is sure to impress anyone that walks into my classroom:

Like what you see? Well, I have good news! These might take a little time and Mod Podge, but they are SIMPLE to create and almost FREE (especially if you have paper and some form of Mod Podge laying around the house)! Check out my DIY Decoupaged Plastic Storage Cabinets post 🙂