Organizing Little Important {Annoying} Extras

This post is just going to be keeping it real. The pictures are kind of lame, and there is not a ton of fluff to add. It is what it is: I am okay with it. I just want it known though... :)
A while ago my friend stopped to pick something up. And while she was here she said something like "Hey, do you have those papers we talked about a few weeks ago?" I grabbed the box I had them in and proceeded to give her what we had discussed. The next day she called and told me I really needed to blog about my "box". I had never really thought of it as anything spectacular but the more I thought about it, I thought maybe there are like 3 whole people looking for this solution. I know I never have found one.

This box holds various items and serves multiple functions. I am sure it might make a professional organizer gasp in horror... who knows.

[I didn't put all the stuff out that is in the box... it is too much for one photo]

So, if you are reading the labels on this picture and you are wondering what In A Pikle is, you really should check it out. If you are wondering what all the Post Its could possibly be used for in a planner... you might be surprised.

This box holds all those little annoying extras that are important enough to not only keep, but you might want to remember where you put them.

For example:

1. I like the nicer mechanical pencils. They come with a few extra erasers. Where do you put them so they don't get lost? 
2. I am still kind of old school where I like the paper planners- but I cannot fit a whole year into my planner. Where do you store the months not in use so they stay flat? 
3. What about those barrel refills of ink for that favorite pen you love? 
4. Extra teensy tiny almost microscopic batteries?
5. And yes, the things I am talking about are part of a very long list.

I pretty much discovered my storage solution by accident. I needed a storage box for a different project and Ikea had the colors I wanted- of course they came in sets of two. I was in the process of organizing my room. I had just received my planner refill, I was on crutches and my husband asked where I wanted to put it. I panicked.  He doesn't do well with remembering where he puts things even of I tell him where, they don't always end up there. (I will insert here that the amount of love you have for your spouse is not always equal to their ability to organize OR remember where they put things :) The empty box was sitting on a shelf. I told him to put it in the box. Later as I got off the crutches and started organizing things I started to put those awkward items in there that were extras of other things I had been collecting. You really can only have so many extras. It was perfect.

Wow, having one box labelled and one not, didn't really catch my attention until now.

Location was perfect too. It was executable (Organizing 101).  Something that I could carry out with little effort. I could access it easily and didn't have to worry about a "pile" building to be put away. The step I notice most people struggling with is the execution of the plan. It doesn't matter how cute, wonderful, beautiful, or how cheap you got the supplies... If you cannot execute the plan, if it is too much effort to follow through with, or too complicated- it will not help you one bit.

Anywhoo.. this is my really super short post for what I do to store those Little Important Extras. If you hang on to them, it does save you money. You won't have to repurchase an item or the free refill it comes with!