Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Organizational Dilemma

Background: I love to organize and to be organized. There are always a ton of organizational projects around the house that I want to tackle.

Current Project: Gather and organize all the keepsakes, mementos, and cards scattered throughout the house. And by "current project", I mean that I have been thinking about it for the last several months.

Solution: While shopping at Meijer, of all places, I spotted the perfect solution...a 2 drawer wooden filing cabinet in the exact shade of our bedroom set. I could file all of my keepsakes, keep them close at hand and it could double as a bedside stand. They actually only had the Display Model left, but that didn't deter me and Mr. Friendly Meijer Employee sold it to me. This was also many months ago.

Preparations: I purchased hanging file folders, gathered all of my keepsakes, and visualized my finished project...many months ago.

Action: Finally, this week, I prepared my first folder and went to place it in my filing cabinet...and it didn't fit. That didn't seem right. The folder was just a wee bit too short to fit on the file drawer grooves. The filing cabinet was obviously too small for Legal Folders, so what was the problem. Maybe it was fluke...nope, still didn't fit. Maybe it was a defective folder...nope, maybe it was a defective box of folders...nope. Maybe if I stared at it long enough, tried it over and over again, threatened to cry...nope.

Research: There isn't a folder size in between Letter and Legal size is there? Well, apparently there is, it is called an A4 sized folder and it is used...in Europe!! What? Now, I am not 100% sure that this is what I am dealing with, but all evidence points in that direction. So, now what?

Solution: Well, you would think I would just buy some A4 Sized Hanging File Folders, but guess what? They are not readily available in the U.S. A lot of googling and heartache taught me that these folders are not easy to come by here (and incidentally are called Suspension Folders in Europe). I have found one online retailer in the US that sells them (not too cheap!) and then there is Ebay, but there will be the extra shipping to get them over to the States....so

Dilemma: What do I do? Do I:

A. Go ahead and spend a small fortune on A4 Folders and continue on with my plan?
B. Just use this Filing Cabinet for other types of storage and keep my eyes open for another suitable filing cabinet in the future.
C. Get rid of the Filing Cabinet all together and start over.
D. Any other suggestions???

3 comments:

Rebecca said...

Poor Jenny!!! You are making my brain hurt! What do you think I would do? I know-- I would probably see how much stuff, doesn't matter what, could fit and still close the drawers! Ha!
Seriously, I am sorry and that really stinks!!!! I think you will think of something else to store in it and at least it has the end-table part taken care of!

middle aged blogger said...

Get someone handy
Like
Mark
Dave
Mark
Chris
to cut a new medal rod to add to the drawer so that smaller folders fit and then you will have tiny space left over to use in some wonderful creative way

love MA B

Jennifer from Ohio said...

Thanks for the idea. I haven't decided yet which way I am going to go. I have put it aside while I am organizing the rest of the closet, while I ponder my options.