Do you walk into The Container Store or Home Goods and get excited? Inspired? Overwhelmed? All of the above? I’m here to provide you with a few tips to hopefully help you ditch the overwhelming feelings and get inspired and excited! I think you can achieve and maintain an organizing system whether the items are placed in a shoebox, a $4 plastic container, or a $20 basket. The main point is to contain.
If you have laundry piles but no hamper, a heaping serving of a meal but no dish, you can’t get much accomplished: you probably get the idea. Organizing starts off with grouping like items together and ultimately they need a place to go. Sure, you can keep the items loose but eventually they can creep into other spaces and the initial organization can fall apart. We want to give them a home.
Once like items are together, we want to keep them together! When you have a designated spot for chips, mail, or phone chargers, that’s where you place them and that’s where they’ll be when you need them. Whether you prefer metal, plastic, or natural materials, once your wares are put together and tidy (labels help up the aesthetic factor as well as signal to family members “keep this here”) they are more likely to stay together and organized.
Please note that when going the DIY route, save the shopping trip for containers until you have your spaces and/or zones mapped out and your categories together. It’s common to get excited and buy all.of.the.things. You might end up with products that either won’t fit the space or can’t contain all that you’d hoped. Also, please, measure then measure again!!
I have my tried and true favorites that can be used in a pantry, a closet, under coffee tables, or on a shelf: the Water Hyacinth baskets from The Container Store. They come in many different sizes, they’re sturdy, and they are always in stock.
I also love the Multi Purpose Bins - they are exactly that! I use them in my hall closet for various types of paper (printer, construction, card stock) as well as some of my daughter’s art projects in process). They function nicely in the pantry, too, and they’re at such a great price point.
I hope you’re feeling inspired and more informed to tackle a space or two over the rest of the summer. As always, if you need help, I’m here for you!!