So, you made the decision to get organized, sorted through your belongings, and now you only have items that you love and can use. This can be for a small area of your home, a few areas, a drawer or two, or the entire house. No matter how much you’ve done, it’s an achievement no matter how big or small, so congratulations!
A very important aspect of being and staying organized is having a place for everything. If you don’t have a place for everything, then everything starts piling up again and pretty soon you’re stuck with everything because it’s hard to know what’s what and what’s where. Here’s the scenario: You don’t have a home at all and every time the mail arrives or you go shopping, you just put the items where you can find space. Very soon, you have a mess! Trust me, I know; I’ve had
I urge you to think about making a home for each type of item you keep; this is so important! If you bring something new and different home and you don’t have a place for it, make a place for it immediately or as soon as possible. If you don’t have space, you’d better re-order. Here are some suggestions on how and where to store some common items found around the house.
In the office:
Paperwork – A filing cabinet is a great lifesaver when it comes to organizing your paperwork. I made files for every type of paper I had lying around, from movie reviews to our house papers, and this has made my life so much easier. I put these files in alphabetical order in my filing cabinet and now everything is saved, but even more exciting is the fact that I can find a piece of paper in about five seconds! This is a huge improvement for me when before, I didn’t even know where to start looking for a role let alone succeed in finding one.
Magazines: Cereal boxes are very useful for keeping magazines organized. To make a magazine rack out of a cereal box, cut off about the top inch of the box, then starting at one side of the top and cutting at an angle downward, cut half to one-third the height of the box. Do this on the other side as well and you will now have a magazine rack. At this point, you can decorate the stand by gluing on cute magazine pictures or painting it, then adding lace or ribbon. You can also put magazines in large, wide wicker baskets.
Coupons: I have found envelopes very useful for storing coupons. Just label them the way you’d like them labeled (alphabetically or by food type) and place your clipped coupons on them. Sachets can be stored in an appropriately sized recipe or card box.
In the closet:
Blankets: Laundry hampers make great holders for blankets that sometimes fit awkwardly on shelves.
Shoes: An over the door shoe hanger is a great way to get shoes off the floor.
Travel Bags, Purses and Purses: Plastic storage containers are very useful for storing them.
In the craft room:
Item Crafting – Clear plastic storage bins are a very good container for this because you can see where your items are and therefore find them quickly.
In the living room:
Remote controls – A great way to store these is in small wicker or wire baskets.
Odds and ends: We use a wooden chest as a coffee table and it’s useful because it doubles as storage. We keep some of our collectibles in there along with craft pattern books and other weird stuff. Another idea for this is to put a circle of wood or glass on top of a new trash can. You would then place a decorative tablecloth over the top of the circle. The dumpster can be used to store your knick-knacks and would also make a decorative tabletop for fresh flower arrangements or knick-knacks.
In the bathroom:
Sundries: Wicker baskets are great for storing many items in the bathroom. You can put all your hair styling accessories in one big one, rags in another, and cosmetics in another.
Medications: For the medicine cabinet, I bought short plastic drawer organizers that fit perfectly on the shelves. I have one for headache meds, one for cold meds, one for owies (Band-Aids, ointments, etc.), one for stomach meds, etc. This not only makes it easier to find items, but also makes it easier to clean the shelves when they get dirty.
Toilet Paper: I made a toilet paper holder to hang right above the toilet so that when someone runs out of toilet paper, there should be a roll in the holder for easy retrieval. You may be able to find one of these at a craft bazaar.
In the Bedrooms:
Sundries: Underbed storage organizers are ideal for storing seasonal clothing, Christmas wrapping items, gifts to give, books, and other items.
Children’s Toys – Clear plastic bins are great for toys because children can see what goes where. You can also mark the container with a picture or word.
Crayons: Keep baby wipe containers or coffee cans to store crayons. If you use a brown you can be sure there are no sharp edges to cut children.
Once you’ve managed to make a place for everything, you just need to train yourself and your family members to keep things in the proper places.