Organization

What have you bought or changed in your house that made it more organized?

Organization

I bought sliding baskets for my kitchen pantry. It had fixed shelves and these just attach to the shelf. That has been a game changer for me.

I've started using more and more baskets and cubbies around the house. That way all things that go together can go together.

Re: Organization

Honestly, nothing. When I feel unorganized, its usually a big red flag indicating that it is time for a big purge. Youd be amazed at the stuff you can get rid of when you really start digging into all of it. I do it about twice a year and usually fill 3 or 4 big black contractor bags.

Organization

We felt like our kitchen was starting to get a little cluttered with all of our containers and food storage so we bought a bookcase from Ikea and had them attach frosted glass doors to it. We use the bottom shelf for electrics, one of the shelves for all of our sports themed stuff and the other three shelves for all of our dry foods and Oxo Pop Containers. It made such a difference!

I'm usually not one to purchase from Ikea because everything I've had has broken, but my parents have this particular piece and have had it for a few years now and it's great!

Organization

Purge often.

Also, everything needs a "home." If I can't find a clear spot for something I reevaluate whether I need it or not and either create space or donate/toss.

Organization

By far the best thing I did was to move our filing cabinet somewhere very accessible. It was in our spare room upstairs and I never go up there so we moved it downstairs into our coat closet. It's so much easier to get paperwork put away right away instead of always piling it up to put away later.

Other than that I just try to pick a small area to organize at a time. One drawer, basket, cabinet, etc. This way I'm not overwhelmed and I take my time to do it well.

Re: Organization

Re: Organization

I agree that frequent purging is key. And I still have way too much stuff.

I also am fond of the "basket" method of organizing. My hall linen closet is much more organized since a bought a few matching, different-sized baskets at Home Goods. I use one for hand soaps, one for candles, one for rolled hand towels, etc.

Other helpful tools have been:

1) Ikea shelving units with slide-in bins for our finished basement playroom. DS has so many toys, and while this room still needs a LOT of work (it's not magazine-ready to anything), the bins/shelves have help corral the various cars, Legos, etc. and made the room look more pulled together.

2) Closet organizers for master closet - We have a small walk-in. Again, it's not exactly a showpiece yet, but my husband bought some modular closet system pieces at Lowe's (nice-looking dark wood ones), which created double hanging bars, shoe cubbies, some drawers within the closet. And it definitely helps keep it a bit more orderly in there.

3) My giant white board calendar with a cork-board strip and magnets. I keep it hanging in our home office, and use it to keep track of all of our obligations each month, and tack up party invitations, school notices that need attention, doctor's appointment cards, etc. I bought it at BJ's for less than $10, and it's been great at helping me organize and/or get rid of paper. Paper clutter is my nemesis!

Re: Organization

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Re: Organization

I agree with baskets. I have one in pretty much every room. One in the living room for the remotes, one in the kitchen for the mail, one in the bedroom for magazines. Also, I go through my mail right away. It used to pile up for a couple of days. Now, I go through it and throw away anything I dont need and file anything important, bills get put into a folder for the month and then filed once paid. Also, donate or throw away anything you don't need. I used to hold on to everything thinking I would use it sometime. Now, I just toss it or donate

Re: Organization

We are fans of canisters, baskets, shelving (custom or purchased). Sterilite mini bins you can label, Interdesign drawer organizers for the kitchen. On the blog we started an entire section on organizing. Hope this helps Here are our pantry picks