Are you an organizational freak like me? Everything has its place and everything should be in its place is my mantra. Even my junk drawer is organized. I will hang my head in shame now. Clearly, I have issues.
Whenever I am cleaning things out, or re-decorating an area, I always look around for containers of some sort. When you look (and you're thrifty!) you can find all kinds of great things to use. Look at product packaging, for starters. I know I've purchased or received things and the packaging is awesome for reuse purposes. When I buy candles I do not throw them out after I've burned them (and then thoroughly used all the wax by scooping it out and placing on a ceramic dish on my candle warmer). I wash them out and save them. Smaller votive type jars are great for things like colorful stones as just a decor item. They are perfect size for holding cotton buds. They can hold tiny things such as toothpicks or safety pins and if you use the votive size, you can organize a drawer full of them! They fit in most any average drawer so just think of the possibilities for all those tiny things you never know what to do with!
Plastic storage baskets you can find everywhere from Wal-Mart to any dollar store are fantastic. I must own hundreds of them. (ok, a tiny exaggeration) They are cheap, most times being 2 for $1. You can't beat that. They come in plenty of sizes and colors too! These I use for darn near everything. They are perfect to nest into drawers to keep items contained and easy to find. In one drawer I have a few. One holds ink pens, one holds other smaller items, such as notepads/post-its and the like. Some are the base for batteries (sorted by size, natch!) I have one full of chargers (for all those electronics chargers we all have laying around).
The larger of the storage baskets are wonderful for things such as spices, or you can use to keep all your condiments together in one in the fridge, freeing up all that door space. keep one on the counter while you are preparing dinner and throw your 'trash' in it as you work, saving time and energy walking to and from the trash can, and then only have to make one trip! I know that wasn't organizational in nature, but it's still a great idea! I have one or five under my kitchen sink and they hold cleaning supplies, rags and all that fun stuff. If you organize well, you can just grab one and go! Keep dusting things and a rag in one, and when you want to dust, you just grab that one basket and take it with you. Saves having to rifle through everything to find what you need. Bathroom cleaners and sponges in one, general cleaning stuff in another. It really saves a ton of time.
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| My tray is similar, except it has handles. I love this one. It's going on my wishlist! |
I ran across a wonderful wicker large deep open container maybe 30"x18" or so. It once held magazines, but now it resides in my bathroom. It fit perfectly on the bottom shelf of a wire rack I have which holds rolled towels. I slid it onto the bottom shelf and now it is filled with toilet paper! The toilet paper is out of sight, yet instantly accessible since this rack is directly in front of the toilet.
I have a blue & white oriental themed ceramic flower pot/container. It's small. I keep my makeup brushes in there and it's proudly sits on my vanity.
I'm constantly looking for containers, and anything that has an opening is fair game for me! I try to think outside the box as much as possible and doing that has yielded me some great ideas once in awhile. I hope this has inspired you to find your own organizational goddess and given you some ideas!
What is your favorite organizational tool?
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