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Fight Disorganized Crime
Feather Your Nest
Save Energy
The Purge
Proper Storage
Proper
Storage - 2
Fall
Home Maintenance Tips
Brace
for Fall
Fall
Cleanup
Garden
Furniture
Decorating
on a Shoestring
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Storage
Solutions for Your Clutter
So
now you've got all your clutter sorted out and your
"keepers" are in boxes, bins and piles.
Ideally, you've put things away in their proper places, where those
places exist! But where the heck is it all going to go?
This
is where you need to invest in or create proper storage solutions that
avoid wasted space and lead to easy retrieval of needed
items. We'll tackle the solutions by the type of storage
the provide:
Organizers
discussed here are affordable and easy solutions to
clutter. Often, you can make your own from left over wood or
plastic. They are available online at reputable sites like
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| Closet
and Cupboard Organization |
 Clothes closets, linen closets, pantries and cupboards all benefit
from organizing solutions. Often, there is a lot of wasted space
in them that can be put to much better use. It's important to be
able to see where things are, so here are some tips to achieve visible
and handy storage.Clothes
Closets aren't very useful if children (or short adults or
wheelchair bound people) can't reach items. Try mixing various
types of closet organizing solutions. Pull-down or swing-down
clothes racks for example, allow full-length clothing to be hung up
high, and yet be accessible when needed. The space below can be
used to hang a lower rod for shorter items like shirts and skirts, or
to hold shelving for accessories, or a chest of drawers.
Closet
organizing systems are affordable and you'll find them a God-send
when getting your family dressed in the  morning! Sturdy metal
systems are excellent, and are available in many mixtures with racks
for clothing of different lengths, as well as shelving, hooks and
pockets for accessories like belts, scarves, shoes and more, like
the one
at left - just click on the picture or the link here. Many
smaller systems will work well inside a free-standing wardrobe too. If
you don't have a closet or wardrobe, try using existing tall bookcases
to support a clothes rod, ideally with a shelf above it. Or,
invest in a free-standing system. Place these against a wall,
and they can be neatly concealed behind curtains.
Linen
closets can often benefit from added shelving. Store smaller
items on an added shelves that are not the full depth of the
closet. This works nicely for things like washcloths, small hand
towels, pillow cases, placemats, cloth napkins, etc. Use hooks
on the inside of the linen closet door to hold aprons and other items
that don't fold up neatly for stacking. For matched bedding
sets, fold the top and bottom sheets plus pillowcases together, so you
just have to reach for ONE package. Keep bedding arranged by the
bed size (e.g. twin, double, queen, etc.). That way, the folded
items will be the same size, and will stack more neatly on the
shelves.
 Pantries
and cupboards can use the same added-shelf approach to hold
shorter items above taller ones. Use them to hold smaller plates
above dinner plates. Or, use them inside your bathroom vanity to
hold things like hair dryers and curling irons. Use cup hooks on
the undersides of upper shelves to hold additional cups and mugs
suspended above others on the shelf surface below.
 Utilize space under your upper kitchen
cupboards to suspend additional shelving where there is enough
clearance over your counters. Use these to hold your pretty
stacking bowls, cookbooks, and other attractive items that don't need
to be hidden away.
Use vertical dividers in upper kitchen
cabinets to hold large flat objects like baking pans, cutting or
pastry boards, and serving trays. If you have a narrow spot of
wasted space beside your stove or refrigerator, that may be a perfect
place to create this kind of slide-in storage area.
For drawers, use dividers.
These can be homemade or purchased devices. Use them to keep tools,
small items of clothing, jewelry, etc. organized for easy retrieval.
For deeper drawers that hold silverware and various kitchen tools, try
sliding layered tool organizers.
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Since the first cave-woman wove a
basket, storage containers with lids have been the best thing for
general storage. Plastic, transparent bins with lids are
great since you can see what's inside, you can stack them on top of
each other, and they keep dust and dirt out. Color code them to
store seasonal items in red ones, sentimental things in green, blue
for garden hand tools, etc. Remember, if you are storing heavy
items, use smaller containers so you'll be able to lift them!
Use plastic bins or drawers under the bed or a table to store
additional blankets, shoes, toys, off-season clothing, or linens. You
can get bed raisers to raise the height to allow storage boxes or
under-bed drawers to fit below a bed that is too low to the floor.
Cardboard records boxes are
perfect for storing tax return information and other important papers
(even your kids' lovely artwork). Label them and stack by year,
owner, or type of contents. These are very inexpensive and
readily available at any office supply store or the stationery section
in department stores.
Decorative metal boxes are good
for storing small items in your home office area, as well as things
like photographs and recipe cards.
Open topped baskets are
available in wicker, plastic, wood, or metal. Washable cloth Basket
Liners
are available too. Baskets are great in the coat closet or entry areas
to hold mittens, scarves, backpacks and other items you have to grab
(and ideally put away again) by the door. Label one for each
family member, and keep it in the entrance area.
Use wood or plastic ones to hold toys
on low shelving for youngsters - so it's easy for them to see what's
inside and to put things away. Label them with the child's name or
with pictures of the items inside. Wood or plastic bins are also good
in your kitchen cupboard or pantry for storing potatoes, onions, and
other foods that do not require refrigeration, or for organizing items
on cupboard shelves. They are excellent for storing workshop or
garden tools, as well as chemicals, fertilizers and paints.
The wicker types work beautifully to
provide additional attractive looking storage under end tables, coffee
tables or other furniture, shelves or dresser/desk tops to hold
collections of smaller items, or on open kitchen shelving.
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