I've been on a kick trying to get things organized in my house which also includes thinning out a lot of what we actually need stored. I made a post on H&G about pantry organization, but really, I'm looking for ideas in all areas from my pantry to other kitchen cabinets (tupperware anyone?), to my linen closet, bathroom vanity, coat closet, and even long term storage in my basement. My goal for 2021 is to be organized in the way that things are stored even if that means buying a million baskets and bins. The clutter in my cabinets and closets is such a trigger and I'm determined to tackle it this year. Links and photos appreciated!
Post by CrazyLucky on Jan 22, 2021 11:00:04 GMT -5
We're in the process of relocating so we did a giant purge. You really have a lot of crap when you live in a house for 15+ years!! Anyway, while househunting, we saw some pretty cool storage solutions. One couple had their basement, a huge basement, set up in sturdy plastic shelves perpendicular to the wall. One aisle would be Christmas decorations. One was seldom used kitchen appliances. I swear it was like walking down an aisle in a store, everything organized so well! For the bathroom vanity, we got wire shelves to increase usable space. For tupperware, my first step was going through and getting rid of anything that wasn't a matched set. I only had one container with no lid, but somehow I had about 15 lids with no container! Right now, we have stacks of like sized containers with the corresponding lids in a stack on a shelf behind them.
I'm interested to see other people's tips. Once we move, I want to get started with good organization and stick with it!
Post by samanthamkm on Jan 22, 2021 11:02:17 GMT -5
I find taking everything out of the area and going through it to see what you need then organizing what’s left. I only keep 2 bath towels per person, 2 hand towels per bathroom, and 10-14 wash clothes. I roll the bath towels in our linen closet. I only buy bulk for things we use everyday, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, TP, etc. I actually got rid of my Tupperware and went with glass Pyrex so I could heat and serve in the same dish. I did like the Rubbermaid plastic that the lids stacked together and so did the containers.
Have you taken the clutterbug quiz? It can help you with your organizing style. I mentioned this before, but you may find the Take Your House Back course helpful. It is all about decluttering, organizing and simplifying.
I have probably gotten rid of a quarter of our stuff and organized our whole house in the last 6 months. It is extremely satisfying.
Post by W.T.Faulkner on Jan 22, 2021 11:09:57 GMT -5
Another vote for purging everything you don't use.
Another vote for storing sheets in their matching pillowcases. Has made my life so much easier.
If you have the shelving, each thing in the pantry gets its own shelf. For us, that's breakfast up top, DS's snacks and stuff in the middle, cans and boxes for dinner on the bottom.
I have the space so I put Pyrex lids on top of their dishes & store that way so I'm not searching for a lid.
Post by SusanBAnthony on Jan 22, 2021 11:29:55 GMT -5
For Tupperware we have only the round pyrex as well. They are all stacked and the lines have a bin next to them. We only have the 4 sizes so it's easy to grab a lid since every small lid fits every small container, etc.
Yet another vote for the sheets in the pillow case storage option. My favorite part about this? I don't both folding sheets anymore, just shove them all in. It took me many years to realize I don't need to spend so much time trying to fold a fitted sheet.
Post-it notes are your friend while organizing. Every so often I go through messy areas (most frequently kid toys, but also pantry, office, hall closet etc. and just organize everything by type and toss out anything broken or that we can't locate missing pieces for, then determine what my long-term storage goal is for it.
We dont have much storage space in the kitchen, so for Tupperware (not sure if that's the actual brand), we have a great set from Costco that is space saving and all the pieces store/snap together that I love. We've gone about 5 years and not lost one yet.
If it's something that we use once a year/seasonally, it's stored in a hard to reach space. If something we use less frequently than that, I question whether we really need it or not.
One couple had their basement, a huge basement, set up in sturdy plastic shelves perpendicular to the wall. One aisle would be Christmas decorations. One was seldom used kitchen appliances. I swear it was like walking down an aisle in a store, everything organized so well!
This gives me so much anxiety! They had so much shit they created aisles of stuff to store. 🤯
I store my tupperware lids in a basket next to my stacked containers.
Bins/baskets and labels are my jam. Not much is sitting on the shelves alone, it's usually in a bin/basket with other items (categorized by snacks/breakfast/mixes/etc). Drawer organizers are also a life saver.
I watched the Marie Kondo thing on Netflix and mimicked her purge style. I didn't do the whole "spark joy" thing, but I did pull everything out and was intentional about what I put back in. I did this for my pantry, my bathroom closet, my little boy's clothes and my clothes (I didn't touch DH's or DS1's clothes because they're old enough to take care of their own, haha). I need to go through the play room and get that beast organized, but will be using the same practices.
Post by BlondeSpiders on Jan 22, 2021 13:45:24 GMT -5
Do you have summer and winter clothes? Twice a year I swap out my seasonal clothes and shoes so there's more room in my closet. I use vacuum seal bags for the clothes I'm not using and stack them in my closet or in shallow under-bed bins. I also use the vacuum bags for sheets, blankets and pillows.
Post by Velar Fricative on Jan 22, 2021 13:52:33 GMT -5
I have some good ways of organizing things but it really does all come down to keeping unwanted or unused things out of your house. Seriously, all the cool storage systems and tips in the world can't help if you have more things in your house than you truly need. Start with purging and then you'll find that you really don't need more cabinets, cabinet dividers, better closet systems, etc. It's enlightening.
My kids seem to only wear the same 5 outfits on repeat. I only buy what they actually wear and need now as opposed to what I think is cute.
Do you need 25 tupperware containers? Eat the stuff in the ones you have before putting new stuff in more containers.
Store coats you don't use ( rain coats in the winter or ski jackets in the summer, etc.) in bins under beds or in other closets if you can.
Baskets or bins for everyone. Each person has a bin and cubby and hook in the mudroom for their stuff. Hat, mittens, sunglasses in bin, shoes in the cubbie, snow pants and jacket on the hook.
One basket for clean masks, one for dirty.
Every couple of months, I go through our junk drawer and the kids room and throw out or donate a bunch of stuff.
We bought shelving from The Container Store and organized all the sports equipment we have.
All holiday decorations have their own labeled bins.
I got rid of all of our tupperware, and we bought a bunch of pyrex in a very limited number of sizes. They're easy to stack up in the drawer. It's fine not having a million sizes to choose from. Obvious not everyone can afford to do this, but i've been happy with it.
Definitely purge and declutter first. You don't want to take the time to organize things you don't need or want.
I'm doing the Apartment Therapy January Cure right now, but it's more about cleaning than decluttering, so to be honest I've been kind of ignoring most of the days. But their September tasks were really helpful and manageable - www.apartmenttherapy.com/features/decluttering-cure
I'm lucky to have a fairly large kitchen and pantry, but I try to store like with like so that it makes things easier to find, put away, and tell when I'm low. That's not to say things to get lost or overlooked, but it's more streamlined. All my snacks and breakfast foods are on the left hand side of the pantry. Pasta and rice have their own shelf. Baking items (flours, sugars, chips, powders) are all one one shelf together, spices all together, canned goods all together and mostly grouped by type (so soups in one area, veggies and fruits in another, unopened condiments in another spot, and then anything that I buy together to make a meal is stacked together, so 3 cans of diced tomatoes = one batch of tomato soup, and 1 can pinto beans + 1 can tomato paste = chili when combined with other stuff).
My storage containers are grouped together by size, and stacked on top of their lids, and 95% of them are in one cabinet, but I do have one set in a different cabinet. That set holds the straws for my tumblers, my mason jar lids, and some tiny salad dressing Tupperware so that I don't have a bunch of little things floating everywhere. I only use the other containers in that stack for leftover muffins (which is rare) so it works OK.
I have sterilite storage bins to corral extra wash clothes, hand towels, placemats, and table clothes in my linen closet, but I really need to go through them and purge everything I haven't used in a few years. We only keep 2 sets of towels for us (our main set that we wash and rehang the same day, and a backup for emergencies), plus one set of guest towels, and a handful of ratty towels (to line the cat carriers, and for when my H does car projects). Same with sheets. We have 2 queen beds in the house, and I think maybe 3 sets of sheets total (one on each bed, and one extra), and one set of twin sheets. We wash and remake the bed the same day. (I wouldn't do this if we had young kids, but it's mostly just us two, so it's fine.)
I won't offer suggestions for the bathroom, because, um I have a problem with collecting hair and bath & body products. LOL!
I have some good ways of organizing things but it really does all come down to keeping unwanted or unused things out of your house. Seriously, all the cool storage systems and tips in the world can't help if you have more things in your house than you truly need. Start with purging and then you'll find that you really don't need more cabinets, cabinet dividers, better closet systems, etc. It's enlightening.
Yes. Years ago I went on a organizing crusade and bought all these containers and baskets, and all I ended up doing was storing tons of unnecessary shit in containers and baskets. When we moved last year I threw away entire containers worth of stuff that I hadn't actually looked at in years. Once you purge you can see what you have, get a better idea of how and where to store it, how much space you need, you'll know exactly where to find it when you need it, and you'll know what you have on hand (so you don't buy the 6th roll of tinfoil because you forget about all the ones you've stuck in that fancy storage basket. Ahem).
Like mel , I also found the Marie Kondo approach helpful.
Tupperware: I have a set of nesting Tupperware in one of our large kitchen drawers, and I keep the lids in a separate bin in the same drawer. Long term storage: Big plastic tubs, all the same brand (so they stack easily and look better) with labels on each of them. We have metal shelving in our garage, and some are in our attic as well.
Post by oliviapope on Jan 22, 2021 14:25:19 GMT -5
I'm currently doing the same. I just reorganized my pantry, the white baskets are from Target and I got a few OXO containers from Bed Bath and Beyond. I prefer throwing similar items in tubs or baskets vs buying the little stepped can organizers or holders.
oliviapope, that looks great. I think part of the problem with my pantry is that there is a lot of height between shelves so I lose a lot of verticle space because of that. I think that if I could redo the shelves, I could get at least one more in there and have much better space to work with.
oliviapope, that looks great. I think part of the problem with my pantry is that there is a lot of height between shelves so I lose a lot of verticle space because of that. I think that if I could redo the shelves, I could get at least one more in there and have much better space to work with.
There are shelves you can buy that hang under the main shelf to use that vertical space. I have the same challenge.
I agree with everyone else that the number one thing is to purge. I’ve been going through like a maniac the last few weeks and have reorganized basically every closet. We don’t have a lot of items we never use (I’m a big purger) but now I’m trying to work on duplicates. Like in the kitchen we have a bunch of great quality wooden spoons and rubber spatulas for cooking. We use them and they are great quality, but I don’t need 5 of each. At most we need 2-3 if we are cooking a big meal with a lot of dishes. Same with Tupperware - I do the dishes every night and really how many leftovers do I think I’m going to have at one time? So I got rid of a ton even though it’s all useable/good quality (for storage I keep them in a deep drawer with lids on).
For the linen closet I like using zipped sweater/storage bags on each shelf for the linens. So one shelf has a zipped bag with all the twin sheets in it, one shelf has a zipped bag with all the Queen sheets etc. It just looks a lot neater and you don’t get unwieldy piles.
Pantry and bulk storage im all about clear containers to decant things into.
I'm kind of jealous of everyone who has room to store tupperware with lids on.
This is tangentially related but I'm always puzzled when people say they clean out the fridge once a week and throw away old leftovers. If we have enough leftovers we skip cooking dinner and eat them. We are fundamentally lazy haha. So we never have many leftovers in the fridge. And thus we rarely need a whole lot of tupperware and we also extremely rarely throw away old leftovers.
I'm kind of jealous of everyone who has room to store tupperware with lids on.
We by no means have a large kitchen but it also isn’t tiny. We have a corner cabinet and they fit on one shelf 🤷🏻♀️ We basically have one set of the glass ones that lock and a few bigger plastic ones.
The first step is always to purge. Then purge again.
The thing in my house that friends always comment on and then copy is my spice organization. I use small canning jars and write the spice name on the lid with a sharpie. Then I store them in a drawer. It is 1000x easier to find the spice I need when I can open the drawer and read the names easily.
My favorite organization hack for a standard entry closet is to remove the hanging bar and add hooks around the sides and back of the closet. I have found that it is so much easier to get everyone to hang up their coat when all they have to do it put it on a hook, instead of taking out a hanger, hanging the coat, and putting it back.
I also have three cloth bins on the top shelf in our entry closet. One is miscellaneous stuff, one is hats, one is gloves. Makes it easy to find what I need when we’re running out the door.
I have our hall closet by the bedrooms organized with bins. We have one for first aid stuff, one for adult OTC meds, and one for kid OTC meds. It’s made it really easy to get what I need when someone needs medicine or has a cut.
Finally, I agree with others to be ruthless about getting rid of stuff. I’m always suggesting it and DH says “we might use that.” I get rid of it anyway the majority of the time. There is simply no need to keep stuff that you probably aren’t going to use. As long as I give it away for free, I can get rid of damn near anything on our Nextdoor page.
I'm kind of jealous of everyone who has room to store tupperware with lids on.
This is tangentially related but I'm always puzzled when people say they clean out the fridge once a week and throw away old leftovers. If we have enough leftovers we skip cooking dinner and eat them. We are fundamentally lazy haha. So we never have many leftovers in the fridge. And thus we rarely need a whole lot of tupperware and we also extremely rarely throw away old leftovers.
We use a lot of storage containers because I only cook on Sunday. Everything goes into a storage container and gets eaten through the week. Anything left on Sunday gets tossed (this isn’t common).
Post by icedcoffee on Jan 23, 2021 10:30:18 GMT -5
Yeah it’s not weird to me to have a lot of Tupperware. We have tons and use a lot of it. We also eat our leftovers. And if I know something won’t get eaten quickly I freeze it so a lot ends up there. Like we do Mexican weekly and I know we won’t eat leftover rice so I immediately freeze half for the next week.
And then the kids and I (in normal times) pack lunches in Tupperware. So yeah...it adds up.
I have dreams of having only one brand of Tupperware but it’s not really practical because when I need more they often don’t sell what I previously used anymore and I refuse to trash it all just to add a few more pieces. I stack likes ones together with lids on. It works for the most part. Thankfully we have enough space to dedicate a whole cabinet to the cause.