I love to stay organized in all areas of my life, but now having a LO (and accumulating way more stuff), I'm having a hard time keeping things together. We live in an apartment currently, so space is limited as it is, but even when we get a house, the closets are small and there is not a lot of storage space in the kitchen or bathroom. How do you keep things organized?
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One I started doing last year is folding t-shirts and putting them sideways in drawers, vs stacked on top of each other. You can fit more in each drawer, and see them better. Here is a little blog post on how to do it, even though it is a no brainer.
http://katherinesasser.com/2011/03/21/dresser-drawers-t-shirts/I also made a huge effort to minimize the stuff that I have. I don't need 2 toasters, 3 brooms and 9 wooden spoons, so get rid of some stuff! I was surprised at how much more space I ended up with.
I also bought those little plastic storage towers and I keep them under our sinks in the master bath, so that clears off a LOT of counter space & still leaves room for towels.
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@MrsTiz: Oh, love the t-shirt idea. DH has SO many t-shirts and he won't part with them, this would help save space and hopefully help him keep them neater instead of tearing through the whole drawer to get to 1 specific shirt.
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DH does a great job keeping the kitchen organized. We have a large pantry so that helps catch any over flow.
We only have one linen closet so that gets full quickly, especially because I don't have a real laundry room.
Since having LO, I keep thinking about all of the storage in my house as "Prime Real Estate". The pantry, is prime real estate because its easy to access. The guest room closet, not so much. So that extra set of wine glasses that I only have to get out once or twice a year get moved to the guest room closet.
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@Thehistoryofus: That's a good idea, to store things your rarely use in another area of the house. For example, I don't use my crock pot on a weekly, or even monthly basis so storing it somewhere other than the tiny kitchen is a great idea!
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@MrsTiz: *I also made a huge effort to minimize the stuff that I have. *
That, to me, is the key! I'm guilty of keeping everything around for a "just in case" i need it, even though I haven't touched it in months or years. Once I started just getting rid of *stuff* that was really just taking up space for no good reason, and there was more room for the real things I needed, organization just fell into place. -
@PurplePumps: I agree, something I read that helped was:
1. Would I purchase this again right now?
2. When was the last time I needed this?
3. Would I pay to move this item if I was moving? -
@Thehistoryofus: Great tips!
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@MrsTiz: I *puffyheartwithglitter* the drawer tip! I already fold the t-shirts into (perfect) rectangles, but this would make them instantly scannable! GENIUS!
I really wish people would stop giving us things . . . my MIL bought me a large crock pot a while ago, and then recently just bought me--intentionally--a smaller crock pot. WHY? It's still in the box. It is so annoying!
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@MsLipGloss: re-gift
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@Bao: Totes! Or at the very least a (tax deductible) donation to a local charity's thrift store.
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@MsLipGloss: or that too!
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Honestly, less stuff is key for us.
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I like for everything to have a home. Even my junk drawer has a drawer organizer in it, so all of my junk has it's own little place to live. And if you don't have a home..... you don't belong in my home.
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13 comments