April 23, 2018
Whether you’ve been in your home and are planning to stay for a while, getting your house ready to sell, or just settling into a new abode, there are many benefits to keeping your home organized so that things have a place and are easy to find. Many of us are always looking for ideas and tricks or hacks to keep our space functional and make our lives easier. Take a look at these ideas for home organizing to see if you can find them useful!
1. Keep a big 3 ring binder with clear sheet protectors to put things like labels, manuals and receipts in. You can even get the tabs that stick on or fit in the 3 rings of the binder to separate areas of the house like kitchen, bathroom, exterior, etc. If you’re really OCD, you can even color code these areas of your home. When you buy paint, take the label off that shows the brand, sheen, and color of the paint and put it in one of the protective sheet sleeves with a label or note of where that paint was used so if you need to touch up later, you know exactly which paint you need. We also recommend making a photocopy of your receipts incase the original gets faded over time.
2. You know those long skinny plastic mini bins that are made to put in your kitchen drawers to separate your kitchen utensils? We are seeing them being used for other creative things like organizing kitchen spices, nail polish, medication bottles, office or craft supplies, and any other little trinkets. If you are planning on selling your home soon, organizing your house is a huge part of staging it to sell. It’s all in the details. Potential buyers look inside of cabinets and closets and when they see everything well organized, they often think or say “I need this life!” and they connect living in that home with being organized. Additionally, homes that are clean and organized read to prospective buyers as well maintained homes.
3. A lot of clever organizing hacks involve using an organization tool for something other than what it is intended for. For example, using those over-the-door shoe organizers inside of a pantry door to organize condiments, cleaning supplies, or in a bathroom or hall closet to organize first aid stuff, beauty products and toiletries.
4. Another idea of using something for a use other than its intended purpose is to use a wine rack in the bathroom to organize towels. Instead of folding the towels all the way, just fold them one or two times and then roll them up and stick them in the wine rack for easy storage and access and a pretty display.
5. You can also use lazy susan spice racks in bathroom closets, hall closets, and under the sink in the bathroom to organize your first aid, medical supplies, beauty products and toiletries.
6. Another idea for your household binder mentioned previously is to use the clear sheets that have pockets for collecting cards to organize spare keys, social security or other identification cards that aren’t recommended to carry in your wallet.
7. For organizing jewelry. You can use the utensil drawer organizers made for keeping your cutlery separated. Use a bulletin board and pushpins to hang necklaces, some styles of earrings, bracelets, anklets, etc. Another hack for organizing watches and bangles is to use a vertical paper towel holder and stack them on the rung. Ice cube trays make great organizational tools for organizing earrings in a drawer on on a shelf.
8. In the garage or tool area, you can use the spice racks that come with the empty glass jars to organize your nails, screws, nuts and bolts. We’ve also seen the round magnetic jars with clear lids that stick to the fridge or to a magnetic strip used to organize both spices and small tools.
9. Who doesn’t love a peg board? These things never go out of style. With a hug option of different attachments for peg boards, you can organize just about anything in a way that is easy to see and easy to use. Peg boards are especially great to organize household tools or crafts and school supplies.
10. SHOE BOXES. Whether you want to re-use actual shoe boxes or buy the plastic ones, They can be a great way to organize! We’ve seen them in hall closets, laundry rooms, utility rooms, closets, under the kitchen or bathroom sink, etc, with all kinds of different uses. If you re-use the cardboard ones, a fun way to spice it up is to wrap the box with construction paper or gift wrap, if you’re up for it or if it’s in a place that isn’t as well hidden. Here are some labels that we have seen on these boxes: tapes, glues, paint supplies, batteries, hair stuff, first aid, cleaning supplies, scissors, sewing supplies, notepads/post its, lightbulbs, craft box, crayons, markers, baking supplies, bills to pay, receipts, photos, keepsakes, makeup, nail polish, pet meds, pet supplies, cleaning supplies, legos, barbie clothes, kids meds, the list goes on! If it’s smaller than a shoe, you can organize it in a shoebox!
That ought to keep you busy for now! Stay tuned for more home organizing ideas in a future blog post! And don’t forget to GET SAVVY!
