It seems I have developed an obsession for organization.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a bit of a Container Store visiting neat freak but these days I can’t seem to quit finding areas to take apart and reorganize. I’ve been on a binge but I have to tell you, the feeling I have after I’m done is extremely gratifying. Not to mention, makes it way easier for me to focus on my work without distraction.
We are very tidy people in general and take a lot of pride and care in keeping our space neat and tidy at all times. That being said, in the depths of the linen closet, walk-in closet, underneath the sink(s) there were things we kind of just put away when we moved in and haven’t really used or needed since… so those things tended to become forgotten and sit in storage unused. A bit ridiculous, since we live in a space that’s under 1,000 sq. ft. where every inch counts. We have to be smart about how we use our space and store accordingly because we just can’t afford the clutter.
This weekend, while on a cleaning frenzy I emptied each room/closet one by one and completely reorganized every square inch. First I tackled all my clothes in of my closet and went through each article. Did the same thing for my bedroom end tables, my office – all desk drawers, linen closet & underneath our sinks.
Next, I took a trip to my local HomeSense & IKEA to find organization systems that would help me create a home for even those little misc items. Having just gone through my closet/office & storage areas I now knew exactly what needed to be stored and how to maximize on space. The items I no longer needed or used were donated to our local thrift shops.
In the past I would have gone to buy the organizing systems before actually sorting through everything. This method was WAY more helpful since the dirty work was already complete, I had already sorted through what I wanted to donate, trash or keep and it gave me a blank canvas to start organizing. Because there has already been quite a lot of questions and interest in home & organization lately, I thought it might be helpful to show you a simple way I organized my home this past weekend: what I did, what I bought to help and how I used these systems in our house.
3 mini projects I wanted to tackle over the weekend were:
1. organize my leggings
2. organize my slides & sandals
3. create storage solutions for my office drawers
I picked up this hanging shoe organizer, this box with compartments & these boxes to help organize & store smaller items in my office drawers — All three from IKEA
So you get the idea.
Above are some options for storage. The little boxes can also be housed inside the bigger ones if you want to store large & small items together. Options are endless.
For me, I wanted to be able to store all my leggings and tights in one spot without them sliding around in my closet. I had even folded them all in a wire drawer system, but they still slide around! So this time I wanted to try out folding them really tight and small (even smaller than this photo) and stand them all so I can easily see the colors and grab what I need when I need it.
Unfortunately we did not design our current closet so we don’t have any drawer space in it. Just hangers and shelving so getting a few more of these boxes (they come in different sizes) will help keep everything in its place and organized.
These smaller boxes I put in my office drawers to house smaller items like sticky notes, portable chargers, extra business cards etc. but they could also be used for things like sunglasses and jewelry.
While I was cleaning I rediscovered my HP Sprocket portable printer (I had completely forgotten about). The way I wanted to store my sandals, you couldn’t see what was in each compartment so I took photos of each pair on my iPhone & printed them out. Once I hung the shoe organizer up on the back of my office door and put in each pair of sandals, I clipped on the corresponding image to that compartment. I love the way it turned out & it took only a few minutes to do.
You could use this idea for storing things in shoe boxes or drawers. Part of the fun is creating systems that are useful for your needs!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
— storage containers or organizers
— HP sprocket portable printer
(I got mine at Best Buy but I don’t see them online anymore)
— HP inkjet photo paper
— little clips or something to attach image
Pinterest is a huge source of daily inspiration for me. I have a whole board dedicated to organization solutions I think you might like. Click over to have a look XO
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