Life is constantly changing and so are your organizational needs. Especially if you have children whose interests change dramatically with each passing year. Even a once well-thought-out home organization system can find itself outdated, or struggling to meet your family’s new needs.
In a time like this, it’s okay to accept that what once worked might not work anymore. Reviewing your organization system, to make updates, upgrades or even wholesale changes may be just what you need to get your home organized today and keep it organized into the foreseeable tomorrow.
The following is a list of organization systems and strategies to help get you started toward optimizing your home’s organization systems. Picking and choosing one or two might just go a long way toward taming your home’s chronic chaos.
Lazy Susans
The “Lazy Susan” took the world by storm in the late 1970s and 80s. Though today it is largely used to keep kitchen cabinets organized, letting you keep the turkey roasting pan you rarely use in the back of the corner cabinet, yet still in reach.
However, one or more Lazy Susans can be put in other places like deep pantry shelves and bathroom storage closets. This lets you keep things like pickled vegetables and rarely used spiced in the back, yet still easy to grab at a moment’s notice. Taking it into the bathroom, a Lazy Susan can be used to keep discrete personal items in the back of a deep closet shelf.
Labeled Tote Bins
Small tote bins can be used for a variety of items. They can even be stylishly made from things like wicker, stained wood, decorative reinforced cloth, and colorful plastics. Tote bins are also available in a wide range of sizes to fit most shelves.
You can put them just about anywhere. In pantry shelves, bathroom storage closets, linen closets, hall closets. They even make a great way to get your foyer closet organized during the change of seasons where gloves and hats might not be needed every day. Keeping simple labels on the front helps everyone in the family quickly recognize what is in the tote bin to grab it at a moment’s notice.
Stackable Tote Bins For Seasonal Storage
Seasonal storage items can easily get in the way of an otherwise well-organized home. Like smaller tote bins, they can be used to hold a wide range of items. Most are made from heavy-duty plastic with reinforced corners, bottoms, and lids.
This gives them the ability to be stacked one on top of the other to keep a wide range of items in a relatively small footprint. The net result is a lot more available space in the rest of the house, thanks to less out-of-season clutter.
Behind The Door Storage
The space behind a closet, bedroom, or bathroom door is often unused and seldom thought of. Though there are a lot of great, simple storage solutions that can be easily installed behind a door. This includes things like over-the-door hanging pouches for shoes and lightweight items, as well as lightweight wire shelves that attach directly to the back of the door.
Basket Systems
Wire baskets are a hot new way to make the most out of your home storage space. They can be installed into a wheeled cart for moving things around like crafting items and cleaning supplies. You can also install them on slide-out runners that let you pull them out just like a lightweight drawer.
Pull Down Closet Poles
A lot of closets have unused storage space near the ceiling. This sometimes encourages families to stack boxes to the rafters, which can be a safety issue, not to mention making it hard to find what you want from a specific unmarked box. This vertical space can just as easily be used for things like a pull-down hanger rod or crank-down shelf.
These are spring-loaded systems that either has a pull-down handle or a crank that lowers the hanger rod or shelf down. This lets you do things like keep winter coats hanging up high during the summer while making it easy to pull them down when the weather starts to turn cold again in the fall.
Personalized Cubbies In The Foyer
Cubbies are a great way to give everyone in the family their own space. You can install them in the foyer or entryway of your home with hooks or a hanging rod suspended under each cubby. This gives everyone a place to hang their coats and a spot to keep other loose items. You could even try putting lightweight totes in the bottom to replicate a drawer.
Drawer Dividers
Do you have an annoying junk drawer that’s become a nasty tangle of random objects to the point where it’s basically impossible to find something that you absolutely know is in there? If so, then it’s probably time to embrace the innovation of draw dividers.
These are simple to install spaces that can be easily adjusted to meet the dimensions of specific items. Some drawer divider systems even let you create two distinct tiers to store items. Velvet or tactile lining helps keep items from bouncing or shifting out of their spot.
Adjustable Shelves
Linen closets, pantry, and hall closets are always prone to wasted space. A towel or other items can then be pulled out of it without creating a lot of wasted vertical inches. Adjustable shelves let you change the spacing between shelves to let you make the most out of the available space. This then frees up more room to store similar items.
Transform The Area Under The Stairs
Stairwells are uniquely shaped areas, and the space underneath them or beside them is often undeveloped. With some creative carpentry, the space under your stairs can serve as a small home office desk, an innovative bookshelf, or a display space for family mementos.
Even the underside of basement steps can become a great storage space for lesser-used items. Simple hooks can hold coiled-up extension cords and heavy-duty shelves can help hold hand tools and other home maintenance supplies.
