Yeah..
I made it a point to try to find permanent homes for things we were actually keeping. And thankfully, a few weeks ago we had a pretty successful garage sale to get rid of everything else. We started with 8 big totes of things (plus a trailer of furniture) and only came back with ONE TOTE! Now that we had purged, I was ready to tackle our storage space so we could keep up with minimal clutter long term.
I totally snagged this idea from this post at iHeart Organizing, but it was too brilliant to not put this system to use. We already had plenty of big bins, so we only put in a few bucks for Scotch laminating sheets and were ready to roll! I just made some title pages (which took 2 seconds in Word) and slapped the laminated sheets to them and placed them on the appropriate bins. Then I just used a regular dry erase marker to write the specific items kept within the bin. (Previously we taped on printed sheets that had the items typed up, but when things get taken out or rearranged you have to make a whole new label, plus since they were just paper they got dirty and torn pretty easily).
The front side is still not very pretty, as it is still random. (but how pretty can a storage room be, really???) Basically we have a little tool section (which is another project for another day) and a few banker's boxes for old files that we don't need to access but can't toss just yet. Again, this area I didn't really touch with this project so it's still messy.
Then random home stuff (shower/curtain rods, carpet samples, etc) followed with a big section of just empty product boxes. I'm hoping to eventually toss these but haven't committed - do people keep that stuff??
On the bottom shelf, I placed all of the more temporary items or things we are trying to get rid of. For example, the things we weren't successful selling at the garage sale went back here. As we collect such items this is where they will go. Here you can see a closer look at the actual labels..
The end is our little luggage station. The far end in the back corner of the room has always housed our paint and paint supplies - totally untouched and will be revisited at some point.
The back side of the shelf keeps more permanent things. On the far end will be our "memory bins" of things saved from our childhoods. Andy's is there now, but I just got all my stuff from my parents' house and it needs a better system, so we will be revisiting that.
Then we have empty banker's boxes followed by a whole section of seasonal decorations. I wanted each season to be limited to one bin to prevent over-buying. Right now these are mostly half full, so if they ever do become full it will be plenty. Christmas sort of won though, since we have the tree box, a regular bin of decorations, a few small ornament boxes, and a box just for string lights. It really is not that much stuff when you think about it. I also have one bin for non-Christmas winter items, because winter doesn't end in December and then I can easily keep the snowmen out for a little longer without creating a big hassle. Fall has a bin, but we don't have a spring/summer because those decor items are out right now (not that we really have any). Those 2 seasons will be limited to one bin, hence that open space.
Just before we moved in, the local K-Mart went out of business. They sold all of their shelving, and we were lucky enough to snag some. It is really perfect for a storage room, and we immediately started loading it up with random items (in addition to the crap in the guest bedroom). From the get-go, we did really well about buying bins, but things weren't really organized or labeled properly.
Then random home stuff (shower/curtain rods, carpet samples, etc) followed with a big section of just empty product boxes. I'm hoping to eventually toss these but haven't committed - do people keep that stuff??
On the bottom shelf, I placed all of the more temporary items or things we are trying to get rid of. For example, the things we weren't successful selling at the garage sale went back here. As we collect such items this is where they will go. Here you can see a closer look at the actual labels..
The end is our little luggage station. The far end in the back corner of the room has always housed our paint and paint supplies - totally untouched and will be revisited at some point.
Then we have empty banker's boxes followed by a whole section of seasonal decorations. I wanted each season to be limited to one bin to prevent over-buying. Right now these are mostly half full, so if they ever do become full it will be plenty. Christmas sort of won though, since we have the tree box, a regular bin of decorations, a few small ornament boxes, and a box just for string lights. It really is not that much stuff when you think about it. I also have one bin for non-Christmas winter items, because winter doesn't end in December and then I can easily keep the snowmen out for a little longer without creating a big hassle. Fall has a bin, but we don't have a spring/summer because those decor items are out right now (not that we really have any). Those 2 seasons will be limited to one bin, hence that open space.
This system (although we are still working on downsizing and arranging) is seriously the bee's knees. It is so nice and easy to get out and put things away, and no climbing over crap to search for your things. I always know exactly where everything is, and it should be a piece of cake to maintain. Seeing it all makes me feel like we have so. much. stuff. But when I remember that this is where we store EVERYTHING coupled with the fact that the bins aren't full, makes me feel a little better. There is always more work to be done, but at least our guest bedroom is now completely junk free! Seriously, vacuuming that room when I got it all clear was like Christmas morning! Motivation to keep up with the work.
On to the next thing..
On to the next thing..
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