Ok, I feel like the title of this post is slightly dramatic. But. These five simple storage and organization ideas have seriously changed and simplified our home.
Whenever we moved into the 70’s Landing Pad, something happened to me.
I got bit by the purge and organize bug. This bug bite though, was a welcome one.
I got rid of so much stuff, y’all. Enough for two huge yard sales and now even more waiting for another yard sale in our garage. (P.S. My best yard sale tips are here.)
I went label and bin crazy. Whatever could fit in a bin, went in one and got a label slapped on top of it.
By no means am I now an organizing pro. Trust me, I still have hot messes in many areas of our house. But after doing these five things, I’m always trying to figure out what else I can better store, organize, purge, etc.
Here are the best five things I’ve done to organize and create storage in our home since we’ve moved in. All of them are pretty simple and most are very budget-friendly. Cheap and easy, baby. My kinda projects. 😉
Simple Storage and Organization Ideas
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1. Cleaning Closet
If you’ve ever looked for cleaning or organization ideas on Pinterest, no doubt you’ve seen this idea from lots of other people. I’m certainly not trying to steal the credit for it and honestly there are so many people who’ve done this, I’m not sure who the “originator” is. I just wanted to show you my version. We had enough room in our master bedroom closet to move all the coats in there and free up this hall closet to make it the “cleaning closet.” It houses all our cleaning supplies in one central location which has been so handy. All the cleaning bottles are held in an over-the-door shoe organizer.
You’ll have to forgive my poor pictures of this space – it’s in the hallway which isn’t exactly the roomiest place on earth.
I also bought a half-size hanging organizer which holds dust rags, wipes and Swiffer refills. I’ve got more details on how I organized this space (and a great tip for easy bathroom cleaning!) in the video below.
2. Entertainment Center turned Storage Central
A.K.A. The Three Boxes of Steel
I picked up this old entertainment unit at a local thrift shop for $100. I knew I would need something bigger than anything I had to go against the long wall that connects the living room and dining room. I sent Grunt Labor and Nicky to get it, but didn’t tell them anything about it’s size. They both came back and thanked me kindly for having them pick up three steel boxes. I haven’t been able to send them on any errands since. Lurking behind those doors though isn’t a television….
It’s storage central for all our china, wine glasses, entertaining items, serving pieces, etc.
I was able to put all the items that had been in two buffets at our old house into this piece with room to spare.
You can watch the video below for more details on our cleaning closet and entertainment unit turned storage central.
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3. Vanity Organization
In the master bathroom at the new house, we ran into a slight organization problem with the vanity, it has no drawers – only two large doors. Now that was the look I wanted and it was far cheaper to buy it than one that had drawers, but just having one big open space wasn’t great for organizing items.
I fixed that with bins and baskets from the Dollar Tree.
My favorite little trick here was hanging these small baskets with command hooks on the back of the vanity door. The top one has my toothbrush and toothpaste, the middle one has Q-tips and cotton rounds and the bottom one has my hair clips and nail clippers. It is great for keeping all those little items that would normally fall into the deep abyss in one place.
Inside the vanity, I just arranged bins and put items in them accordingly. These actually stack, but I’ve found they are better for us just sitting there.
4. More Containers and Bins and Easy Labels
The Dollar Tree container aisle and I have been great friends. Not only did I use them for the bins above, but also for organization in my kitchen drawers.
The baskets in the kitchen drawers help keep cooking utensils from getting pushed to the back of the drawer where I can’t find them.
I also used larger bins and the baskets in my craft closet.
All of this stuff used to just be dumped in drawers at our old house. I organized everything and labeled the bins with FrogTape so that if I ever needed to change out the label, there wouldn’t be any sticky residue left behind. Like I said earlier, I certainly still don’t have it all together. You can see that shelf below is a hot mess – it’s where I keep all the random home accessories that haven’t found a home yet and also a troll that was Grunt Labor’s when he was a kid. I know – weird.
5. Maximized Under-Bed Storage
Two of the three beds at the 70’s Landing Pad have SmartBase Foundations.
The SmartBase Foundations work as the bed rails and box spring for the bed, but increase the storage underneath. So where you see the top of the foundation that the mattress sits on would normally be the top of the box springs, therefore the base creates more storage under the bed because it doesn’t take up as much room as a traditional box spring would. We were going to have to buy bed rails and a box springs for both our bed and the Circus’ bed. Getting the smart bases instead was cheaper and increased our storage, so it was a no-brainer. It’s been especially handy in the Circus’ room.
Do you have any other simple organizing tips or storage ideas? I am all ears, y’all! Hopefully I was able to help you a little bit and send the organizing bug your way. 😉
Liked this post? Then you’re probably going to want to see these…
15 Days to a Clutter-Free Home
10+ Kitchen Ideas for Decorating, Organizing and Storage
One Stop Workshop: Ultimate Pegboard Organization + DIY Mobile Workbench
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