Buy to Organize

Organizing is instrumental to having a happy, healthy home.  It is also one of the areas I almost never waste time DIYing.  Purging, cleaning, and sorting takes enough energy…do yourself a favor and buy what you need to organize.

Containers, boxes, bins, baskets, canisters are all important for good organization.  Whenever I start an organization project, I like to first assess what I need to store.  That assessment helps me determine the size and number of containers I need to buy.  My favorite places to buy inexpensive containers are Target, HomeGoods, The Container Store, and sometimes the craft store (with a 50% off coupon).

I also like to wander the office supplies section of stores on the look out for good organization ideas.  Organizing does not come naturally to me, so I like to let the pros help.  That is how I found my pretty mail organizers and the food storage containers I use in my pantry.

Although I like to buy my containers, one thing I would like to get better at DIYing is labels.  All those containers need labels to show what is inside.  I made chalkboard vinyl labels for my pantry containers, but that is pretty much where the labeling stopped.  One of my new favorite things is full-page sticker paper.  It makes creating and printing custom labels so much easier, if you don’t mind cutting them out.

As soon as I finish up this post, I am off on an organizing mission.  My laundry room/kids craft room is in desperate need of some organizing attention.  The only upside is I have plenty of cute bins and baskets to use in there from around my house.  I just need to get cleaning and organizing to pull it altogether.

The plan is to convert the laundry room to a full on utility/cleaning room.  With my studio moving down stairs and the boys in school, there is no need for the room to be a craft room any longer.  What we really need is a central place for all of our cleaning and home care supplies.  Our broom and everyday cleaners are in the pantry.  The vacuum is in another closet.  Bathroom cleaning supplies are upstairs.  All of our cleaning stuff needs to get consolidated.  I am hoping it will motivate me to clean more :)