Take a trip to the dollar store for inexpensive organizing containers
I’m always surprised by the number of people that tell me that it never occurred to them to check out the dollar store for organizing baskets and containers. Girls, I’m hear to tell you that nothing beats the dollar store for inexpensive organizing containers, well unless you count recycled boxes but that’s a whole different post for another day. The dollar store is where it’s at. And yes I know they are made of plastic and probably overseas somewhere, I know. Please don’t send me hate mail. I get it but it’s what I can afford and they’ve changed my life. Seriously.
Unfortunately though I haven’t had too much play time with my baskets lately and it makes me sad. Since we’ll be moving provinces in a couple of months, I’ve done more purging of stuff recently than organizing of stuff. And oh how I’m missing the organizing side of it all and the high that comes from it. The other day I so needed a fix and bad. So what’s a girl to do? Why visit the dollar store (Your Dollar Store for More) of course!
Come along with me and enjoy the eye candy.
Come closer
Remember this picture from last week:
Yep most of those colored bins can be found at the dollar store. Check it out:
Want to see more?
These ones are my favorite for organizing drawers and they are 4 for $1.50:
Loving every minute of it.
So pretty. Hello lovely colors for spring.
Ahh there, now I feel better (don’t you?) and believe it or not I didn’t buy a thing. Not.one.thing. I really can’t because I don’t know yet what my requirements will be in my new home but you’ll be happy to know that just walking up and down and up and down and up and down that special aisle was enough to stop my shakes and give me the fix I needed :) Thanks dollar store!
So what’s the dollar store like in your neck of the woods?
Cool Makeup Storage Ideas
Okay I know we’re already at the end of the month and I had fully intended to do this sooner but you know life happens. We decided to take a last minute camping trip this past weekend so adjustments had to be made. Anyhoo better late than never right? Today I want to share some of my great finds for makeup storage with you. And of course no post like this is complete without my standard disclaimer. No I don’t think any of these products are absolutely necessary to organize your space…nice yes, essential no. Sometimes just seeing a product though will give you an idea of how you could re-create or re-purpose it yourself just out of things you have around your house. Whew, now that I’ve said my peace, let’s get on with it shall we :)
Here are some handy dandy storage solutions for all that hair and makeup stuff that seems to clutter our countertops. Clicking on the picture will take you to the source.
Drawer organizers come in a variety of options including acrylic and wooden:
I love these inexpensive interlocking bins:
No vanity space? How about something for behind your door:
Or underneath your bathroom cabinet. I did a whole post on this once upon a time.
And of course really cute baskets with daisies are ideal for just about anything :)
Isn’t looking at storage products fun! I seriously could do this all day! Which one is your favorite?
Note: The Mr. Linky for Org Junkie’s Monthly Round-Up will go up on Friday, July 31st. Join us this month as we organize our makeup and/or hair products!
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Organizing Triple Play ~ The Junk Drawer
What happens when you take three different organizers and ask them the same organizing question? We’re not sure, but we’re about to find out. Join Mandi from Organizing Your Way, Tanna from Complete Organizing Solutions and me as we take your organizing questions and provide you with three possibly different answers on each of our own blogs. We aren’t going to discuss our answers ahead of time, so it will be interesting to see if they differ.
What we can agree on for sure, though, is that there is no right or wrong way to organize and that there are many different ways of doing so. Through this little experiment of ours, we hope to showcase what works best for each of us in various organizing scenarios. The question is, will we be the same or different? Let’s find out together.
It’s time for Organizing Triple Play!
Today’s question:
How do you organize your kitchen junk drawer?
Well first of all I have to say that I think it’s perfectly acceptable to have a junk drawer in your kitchen. Often there are just odds and sodds that need a home and a junk drawer provides a perfect space for them. However I also believe it’s possible to have an organized junk drawer. How do I manage that?
With baskets of course! Gosh bet you didn’t see that one coming did you :)
Baskets are ideal for establishing some much needed limits and boundaries in your drawer so you can see what you have without it being one big jumbled mess. I last posted about my kitchen junk drawer in August of 2007 and I just checked the picture and am amazed that almost two years later it is still organized exactly the same way. It’s definitely working for me!
Check out my post on Organizing a Junk Drawer where I take you through the process of how I select just the right baskets to give me just the right configuration. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about being organized enough.
And that’s how I organize my junk drawer :)
To find out what Mandi and Tanna have to say about organizing a junk drawer, be sure to visit them at Organizing Your Way and Complete Organizing Solutions. If you have a question you’d like us to tackle next time, leave a comment with your suggestion!
Organizing your vehicle
Since we are concentrating on our vehicles this month, I thought I’d re-post this one from the archives. This is how I organize my own van although keep in mind I no longer have a baby but a toddler so things do look a little different now.
Remember the baskets I purchased just the other day? Well I finally came up with a great use for the second basket. I decided to use it for the baby toys in the van and it is just the perfect size. I am so happy because I was using a different basket before but it was just way too small. Don’t these toys look so nicely organized and tidy sitting in their beautiful container like that…..yah right….don’t let me fool you….by the time we get to wherever it is we are going you can find these toys literally thrown all over the vehicle…sigh….but at least clean up is a snap.
Since I was taking a picture in the van anyway I thought why not show you how I organize the area between the driver and passenger seats. We have a mesh netting type thing that came with the van that hooks to the sides of the seats….inside this I have three baskets….two are for CD’s (one for grown up CD’s and one for the kid’s music) and one bigger basket for all the miscellaneous crap essentials that you need while driving.
Here is a close up shot of the CD baskets. They are awesome…I purchased four of them at Zellers many years ago but have also recently seen them for sale at Staples.
Okay so now let me go through the red basket with you because I know you are just dying to know what I keep in there…lol.
- First in a separate container (inside the red basket) I have a mini hairspray (for last minute emergencies!), hand lotion, bandaids, Nutrigrain bars and a pen.
- In another separate container I have our sunglass cases, gum and a package of tissue.
- Then I have a big ol tub of wet wipes because as all moms know you can never have too many of these.
- Next to the wipes is my coupon case. I like to keep the case in the van so it is one less thing to remember to grab as I’m going out the door. I don’t like to keep it in my purse because I keep my purse to a bare minimum….in fact my purse is just one of those wallets on a string.
- Finally I have my emergency baby feeding kit which contains a bib, facecloth and spoon and no I haven’t used it yet but I like to be prepared…lol.
The bigger kids have another container for their electronic games and gizmos that slides under the seat in the back. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of that one.
There you have it and as you can see even our van can’t escape my freak like obsession love of baskets!
Originally published January 25, 2007
Basket Gone Bad ~ Part One
Look at this poor basket. If you listen closely, get closer, even closer. You’ll hear it saying, “help me, please, I beg you, I’m drowning in spices and I can’t hold on”. So very sad. I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing.
“Hang on my friend, help is on the way!”
I found this poor neglected site (seriously I might have shed a tear or two AND had a moment of silence) when I was helping a girlfriend reorganize one of her kitchen cabinets a couple of weekends ago. The good news is the way she used an old baby wipes container to contain her spices (way to go!). The bad news is the container had exceeded it’s limits.
The way I saw it, I had three options:
1. Leave the basket alone in all it’s overcrowded glory
2. Keep the basket and purge the stuff
3. Keep the stuff and purge the basket
Which one do you think I did?
To be contined…..
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