What organizing products are worth having?

seeker

Tue, Sep 20 2011, 1:14 pm

I could easily blow a fortune in the Container Store or Ikea, but I'm determined not to. However, I do think that a few well-chosen products could help streamline my life considerably. I'm trying to do a total home makeover of sorts as I've never really had any organizational infrastructure in the past. My organization equipment basically consisted of a flatware tray in my drawer.

So far I've bought from Ikea a little rod that will go on the back wall of my counter with hooks on it to hang utensils (ladles, spatula, etc) and hopefully prevent the space-consuming drawer jumble. A plastic bag holder so my stash of shopping bags (which I use as trash liners in addition to reusing in general, so I do justify stashing them) won't be stuffed and spilling everywhere. I did not buy it yet but have in my online shopping cart at Container Store a spice rack to bang into my cabinet door so I can stop shuffling around a whole shelf full of spices all the time. And I'm about to look for a freezer shelf since my freezer is one big box. Oh, and we hung a shoebag on our closet door. I know it doesn't sound so fancy but it makes a big difference! And I'm looking for a nice key hook shelf thingy for near the door.

I've already exceeded my sketchy budget for this, but I'm willing to invest a little more if something will improve my life. We have a small apartment and an active, inquisitive baby so it's pretty important to me to store things efficiently and safely. Hopefully this will be a one-time binge and then I'll be set up for life Wink

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Sep 20 2011, 1:36 pm

Most of what you said I also found were necessities. We bought a shelf for our freezer when we were first married and our freezer had none. Now I don't need it, so I use it as a shoe rack! (It stands, I put it in my closet, put shoes under it and on the shelf.)

I had a shower caddy that I don't need anymore, but when we had 1 bathroom and little ledge space, it made a big difference.

Hooks are so vital. It's made such a difference for us to be able to hang up jackets/backpacks when we walk in. In our old apartment, everything was dumped on the couch.

Most things I get away with using boxes from around -- shoe boxes inside drawers, for example. I also used a pail for shmattas in the bathroom linen closet...now I have a small box under my kitchen sink for shmattas.

Food containers that stack -- I got ones that fit 5 lbs of flour. So I have one that is for all-purpose, one for whole wheat, and a third that I put my brown sugars, confectioner's sugar, etc in. They stack up nicely on the shelf. I also have a container that is upright with a handle that fits my 5 lbs of sugar and it has a spout so I can use it to pour.

We have a belt/tie hanger in the kids' room to hold their belts and ties.

Over the door hooks for towels (our bathrooms are lacking towel hanging capabilities for some reason).

Also some sort of box to use to hold cut toilet paper for Shabbos...

B"H

Tue, Sep 20 2011, 1:45 pm

seeker wrote:

I don't have any specific ideas for you, but I have all the stuff you bought, and I'm always thinking of new things that I need to make life more organized. living in a small apartment with kids, everything MUST have a convenient place or else you'll be in a mess all the time!! this is the one area that my husband complains I spend too much money on... and I guess he's right, but the alternative is living in a wreck.

carrot

Tue, Sep 20 2011, 3:08 pm

We just got a lazy Susan for spices (I think that's what it's called). Since I like having a lot of different spices, it made a big difference in the cabinet. If you are not the type to have so many spices, I would say it's not worth it.

This is not a thing, but a tip that I discovered: Make a spot for everything, even "temporary" things that shouldn't really be there. For example, I often have things that I bought online or brought home to try on and I'm planning to return them. But meanwhile they need somewhere to go. So I made a spot (set aside a shelf) for "returns."

Amital

Tue, Sep 20 2011, 4:16 pm

My favorite is my Shalom Bayit book (AKA control journal!) I find that I avoid extras and can just have what I need because I have a list of what I have and what I need for each of the major holidays, kid's clothes, in my pantry, etc.

As for what works well, it depends on what your own hot spots are. Where are the messes you are trying to organize?

One place that really bothers me personally when it gets disorganized is my entryway. So to solve that, I got a shelf with canvas drawers that works for us because my dh "dumps" his pockets when he walks in. There is a hook for his keys plus two little drawers for wallet, cell phone, etc. He puts it into the canvas drawer/box and it's gone--visually, at least. I also have two racks of coat hooks: one at the kids level and one for adults. Then I have some of the removable hooks on the wall right behind the door (a staggered double row) to hang hats on, a bench with cubbies for kids' stuff, and a shoe rack for shoes. That way, everything that you need for coming or going is organized, accessible when needed, and neat.

For kitchen products, a good spice rack is important. You can look into ones that are shelves or like steps, ones that attach to your cabinet door, or ones that slide into your cabinet (like this)

Another thing that I use for my counters is a big jar for utensils. I have one on my meat side and one on my diary side. It minimizes drawer and wall clutter!

The container store has some pretty useful under sink storage if that's a problem area for you. A good laundry system is super helpful for me (here is a blog post with a picture of mine).

Good luck!

seeker

Sun, Sep 25 2011, 11:56 pm

More things I thought of:

Laundry hampers in bedrooms. Where I come from they're always in the bathroom, so if you change in your bedroom (where you go to bed and where you have all your clothes - duh!) you have to remember and bring the clothes to the hamper... huh? Life's easier now.

Amital, where'd you find the thing you have by your door with drawers and hooks for keys? I'm looking for something like that but haven't found anything I like yet.

Re. lazy susan, I thought of that but then I saw this at Container store: http://www.containerstore.com/.....+rack and it seems like the best, most efficient way to store spices (except for those who keep them in the freezer... I don't have room for that even if I'd want to, small freezer!) so I'm going to order that and put it near the counter somewhere.

On a related note, I also recently started using mint .com to try to track my budget... and it is going haywire from all this home improvement. I think it's necessary though, it's way overdue and we just moved so this is the perfect time. That and yom tov shopping for the whole family. And stocking up on yoshon goods as the chodosh is starting to roll out. I think I've spent my entire budget for the year already.

seeker

Tue, Sep 27 2011, 12:57 am

I JUST placed my order at container store when I realized that I forgot to check the width of the spice rack. It's JUST too wide for the inside of my skinny little closet door. FAIL. I am SO disproportionately disappointed by this! I guess I can just hang it on the outside of a cabinet but that's just so not what I had in mind. Sigh. And I was visualizing everything on the inside, all hidden away for a nice clean looking kitchen. I'm sticking with the order and will figure out a way to make it work because I don't really have room even for a lazy susan if I can get away with a spice rack on a door or wall (I have more wall than shelf at the moment. Funny kitchen shape.)

Also on the container store order: key hook/mail bin for entryway, tie hanger for DH who has been asking for one (no birthday for months. sigh. wish I could get more mileage out of this Wink

) wire shelf for freezer, undershelf basket for cabinets that I HOPE my mugs will fit into.