Even though January is (finally!) over, I’m still working on organizing. Every few years I try to go through everything that we own and make sure that we still want to own it. Since we have a weight allowance for our moves and we have to pay out of pocket if we go over that weight, I have added incentive to purge. Plus, the less “stuff” I own, the less I have to worry about cleaning it or storing it!
Today I thought I’d share some of the tried-and-true organization items that make our home run smoothly. None of them are expensive but they’re all worth every penny, in my opinion!
Laundry Organization
Amy shared these adorable blue and white laundry baskets a few months ago and I ordered them immediately since my old ones were broken. I like the fact that you can collapse them for flat storage.
Just a few weeks ago I found the matching ironing board cover and ordered that, too. While I didn’t truly need a new cover, it was inexpensive and since my board isn’t tucked into a closet, it was nice to have it match my decor.
(My sources are linked throughout and I’ll put them at the bottom of the post, too)
Paper Organization
Also in the laundry room–at this house at least–are the wall storage baskets that I use to organize and manage our paper. They’ve been in the kitchen, office, and stairway before at other houses, so their location changes, but their function doesn’t!
I bought three of these baskets (the other one is currently in the kitchen) and used one for each kid and the third for the mail/bills. Since we only have one child at home these days, the paper onslaught is a lot lighter, but these are still a great way to hide paper clutter.
Kitchen Organization
When we moved to this house, I bought a butcher block knife organizer that fits in a drawer on Amy’s recommendation, and I absolutely love it! I’m constantly battling against counter clutter so I was happy to hide the knives away.
They have several different sizes if you don’t have quite as many knives as I do.
Also in my kitchen–or pantry, depending on the house, I love to use my chip racks to organize our snacks. I have two of them in different sizes, and sometimes I put them on top of the fridge, and sometimes they’re in the pantry or the laundry room.
If you have just a corner of a pantry or closet, you can DIY your own chip rack for under $10 (see how here).
Cleaning Organization
Both Amy and I use this cleaning caddy to tote and store our cleaning supplies around the house. It’s under $8 so you could easily buy one for each floor of your house (or each bathroom).
Clothing Organization
Last but not least, I just bought two different sets of drawer organizers in an effort to get my socks, underwear, and scarves tidy. I’m about to sell or donate my dresser and bring in a new one that I bought from my friend Danielle, so this setup will change in a few weeks, but it will certainly make it easy to pick things up and pop them in a new place.
As someone who has always just thrown everything into a drawer, this is a game changer!
If you have any great ideas that I missed, just let me know. As promised, my sources are below:
The Baskets from World Market seem to be no longer available. : (
I’m so sorry about that–it’s so annoying when that happens! These are a dead ringer, so maybe try them instead? I’ve updated the post–thanks for the heads up! Christy
Can you share information on the ironing board holder?
Of course! It’s actually a set of wall hooks. I’ve used hooks for our ironing board for years because those white covered wire ironing board holders are kind of ugly. This one is from Hobby Lobby and even though I bought it years ago, they still have it. The link is here if you don’t have a store nearby.
Hope that helps!