Organising our homes, 1 day at a time!

[Mommabear20]

A thread for anyone wanting some company and motivation to get those pesky messy corners cleared and tidy!

Bring your organising hacks and let's do this!

Not much organisation here but I have got rid of a few more things. I’m really guilty of buying stuff to help me organise (containers, baskets, trays etc) so am trying hard not to do that and to try to work with what I have rather than buy yet more to try to copy something I’ve seen on Instagram.

I think I also need to accept that my kids’ stuff isn’t ever going to look beautiful. They don’t have ridiculous amounts of stuff but do have a lot and they’re not willing to part with it at the moment.

Can anyone share how they organise craft/messy stuff. At the moment the paint/playdoh/moon sand/little bits like sequins and glitter are on the top shelves of various kitchen cupboards then we have a kallax cube of colouring and sticker books, paper and notebooks, another of pens/pencils/crayons/chalk/dry erase books/diamond art and washimals then yet another box of fabric/felt/aqua doodle mats/science kit then my daughter has a box of beads in her bedroom! It’s too much but she uses it all. Would like it to all be consolidated into one location a bit more really.

Hi, I'll try to join in.
Moved into a fixer upper with 2 small kids a couple of years ago, with way too much stuff in tow, and still dealing with the fall out.
Today's big achievement was sorting my clothes. A few worn out things in the bin, and a carrier bag delivered to the charity shop.
Not organising exactly but this week I also finally put up the safety film on some interior door glass panes, after ordering the stuff months ago.

In our house yesterday the big organisation win was DH rigging some system for our car roof box to be stored up on the wall of the garage which means it doesn't get in the way (it's huge).

@Quamora

I have two carts from hobby craft for the kids paint/playdoh/paper etc (Google "art carts" there's loads of ideas for how to maximise their storage capacity) they were £22 with a 10% code (I signed up to their emails)

The carts are on wheels so if they are crafting I just wheel the whole thing over, they use what they want and at the end we either put it all back properly or just chuck it all in and then wheel it away again.

Comes in lots of colours and is metal so can be wiped down. 3 tiers with lots of room for pots of felt tips, pencils etc.

Really handy purchase ime x

Also The Home Edit (Netflix, also I have the book, but the website is probably useful too) is handy for organising kids stuff. They arrange kids stuff in rainbow order and it looks lovely and would not last a minute in this house

@Quamora Ikea also do carts. There’s two sizes. Ruktig I think is the Ikea name. My DD’s are teens and they use them for their eleventy billion nail polishes, make up brushes etc. DD1 has two and the other one is her art supplies for GCSE art and you can store tons of stuff in them.

Pleased with myself today as I organised all the spare light bulbs that were dotted around the house into one small labelled storage box. I also labelled the rest of DS' cups so I'm not rummaging around for a named one before nursery in the morning.

Managed a bit of decluttering today and also grabbed a trofast tray for painting stuff like paint pots, scrapers etc

More progress here, bought a little jungle themed tin for plasters, and a case for my headphones so the wires aren't visible. I also put some of my smaller tech in a really useful box and ordered myself a desk drawer organiser.

Small effort today. I tidied my dressing table. All the makeup is now back in the bags.

Gathered up all my nail polishes, of which I have far too many, found an empty make-up bag to store them in. One small win for tidiness.

I downloaded Olio today as part of my drive to reduce food waste in the house, created myself a new little batteries tub which is all labelled and stored in my desk cupboard, good to have a home for them now as they seem to end up in random drawers loose. Decided where a particular painting will go and ordered a new frame for it so it won't have to stay sat on kitchen counter any longer. As well as that I managed to fit my second pair of headphones in the case for my main pair which I bought the other day rather than getting another one, so a 50% space saving and no visible wires. I've also labelled that my CD case. Most excitingly my desk organisers arrived so I've completely sorted 2 drawers - everything from paper clips to pens now have their own home!

created myself a new little batteries tub

You genius! Thank you! This is just what I need to stop them falling on my head when I open the cupboard and I have the perfect sized little box that I've been wondering what to do with. I don't know why I never thought of this before.

Glad to have been of use @WildPoinsettia

Little bit of progress yesterday - created myself a little buttons tub as they had no 'home' previously and ended up in the bottom of a random drawer.

Finally managed to drill additional holes so the tins of tuna are no longer on the dining table. Still doing scanning and shredding. Slowly getting there

Does anyone have any tips for under stairs cupboards? Ours has the meters, but also all the DIY stuff, which is either hanging in carrier bags from hooks or on the floor. There is one high up shelf without much height clearance. Ideally I want to make it a really useful space for everything the kids shouldn't get at (it has a lock).

Can you for out with narrow shelves on two walls? And get a wheels trolley that you can take on and out so you can access everything

@glumygloomer lots of shelves, sized to suit whatever storage tubs you want to use, with tubs on castors kicked underneath. Kallax, the stair shaped trofast or those wire cube shelves might work if you need to get into the corner.

Does anyone need any filing cabinet suspension files btw?! I have a pack of 20 I don't need, happy to send them on for the cost of postage if anyone wants them (they're usually £15-20)

I like the idea of a trolley, so the meters at the back are still easy access. Thanks, will look at see what I can find

The IKEA one?

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/raskog-trolley-white-20382932/

I'm clinging to little bits of progress every day will eventually mean I get there. Yesterday I bought another stationery storage box for DS and filled it with all the colouring pencils. He's a little young for them at the minute but I had them anyway so at least now they're organised and labelled properly. I also labelled my garlic Kilner jar as I used it twice yesterday and both times it annoyed me how it wasn't labelled. No idea how it had been overlooked thus far!

@Dinosauraddict sounds like you’re making really good progress, all those little bits really add up! Hope work has been better this week.

Thanks for the trolley suggestions, I said to dp about it and he said I’d just moan about a trolley looking a mess and always being in the way and the stuff is fine where it is 😆 He’s probably right! You know where something is annoying you so you build it up to being worse than it actually is in your head? I think that’s what I’ve done with the craft stuff and I just need to put up with it for a few more years.

My kitchen cupboards and fridge all looked wonderfully organised earlier in the week but it was because I had run out of lots of things and everyone was moaning that there were no raisins/crisps/chocolate bars/cereal choices/yoghurts/ham/fruit. So it would seem I can only have pretty food cupboards if I don’t actually have food to feed the family!

Today has been one of those days where you organise things that you didn't know need organising 😀 In this case valuations & receipts for more expensive items for my insurance. Always useful to have it collated & in one place in case of a claim.