Booooooring! Storage help please

[claireybrations]

Am trying to make it so I am super organised and want everything to have a place.
this has solved the problem of bits of toys lying everwhere (well mostly) but am still having problems with a few other areas. They are:

-Paperwork waiting to be dealt with
-Paperwork waiting to be filed away
-The extra bits that come with stuff (eg screws, alan keys, spare buttons etc)
-Spare scarves, gloves, bags, shoes
-Bubble wrap/other packaging that I save to reuse
-Gift bags etc that I save to reuse
-Craft stuff eg glue, glitter etc that I don't want the dc to be able to get to without me supervising

Um...I think that's about it, all the other clutter I can see is just me not having put things away yet!

We have a sideboard in the sitting room, one cupboard has books in, the other cds/dvds/computer/phone bits and 2 of the drawers are taken up with dh's work stuff, another with cards/notepaper and pens. The last has photos in (not in albums) but I could put this to better use if anyone has any suggestions. Other than that we have an understairs cupboard (no shelves), a small filing cabinet which is already crammed full, 3 filing boxes (in the understairs cupboard and difficult to get to which is why I save the paperwork up until I have a lot to go in )

Have a look at this www.aplaceforeverything.co.uk/
or this www.theholdingcompany.co.uk

you are bound to find something from one of them

Thank you for the links, I think part of the problem is I can't envisage where such things should live iyswim. Any suggestions?

I'm not a guru on this but am on a relentless quest to have all the STUFF under control - so I definitely see where you're coming from. And I live in a flat that's not-quite-big-enough for us all, although I suspect that stuff just grows and spreads to fill whatever space is available.

With paperwork, DH and I have a tray each (stacking trays) on a shelf above our very tiny desk. Anything that needs to be dealt with or filed gets put there. Once a week or so I go through my tray and deal with things that need to be dealt with (bills, forms to fill in, etc). Anything that needs to be filed gets put in a separate folder within the tray, and I get round to filing every few weeks. God knows what DH does with his, but his tray is below mine, so it can't grow to limitless heights. (I might add that all general household stuff or anything relating to joint finances goes in my tray so I can personally supervise its progress.) For household filing, I have a series of box-files on a high shelf, with clear plastic wallets inside to separate things out. I have a box-file for each of the DDs to keep all their paperwork together - red books, school stuff, NHS cards, etc.

For buttons, find a little tin or box (with secure lid!) to keep them all together. As a kid I used to love playing with my mum's button box, and DD1 is equally keen on mine. Screws and the like also go in small tins, and I keep them all together in a small basket (I have a series of baskets on a shelf in my tiny kitchen for containing small things, though I have to be endlessly vigilant to stop DH dumping inappropriately large items in them and taking up all the space.) Muji is a good place for boxes and baskets. And Cath Kidston (yes, I know...) has some adorable button-tins...

Out-of-season clothes and shoes get stuffed into zip-up bags and put under the bed. Handbags are all in a posh carrier bag tucked to the side of my wardrobe. (Actually some are under the bed too, but theoretically they are all kept together.)

Bubble-wrap and packaging I put together in a cardboard box. Ditto gift-bags. (We have a small and overstuffed cellar for shoving things like that in.)

Kids' craft stuff (the devil's work, in my opinion) goes in a series of small plastic boxes - with lids!! - on a high shelf. And I try (though don't always succeed) to clear this stuff out regularly and relentlessly, to avoid it deteriorating into a sticky and unusable mass.

People like me weren't really designed to have children (or husbands, come to think of it) - I feel like I do daily battle against the rising tide of stuff that threatens to overwhelm us all.

The only suggestion I would make, is, store things as close as possible to where you use them. If you don't, they will never be put away - they will just sit in a heap waiting to be put away.

Plastic wallets are good for paperwork "in progress", "awaiting sorting" - you can label them, and deal with them all together when you have a chance.

Er: back to Ikea I think

Paperwork - MACKIS desk trays, mine just lurk on a windowsill near the computer/desk. Once dealt with, it goes in wallet files in a small 2-drawer wooden filing cabinet (the only decent item I ever salvaged from a skip in my life).

Scarfs etc - go in wardrobes/drawers if really not in circulation. Ones in daily use are all in a big wicker basket near the back door (not shoes obviously).

Everything else - SAMLA boxes, clear boxes with lids, different sizes but stack together.

We have fitted out the cupboard under the stairs with shelves along the back wall, and all these boxes are lined up on the shelves. You can get a surprisingly big box on a nine inch shelf. As they are see-through you don't need to label them. Well to be honest, the bubble wrap is shoved in the corner...

You need to find a corner of your house - maybe even somewhere high up, and shelve it out.

Thanks, some good tips there. Have found an old ice cream tub and that now has all the screws and bits in. Once I did it I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it, so simple!

It is a rented house and we're not allowed to fix shelves to the wall, but I could try to find a free standing set that doesn't need to be, otherwise clear boxes (even on top of each other) has to be better than carrier bags full of stuff in the understairs cupboard!

Wispa 'stuff' definitely does expand, we were previously in a tiny 2 bed that was completely stuffed full. We are now in a largish 3 bed and are still running out of space! Mainly due to lack of adequate storage though I think, I am pretty good at culling our stuff so we don't have lots of uneccessary junk lying around.