THRIFTY POLLS – #2 GET ORGANIZED!

Okay, so the #2 spot on the Thrifty Polls “New Year’s Resolutions” was to GET ORGANIZED! First, I can 100% totally agree with you! We put up the poll options because those are our top picks! This is definitely one area that we can improve on….. 😉

Anyway, there is literally soooo much to cover on this subject, so I am just going to highlight (and try my tips myself!) and then throughout the year we will have posts regarding more organizational tips!

Here are some little things we try to do in our home:

• First, we have a basement that is a throw-all, you know the ones…the unfinished basements! Anyway, over the few months, we have set a little money aside from each paycheck to purchase plastic bins (wait until they are on sale) and then fill a bin or two every payday to get the basement organized. This was ThrityAl’s plan as he is the “bin stacker” and wanted a uniform system that we could easily label (and relabel) and be all the same size. By attacking it both financially and time wise in the small bites, it is not so overwhelming!

• Also, each season, we rotate the clothes in everyone’s closets and dressers with these bins that get stored in the basement on the off season! This allows us to “reorganize” those problem spots up to four times a year and give-away things we don’t need and allow us to reuse items for the future. It’s kind of like a forced clean out!

• We have used utensil trays to organize more than just utensils! Like the “junk drawer,” hair thingy drawer, kids activity drawers, any drawer or shelf that holds those little odds and ends!

• We have also slowly been purchasing these plastic 5-shelf systems from Walmart for around $24.  Each set is five shelves high and they can connect to each other.  We started with these in our basement food pantry (we actually have six in that little corner of the basement filled to the brim! – What a Blessing!). Anyway, we also started putting them in other areas as well! We have a library/school room and a play room and this makes great storage for the kids things. We actually purchased open storage bins in red and blue color from IKEA for $1.00 (IKEA has many great and affordable storage options!) and labeled them based on the toys (i.e. potato heads, legos, little people, blocks, etc.).

• Finally, our last tip for now is regarding the pantry and food storage organization. See the previous bullet point regarding the plastic shelves from Walmart. We have taken these shelves and dedicated them to be similar to the grocery store.  When we come home from a shopping trip (after taking a picture for you to see!) we put them away and rotate them so the oldest is in front. This is important so items don’t go to waste! For example, here are some of the shelves:
  • The cereal shelves (this is actually one full set of 5 shelves!) and grouped the “like” cereals together
  • Snack
  • Baking
  • Rice
  • Pastas
  • Sauces and dressings
  • The personal care items (another full set of 5 shelves for each level having a certain type – hair, tooth, body, etc.)
  • The household corner (we try to separate the household items from the food in an area under the stairs: cleaning products, toilet paper, home fragrance, etc.)
  • Baby items
  • Medicines and vitamins
  • Canned good (another full set of shelves!)
  • Other breakfast items
  • Desserts
  • PLUS, TWO (yes 2!) 7 cubic foot chest freezers – one for meat, one for everything else (more on this later!)

I am not an expert in this field (boy do I wish I was!) but hope that these tips can get your ideas going – share with us – PLEASE! We want to know anything that you all are doing! This is just a start, so check back throughout the year for more ideas!

Until then, let’s learn something from the experts….. here are some “thrifty” book resources from Amazon – there are many, but I am going to just list a few – go HERE for a complete list. These are all eligible for FREE Amazon Prime Shipping – details HERE.

Organizing Plain and Simple on sale for $6.78 on Amazon.com (60% off – down from $16.95!) Go HERE to see it!

Organizing from the Inside Out on sale for $10.20 on Amazon.com (32% off regularly $15) – go HERE to see it

Finally,

Organizing for Dummies on sale for $14.95 on Amazon.com (32% off, regularly $21.99) – Go HERE to see it