You’ve got too much stuff, not enough space; we’ve all been there. It’s the familiar conundrum of how every time youopen a cupboard, something falls out, and yet you can’t seem to find anything when you’re really looking for it. Well worry not – here are a few storage solutions to help you get organised.
Strategic Stacking
An empty shelf, drawer, cabinet, or closet is a trickster of organisation. You’re fooled into thinking you have endless space, that you can fit heaps in there – but thanks to gravity, you can only stack vertically, one thing on top of another. Pretty soon you’ll find yourself having to take everything out again because the one thing you need is always on the bottom of the pile.
The solution is simple: within a space, stack front to back or side by side instead of top to bottom. This works especially well with clothes in drawers, and rolled up towels. But how can you do it with open shelves? Laundry baskets, storage boxes; you can find any kind of container to fill the shape of the space you have, whether on a shelf or on the floor. The unstackable hats and halloween costumes can be finally defeated, just by containing them first.
Souce: www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/decorative-shelf-vintage-wicker-jars-618810107
Little Labels
The most important principle of organisation is to maximise visibility, without losing accessibility. Ideally, you want to know what’s in a drawer without ever having to open it. Labelling can help with that! Instead of having to pick through every utensil you own to find that one really good spatula, you can simply label your drawers and know exactly where you left it. When everything has its own reserved space, it takes all the stress out of putting things away. Hey, go nuts, write a list of your worldly possessions and their precise locations; you’ll never lose anything ever again.
Hook Hanging
Thanks to gravity, things in a cupboard tend to take up all the surface space whilst leaving a whole lot of head room. Utilise your air space – use an adhesive wall hook near your door to hang your keys on without doing any damage, or in your cupboards for pots and pans. If your walls are crowded, tension rods can stretch across an empty space in a cupboard and give you the perfect adjustable frame to hang spray bottles or towels from. You can mix and match techniques here and hang hooks from your tension rods or lightweight baskets from your hooks, for all those knick-knacks. The possibilities are endless!
Drawer Divisions
Drawer inserts are the unspoken heroes of organisation. They’re common, premade in a variety of shapes, and inexpensive. Get creative with them! Don’t feel limited to drawers either – you can put dividers in storage boxes too. A few tension rods can be artfully arranged inside for a design ideal for storing pots and pans and their lids – side by side instead of vertically.
Trusty Turntable
No advice on storage could be complete without mentioning the often forgotten turntable – the Lazy Susan. These are especially handy to use in low cabinets; there’s no need to get down on your hands and knees to get those cans and condiments. Spin the turntable and bring things from the back to the front without the unnecessary struggle.
Satisfy the need to declutter by making the most of the space you have. And remember, while you’re doing all this space saving, that the best solution will always be to simply not have so much stuff in the first place, so try to regularly toss out what you’re not using anymore.
