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What items do you have around your house that would make great storage solutions? You might be surprised.
Shoe racks are obviously handy for stashing away shoes, but they are also great for storing other items. Cubby style wooden shoe racks make terrific CD racks and storage cubicles for collectibles or knick-knacks. Stain them, paint them in colors that coordinate with your room, and hang them on the wall. They are inexpensive and easy to assemble, and they add a lot of extra storage.
Shoe bags are also terrific for organizing. In the pantry, hang one over the door and use it for bottles of vitamins, spices, or other small containers that take up too much shelf space. A shoe bag also works great for tucking away snacks and juice boxes. Hang it low on the door so children can reach their snacks. You can also attach one to the inside of a cabinet door to store sandwich bags, plastic wrap, aluminum foil and waxed paper. The pockets are the perfect size for a regular sized package of sandwich bags and other small items. For larger items such as aluminum foil, cut a slit in the bottom of one pocket and slide the package through letting it slide into the pocket below and rest in the bottom of the lower pocket.
Hatboxes make cute storage containers for a little girl’s room or a sewing room. You can find decorative varieties, or you can decorate your own to match the decor. Stack several different sizes up in a corner.
Try using muffin tins to separate change. As the cups fill up, roll up the change and see how much you can save. You may want to start a fund for purchasing more organizational items. Muffin tins are also useful for organizing your junk drawer. The cups are a good size for separating small items such as batteries, odd keys, thumbtacks, paper clips, and twist ties. You might want to add one to your bathroom cabinet as well to store assorted bottles of nail polish or hair accessories.
Plastic dishpans work well for under the bed storage. They are the perfect size for organizing toys and games with lots of pieces. Rather than pulling out a large container and dumping it on the floor in order to find a particular piece, your child will have smaller containers which he or she can pull out one at a time.
Did you ever consider using a new kitchen trashcan as a clothes hamper? They work great and are usually narrower than regular hampers, so they fit well in tight spaces. A clean trashcan also makes a terrific storage solution for seasonal clothing. Purchase one with a lid, pack it full of clothes that you need to move out of dresser drawers, and place it in the closet. Because of their shape, trashcans take up more vertical space than they do floor space, but they are still low enough to allow for hanging clothing.
Just because something is designed with a particular purpose in mind, doesn’t mean you cannot find other uses for it. Get creative and get organized!
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