Bins & baskets
Corralling the Clutter in Your Home
It’s easier to organize with the right bins, baskets, and storage!
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I love a good basket or bin, but I always say:
“a bin alone will not make you more organized without an underlying system in place.”
What do I mean by that? I have seen so many people spend hundreds of dollars on bins, baskets and drawers only to be back at square one frustrated and a few hundred dollars short.
Bins and baskets are helpful as they create a defined space to put something.
A disorganized space if often due to
Too much stuff
The stuff not having a home
A good bin can help to mitigate #2
Having worked in so many homes, including my own with two small humans running around, I have tested many of the bins and baskets. And, it can be tricky to find the right one that is a balance of:
Fitting the space you are working with
Ability to stand up to wear and tear of kiddos and families
A cost effective solution- it can’t cost more than the items it is actually holding
Aesthetically appealing - if it makes you feel good when you open that cabinet door
WANT TO SAVE YOURSELF HEADACHE AND DOLLARS OF SELECTING THE WRONG BIN… AGAIN?
GRAB MY FREE TRAINING VIDEO WHERE I WALK YOUR THROUGH
SELECTING THE PERFECT BIN FOR YOUR SPACE!
There are a few things to consider when it comes to the best bins & baskets for your home decluttering project.
Bin Size
You want to try to maximize the space you are working with and find a bin that appropriately stores the items you are trying to corral. Small stuff, small bin. Big stuff, big bin. ex. You do not want a huge bin to store legos or small figures. You will create a heap of stuff that your kiddos will dump out to find what they are looking for or they will never play with anything below the top level of toys. Sherry, from Young House Love Has a Podcast, talk about this in my interview about systems in your home. Check out that episode here.
And sometimes it is not even a bin you need to maximize the space- my latest favorite is the Lazy Susan!
Durability
A lot of people talk about the dollar store type bins and I think they are good if you are not handling the bins much. These type of bins are good for holding things in place such as a drawer or shelf, but likely not as good for my kids crafts and shoes where they are touching the multiple times a day.
Cost
I am all about investing a little more if it will hold up to my kids pulling and dropping it…and it will make my life a little less crazy.
Bins can get really expensive quickly. Bins can actually run you more than a session with a professional organizer and your are still left frustrated and in a mound of toys. This is one of the benefits of working with a professional organizer- we have tested many of the options and can quickly get you to a solution with a lot fewer trips to the store AND, like my services, manage all the shopping and returns.
Balance durability and the right fit to gauge how much you should invest in bins. Again, they won’t solve your organization issues if you don’t have a good system to start with. You can learn more about what I mean about a system in this conversation with YHL and in my book Simplified.
Favs
Some of my favs that have hit the mark-
I am realistic and know how hard it can be to take something and implement it in your home.
This is why I organized (wink, wink) all of this information into a quick training video to help you to select the right bin or basket
for your space!
This Fridge Makeover gives me all the feel goods!
“I can’t even tell you how much I love everything, even my husband is over here freaking out! We would have never even thought to organize our fridge that way! It is SO much better and having you know just what to use, where to get it and manage all of that for us is AMAZING!”