This post is written by our guest blogger, Amanda Kuzak, Northern California's Premiere Professional
Organizer and Estate Liquidator. Her blog, Kuzak's Closet, has been
awarded best blog of Silicon Valley in 2012 and 2013. She has been featured in
Getting Organized Magazine, Back Home Magazine, and is a contributing author of
The Spirit of Silicon Valley. You can find her at www.kuzakscloset.com/blog/
I am always testing out new products to keep my home and my clients' homes organized and one of my favorite go-to brands is Sterilite. One of their latest products is a stackable bin that comes in a variety of sizes and today I wanted to share two ways that I used them to organize spaces in my own home.
My pantry is filled with lots of goodies and I wanted a better way to contain everything. I wanted to use a bin that was stackable to maximize the storage space and that could easily be wiped clean. I thought that the Sterilite stackable bins would be perfect and I also love that they don't have a lid so you can easily grab what you need.
I started by pulling all of the loose items that I wanted to organize off the shelves and sorted them by type on my counter top. By sorting the items, I was able to get a better idea of how much storage I would need and determine how to divide and store the items.
When you are determining how to store something, even as basic as pantry items, you want to consider keeping like items together so that all of the users in your household will know where to find things. Since my husband likes to snack on crackers and chips I thought it made the most sense to put them together in a larger bin so he could see everything that we have in stock.
Every morning I grab a protein bar for breakfast and some snacks to have in my bag so I put them together in a smaller bin. I highly recommend moving bars from the original boxes when you put them in the pantry so you can quickly inventory your stock at a glance. There is nothing worse that reaching into a box and finding that it has been sitting on the shelf empty, don't you agree?
I love that these bins stack if you want them to. All you need to do is flip the green handle inside the bin and another bin will fit right on top. The bottom of each bin has a little grove that the handle fits into to keep it in place. Very smart!
The stackable bins really helped to maximize the storage space in my pantry. I love that I am able to pull a bin down quickly and grab what I need.
They also look really nice, not like other cheap plastic bins. We recently had house quests and I was able to pull the smaller bin of protein bars and snacks out of the pantry and leave it on the counter near the coffee pot so guest would feel welcome to grab a snack.
Next I want to show you how I used Sterilite stackable bins to organize all of our dog Harper's stuff. She has a basket that holds all of her treats, toys and medication but it is always a mess. Every time I open it I have to dig for what I am looking for and I hate it.
It's a big jumble. I've been wanting to find a new solution but I haven't found something that was large enough to contain everything and divide it at the same time.
I started the organizing project by dumping the basket out on my living room floor and sorting the items into like categories. I forgot she had a few outfits – every dog needs to have an outfit on game day right?
Next I created a category for her medication, her grooming and extra collars and leashes. I ended up finding a lot of extra junk she doesn't use anymore and it felt good to purge.
The last category was the largest – her toys and treats, lucky dog!
I decided to use a larger bin for her toys and treats because we access them the most. I love these bins because I can wipe them out if something leaks or spills – a nice option that you can't find in a basket.
I put smaller items like medication and grooming supplies in a smaller bin. It will be nice to be able to find something at a glance instead of digging through the basket, especially because she hates taking her medicine so when I need to give it to her I have to act fast.
Of course Harper supervised the organizing project! She seemed to be pleased with the end result and so am I! I stacked the bins and put them in a cabinet in the laundry room so everything is out of sight and out of Harper's reach, but easy to find if I need it.
I hope you liked how I organized two spaces in my home with these nifty bins. If you need to tackle a similar project in your home, remember to follow these steps:
- Collect all of the items you need to organize in one place
- Sort the items by likeness
- Purge what you no longer need or use
- Find a storage solution to contain what you would like to store, I would highly recommend the Sterilite stackable bins that I used for my projects.
- Find a home for your storage container
- Maintain, Maintain, Maintain!