January for me, like the rest of the country, is about organization. In January I like to pretend that I can make my house look like something out of a Martha catalog. Come on, it’s possible.
My first step in making strides to organized living is getting the drawers under control. The drawers all over my house are brimming with *stuff* and the only way for me to keep them organized is with little organizing trays.
Please tell me I’m not the only one who sleeps better at night with organized drawers.
Anyway, I found these baskets in the kitchen section of a big box store in packages of three. For a dollar. They’re so cheap you can organize your entire life for under $10. Seriously.
Here are my kitchen *junk* drawers. You know the ones, they’re filled with random bits of things you can’t throw out because you know you’ll need them eventually?
I mean, mine have Popsicle sticks, rubber bands, hand sanitizer, dice, and earplugs. I need all these things, I just need them organized.
Doesn’t the drawer look so under control with the bins? I literally have these bins in every room of the house: in my desk in the study, in my bathroom drawers, kids rooms, you name it.
Ahhhh, organized junk drawers and all is right with the world.
What do you do to organize your house in January?
Allison
Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!
you're speaking my crack-a-lackin' language! i find great satisfaction in buying clear plastic containers {almost pathetically so}. just bought a bunch of really great bins at costco yesterday and spent the better part of my evening loading them up with matchbox cars and wooden train tracks. organized drawers and closets are almost as fun as filling them with makeup and shoes!
Moving this Saturday has inspired me to FINALLY get my house organized and a great opportunity to save while doing it. With all the after holiday sales on storage containers, I went to town getting everything from toy storage to gift wrap storage (that over sized gift bag holding tissue and smaller bags was bound to break someday) to kitchen storage. Less money to be spent on cardboard boxes too for the move when everything has a respective home. Hooray!
I've purchased those same 3-packs of trays from same big box store and used them in our bathroom drawers. I also love using plastic sliverware organizers in places other than the kitchen. They're great for junk drawers too!
I use some Christmas money to buy really cute organizers sometimes from ikea sometimes from pottery barn (they do a pretty great sale every jan.) sometimes other places – investing in cute storage helps me keep things organized all year. i am thinking that I need some lace shopping baskets from the container store soon!
Christina
You are such a virgo! I love it! I spent all of last week going through drawers, cabinets, and cleaning. I also think all is well with the world now. Happy January!
sort/toss/purge/tidy. it's therapy. it's thrilling. mostly it's just a matter of tossing what no longer matters or what is no longer useful. My big projects this year: the office nook & the garage. Or rather, the project is getting my husband to see the light about organizing the garage because it's really making me insane.
you know how I get organized in January? I send those kids back to school!
I love containers of all kinds but sadly, so do my kids….they remove the ones I put in place so they can cart their own treasures around in them.
I like baskets. You can throw anything in them but from the outside, they look like sharp, saavy decor, baby!
I don't like to clean but I do like to organize.
I just did the same thing with my kitchen drawers!
Next on the list is the "playroom". There's gotta be a way to quickly and easily access the toys, then hide them away so the room looks "nice".
Could you please come over and do mine?
I looove organizing and would rather organize than clean…your drawers make me happy.
Jill,
I'm dying over your new bins, I neeeeeeeed some!
Shuggilippo,
Don't you love all the post holiday organizing sales? Sweet score!
Emily,
You're the most organized person I know so I'm sure every drawer in your house is cleaned and organized to the hilt.
Naomi and Christina,
If we had a container store near my house I'd be in serious, serious trouble. I love that you got some new PB containers though.
likeschocolate,
Is that what we Virgos do? Organize? That would explain the last 32 years of my life!
Sherry,
Me too! I could organize all day and night. My kids rooms are on the chopping block next.
KJ,
My garage makes me IN-sane. Viktor finally cleared it out enough for his car but I want to demo the whole thing and start from scratch.
The Breeders Digest,
Ha ha ha! Isn't that the truth? I can't do much organizing with my monkeys in the house, they're the anti-organizers.
Donna,
You, my friend, are a very organized woman.
Camille,
I got colored bins from IKEA for 99 cents each and each category has a bin. Trains, cars, etc. LOVE that!
Miranda,
I have to purge ALL the time. Especially since I'm such a thrifting fan, it can really stack up if I don't get rid of stuff on a regular basis.
Naomi,
I totally would, I love to organize!
Sue-donym,
Ug, don't remind me. My bedroom closet is a disaster and is in total need of a HUGE makeover.
Oh good job you! Now I'll have to go buy some of those. I love me some organization. And my best organizing tip? (for myself anyway…)THROW STUFF AWAY. I have a phobia of becoming a hoarder.
Closets! Mine seem to get so much worse in the winter. I am most definitely an organizing from the OUTSIDE in type of girl, so everything you don't see in my house… Is a mess.
i got shoe storage and toy storage and a stair basket (for hats, mittens, etc. by the door) for christmas. i was in heaven! now, if only i could find the magazine storage i've been shopping for…
I tend to be hyper-organized year-round (or so my friends and family tell me) but I love 'gutting' my house. I just love it. So far I have gutted almost every room except 2 closet and my kitchen junk drawer (I think I'm going to cut my own drawer dividers from either scrap wood or heavy cardboard so they can be custom). It feels soooo good. Now if the weather would warm up I could take on that garage!
r,
shoe storage is tricky for me, at least the kids shoe storage. and i'm a magazine hoarder so they're EVERYWHERE!
undonegirl,
way to be hyper-organized! the garage is my ongoing NEMESIS, ug!
I'm so jealous of your drawers! I've got to get to my bathroom closet soon, it's horrible!
Marie,
Let's go to said big box store soon and I'll come help you tackle the bathroom.