Organizer bins are not always evil.

I am not a big fan of organizer bins (for myself, that is).  I have a tendency to put a million things in them, put them "away" and then they and their contents are never seen again.  Only a very special few have functioned well in my house.  Here's an example of a Bin Success Story.

Before, under my sink was a hot mess (I love it when Niecy Nash used to say that that on Clean House):

I ventured into this scary place and found:

• 3 bottles of lotion with about 1 inch of lotion at the bottom
• 2 aerosol cans of deodorant (only one works)
• about 10 hair products that didn't work for me but apparently were worth saving for years on end in my bathroom cabinet
• some expensive salon conditioner that I thought had been used up ages ago

I put the daily-use items in a bin, pulled a few hair products to give away, and put the lotions on my countertop so they will be used up this week.  The cabinet still isn't pretty, but is a lot more functional now:

I also put everything in an organizer bin that has a handle so I can slide it out in the morning when I'm getting ready.  No more fishing around looking for things in the dark depths.

We'll see if this bin makes the cut.

Wrap it up.

I live in an old house which, strangely enough, has LOTS of closets (I know lots of old houses don't have nearly enough). 

This is great, because I have lots of storage space. 

This is bad, because I have lots of storage space. 

You get it. Anyway, in one of my closets I've got a bookshelf that holds wrapping paper/bows/gift tags/etc.  It is a scary place:

When I need to wrap a present I sometimes buy NEW PAPER because that closet it so hard to get to.  I know, this is not something to be proud of (and believe me, I'm not).  Today I whipped it into shape.

What do you think?

 

I found some awesome tissue paper that I didn't even remember buying, some great bows (foil -- very pretty) and some adorable gift bags that will be perfect at Christmastime.  And the best part?  That turquoise and brown felt bin FINALLY found a home.  And it's actually exactly the right thing!  Perfect size, the handle makes it easy to slide in and out, and it stores tissue paper without damaging it (and vice versa).  Ahh.  Feels good.

Beware the siren song of the "organizer" bin.

Today I picked something small to declutter: this innocuous-looking bin in my desk. It holds office supplies and since my desk has no drawers it acts as one.


Because I usually pick what I need from the top of the bin, I had no idea what was actually lurking deep down inside:


To me there are two kinds of "bad" clutter: the kind that sits out in open spaces and openly mocks you, and the kind that hides (and multiplies) in boxes, bins, drawers, and other closed spaces. These closed spaces simply invite clutter, since they hide it so well. Open or closed, they are both evil in their own way.

This bin had so much stuff in it that I usually had to flatten out the top with my hand or it wouldn't slide back under the desk (and this fact I blithely ignored due to chronic laziness). Well, the drawer has had a makeover:


It's less than half full now and yet holds more than enough supplies for my home office (where serious work gets done that involves kitty-cat binder clips). Here's what got booted:

• 2 cat pins (no clue, don't ask)
• 3 dried-up rubber bands and 2 dried-up erasers
  
• about 25 binder clips and at least 50 paper clips
• 3 pencil sharpeners (isn't one enough? you tell me)
• one of those weighted paper holders for typing (yes, I used this ALL THE TIME. Ok, maybe not)
  

I am now 12 cents richer and found an adorable pair of small scissors that will be perfect for journaling.

...anybody need a binder clip?

Pick a spot and run with it.

All of the writing about clutter I've seen says to keep the focus SMALL. One drawer at a time, one shelf, even just one item a day. This does work for me -- keeps me from getting overwhelmed and if I pick something discrete I can see my success quite quickly.

Today I decided to work on my desk top. Unfortunately, the clutter here seems to linger, mostly because it's something I'm currently using, don't know where to put, etc. -- all of the usual excuses. Let's take a look and see what I started with:

(I think you can click this picture to make it larger)

During the clear-out I:

• put the samples in my makeup box to get used up
• filled a small bag of samples for my mom/sister to use
• tucked the tissues back where they belong behind the monitor
• found the perfume refills and packaged them up with the atomizer. If my mom/sister don't want them I'll put them on Freecycle
• put the flash drive with my others in the "computer stuff" storage bin (to be cleared out later)
• copied the CD (there's one under the samples) to my iPod and will pass it on to my dad to enjoy
• cleaned/wiped down the entire desk top (cat hair has a tendency to multiply)
  

Another tip I've learned from my clutter-reading is to put things away if they have a designated spot -- even if the final destination is another trouble spot (i.e. my flash drive storage bin). If you get distracted by starting another clear-out in the middle of a clear-out your focus is diluted and you will probably not finish EITHER ONE. Trust me on this.

Here's my "after" picture:



You'll see that in my world, de-cluttered doesn't mean empty. I actually like to have the things I use/need out in front of me (i.e. the pens and paper, lotion, cup) but there is a line that gets crossed -- from happy/homey/comfy to cluttered! I am back on the safe side of the line now.

What area will you de-clutter today?