Organizing Tips from the Clutter Queen-Week 3

Bin In That Basket!

Before plastic totes and file boxes with hanging file folder rails became popular and available--even before stacking milk crates--I used plastic baskets for storage and organizing files. I bought the cheap dollar plastic baskets that were just the right size to hold (without tipping over) a stack of magazines or manila file folders set on end. I could separate the contents into categories by using baskets of different colors. I turned the basket with the wide side facing me when I was actively working on the files, and then turned them so the narrow side was out when I stored them on a bookshelf. Even after all the other organizing goodies became available, I still used my inexpensive plastic baskets.

Today, in addition to the rectangular plastic baskets that are about six inches deep, there are a large variety of baskets made from everything from wicker to canvas. I have found many uses for mine. One holds my sewing supplies, another my make-up bottles and tubes (looks better that to have them scattered over my bathroom vanity). A few are used as drawers on a shelf.

My open slope-sided canvas bins are used to hold everything from toilet paper to my magazines and quilt books. Business information I keep in file drawers and office boxes, but I use bins for those things I want to see and get to quickly.

I love using baskets for organizing the materials I need for my research projects, such as when I was working on a video slide show of my father's World War Two experiences. One bin holds the papers and books I need for my novel I am writing. In some of my smaller baskets, I keep sewing pattern envelopes, CDs and hair accessories.

Then there is the catch-all basket on the desk, the one where papers go until I figure out if I want to keep it, work it, or put into another basket sometimes referred to as the "round file".

Having baskets or bins handy to stash the things in my life helps me overcome my natural tendancy to put everything in one big pile that soon becomes so overwhelming to go through, that I usually procrastinate tackling it. If I want something for family history, I check that basket; if I want something for quilting, I check that bin. If it isn't there, I check the catch-all bin.

The other feature of baskets and bins that works for me is that they have space constraints. Once they are full, I am motivated to reorganize, throw some things out, or do whatever I need to in order to get them back in functional mode again.

I may still have a lot of what appears to be clutter to others, and much of it is on display in my baskets and bins. But --to me, anyway--it is user-friendly and organized.