7 Items You Can Store “Up And Away” for Organization

December 24th, 2011 Holiday Organizing Kitchen Organizing

Not everything you have in your home has to be at your fingertips at all times. As a matter of fact, if you have everything out and close to you at all times, chances are your space will look crowded and cluttered and it will be harder to find what you need when you need it.

But we should keep items that we use every day closest to where we use them and at our fingertips. Examples in my own home:

1) I keep lunch sacks in the cupboard closest to where I pack lunches.

2) I keep flossers for my kids in the top drawer in the bathroom close at hand.

3) In my office I keep pens, pencils and paper clips in a drawer organizer right next to where I sit and work on the computer.

Storing these items closest to where I use them improves my efficiency.

But we all have items in our homes that don’t have to be stored right at our fingertips and to improve home organization, they can be stored higher, lower or further away. To do this, you can use wall shelves, wall units, closet shelves, under bed storage or any other area you can think of to stretch your space and tuck things away.

Here are 7 items in your home that you can store a little further ‘up and away’:

1) Holiday dishes: They can go up to the top shelf in a kitchen cupboard or even be stored out in the garage in your holiday bins.

2) Infrequently used serving dishes: They can also go up to a top shelf, a bottom cupboard that forces you go get down on your knees to get to them or in that black hole that some cupboards have that go way back.

3) Infrequently used small kitchen appliances: First, make sure you really are going to use them again. If you haven’t used your juicer in 5 years, you should consider letting it go. But for items you just use once in a while, consider storing them up high or down low in the pantry or in a cupboard that isn’t as easy to access in the kitchen.

4) Food stockpiles: If you’re a couponer or you just like to have a lot of backup items on hand, keep the foods you are currently eating, such as crackers and cereal, down low and easily accessible. The backups can be stored at the top of the pantry or in a garage pantry to restock as you run out. For 6 organizing tips for your couponing stockpile, please read more here.

5) Paper product stockpiles: I have a house full of girls and I feel best when the toilet paper is stocked! Place extra toilet paper and paper towels in a closet or on a shelf in the laundry room. There is often space to move the shelf in the laundry room down and add a higher shelf above it for stockpile items.

6) Extra office supplies: Use a shelf in the closet or add a shelf on the wall in your office to store extra supplies such as pens, pencils, envelopes and computer paper. Make sure you have a good supply right next to where you work and use this backup to restock. You can hide extra supplies in decorative boxes for a touch of pretty.

7) Reference books & magazines: An extra shelf or wall unit in your office is a great tool for keeping these resources out of your immediate workspace but still accessible when you need them.

Look around your own home and see what other items you can store a little further away so you can keep the things that you truly need close by right at your fingertips.