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How to Organize + Things an Overview
- Ashley Darrington
- Oct 26, 2021
- 7 min read
If you are reading this post you probably saw my instagram live on Organizing. I wanted to make a blog that included the slides and expand more on the information discussed in the live.
I have included a link to the video of the live at the end of this blog.
The most important thing or the focal point of the agenda is the DFO's or the deciding factors of Organization. These are your pain points or your reasons why you want to organize and the direction in which you want your project to go. My biggest piece of advice is to pick one starting point and build from there. Do not try to tackle more than one task at a time or you will get overwhelmed. Do not get overwhelmed.
Before I even get started thinking about how to split up my items or what labels I need to make, I start off by researching my inspiration for my project. For this example we are going to go over a pantry. You can research pantries and looks that fit what you like and have a color scheme that you can live with and accomplish your overall goal. My overall goal for my pantry is to have one that is not only asthectically pleasing but functional. My starting point was pinterest. Let's just say I found exactly what I was looking for.
This is a picture of a designer pantry from the container store.
It costs $3000+ but I will show you in my upcoming YouTube video how to achieve this look for less. Close to $300. $310 to be exact.
Once you find your inspiration and your colors. You can move onto the elements you like in the picture that you would like to incorporate into your space but you must first identify your pain points or your why to make sure that it makes sense to purchase what you like about the picture.
Here is a picture of my old pantry. I dislike that you can see all the contents on the shelf. You can see that I have flour, a can of pringles, popcorn, you can see it all and it's an eye sore to me. Also, the baskets on the top shelf are the same which is great but the rest of the shelves contain baskets that are different sizes and colors. In order to obtain that esthetic I am going for, I need to have matching baskets and a color scheme. Lastly, there is a ton of wasted space, or space I am unable to use because there is no shelf. Now that I know what I want to fix it is time to get to work.
Let's start off with my number one pain point, concealing what's on the shelf. I love the charcoal/black bins or baskets. These are a perfect way to conceal all the contents.
A pro tip, get the generic name of the product. In this case Nordic bin or basket and type it into Google. Once, your search comes up it should have all the nordic baskets along with prices for comparison. If you are looking for a specific nordic box, in my case a black nordic storage baskets, then you will want to type that into your search so Google will pull up exactly what you are looking for.
However, when I checked the measurements the cute baskets were great for majority of my stuff but I still needed to look at bigger baskets as well. Let's examine my findings on the storage baskets or bins.
I found the storage baskets on the container store website and they sell the lid and bin seperately. I am not in the market for spending $132 on 6 storage baskets.
I found these baskets on Belk.com. I was able to score two storage baskets that are similar along with the lids for $20. I was able to score 6 storage baskets for $60. This is definitely more my speed. The thing is you have to catch Belk when they are running their doorbuster sale.
I was still in need of bigger bins for some of my items that are larger. I love these bins. Check out the price. $50-$150!!!
I located a similar looking bin from Walmart for $18. This was perfect, all it needed was a facelift in black. I painted the box black to match the pictures above with some paint I had on hand and for less than $20 I had a designer looking basket to fit my larger items.
How do you think I did?
The Container Store Custom Pantry
On to how much each closet is going to cost you. I have compiled 3 pantries with their contents to compare price. The container store pantry (my dream pantry) , the container store dupes, and my pantry. I will do my best to link everything if applicable.
This is the contents from the Container Store. $517!!! I have linked everything under the picture below. Based on my pain points when you get ready to organize, yes you want cute Pinteresty looking baskets but they also have to be functional for your space and address all your pain points. One of my pain points was that I didn't want everything in my pantry showing on the shelves so a lot of the see- through baskets and jars would not work for my space. That didn't stop me for collecting a few of those cute black wire baskets though. The only container I really duped from the space are the nordic baskets with the bamboo lids.
(Left side from top-bottom)
Small and medium sized Charcoal/ Black Nordic baskets , Slant Glass Jar with black lid
Small wire black wire baskets,
Glass seasoning jars with black lid ( I could not locate these on site but these are similar),
Small glass jars with black lid, medium glass jar with black lid, Smoke Plastic storage bin with handles,
Large black wire basket, Slant Glass Jar with black lid,
Small and Large sized Charcoal/ Black Nordic baskets
The Container Store Dupes
Ok, so I was able to put a significant dent in what The Container Store is asking for their storage containers for my dream closet. Just know there is little to no savings on some of their items versus other stores if you are looking for this exact set up.
I replaced all the nordic baskets with the ones from Belk because you get a better bang for your buck with 2 for $20 with the lid. Instead of one buying the lid and the container separately at the container store which is about $22 just for one.
I found a better deal at Target for these angle jars $6. This beats the $16.99 Containers Store price. They don't come in black but you can spray paint the lid black for the same look! In addition, I found these spice jars in the dollar spot 4 for $10 to replace the $6.99 per jar price at The Container Store.
One last deal I came across is the white baskets with the wood handles. Homegoods had these baskets for way cheaper and bigger than the ones offered at The Container Store.
My Pantry
Small black wire basket
Large black wire basket
RGI Home, TJMaxx Homegoods
RGI Home, TJMaxx Homegoods
Small black wire basket
Rattan Cane Crate
$5 Target Dollar Spot Jars, Tea Organization boxes
Potatoe Bucket from Hobby Lobby
Now that we have priced and picked out our containers, it's time to fill them up!
The first step to actually organizing now that we have our storage solutions picked out is to plan out what shelf will house what you need. Once you plan that out than you can start separating your bins and containers to house what is going to be on that shelf. This is a big pro- tip when it comes to being and staying organized. I know I want to make my kids more independent by being able to grab their own snacks. I reserved a couple of the lower shelves for them. The things that I know are extra or I wanted to keep out of their reach are higher up. I enjoy wine and fine bottles of water so I made sure to include a wine shelf in my pantry as well. I need a go-to place to access what I like to call my delicacy's. LOL.
Next I know I needed a place for small appliances and plasticware which can get kind of heavy. I wanted these to be on the lower racks on the other side of the closet so I wouldn't have to worry about hitting my head or foot with them if they fell. As a rule of thumb you want to put the heavier items in the pantry on the bottom. With that being said, Canned Goods and some extra drinks will live on those bottom shelves in the back.
My shelves and my storage are now planned out. Its time to move onto the biggest step, putting things in the bins and on the shelves. One big piece of advice is if you get stuck on what to put in the box and how to label, divide things up and group them together like the isles of a grocery store. Began putting those things in a bin until its full. If you are unsure of what to label that bin, just remember majority rules. The last and biggest part to organizing is making sure you label your bins so you can find things. It wouldnt be a bad idea to label things so other people can find things when you are not around as well.
I hope this helped. I spent a lot of time and research to make sure I provided you with all your options to make this dream closet a reality. Whether you are ready to spend Container Store money or not. This closet took quite a few weekends to complete but if you don't have kids, filming, and researching then this should take you a long weekend to complete. If you have any questions, don't be shy let me know below!
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