I’m a hot mess when it comes to staying organized.  I actually love the process of getting organized and I love the feeling of being organized but I can’t seem to stay that way for long, especially in my work environment.   I’m not the girl who folds sweaters around cardboard and gently places them in a stacking drawer and – oh HELL no! –  I won’t be caught DIY-ing toilet paper cores into pencil holders or cord organizers.  I don’t even replace the empty toilet paper ring.

So the fact that I’m writing about organization is laughable.   But I can’t be the only person who needs a full staff to keep her stuff where her stuff belongs.  So I have found a few things that really work for me.  These are storage options that are handy, easy to use and no maintenance.  So roll up your fancy tape with the butterflies on it,  put away your “I heart Scrapbooking” stickers and walk away from the craft table.  This is more like “Organization for Dummies.”

#1 –  The Vintage Bread Box – 10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

If you love retro and mid-century, these bread boxes are so much fun.  The vintage variety come in chrome and some yummy colors like aqua, butterup yellow and pale pink.  There are also some really funky painted patterns.  I always buy the ones that have the drop front so I can stock them and access them from the front.   When I need to be really organized, I buy a cheap file sorter,  like the one below from Staples, and put it inside and then I can organize mail or correspondence.  The vintage bread boxes can be found on ebay and etsy

#2 –  The Metal Wastebasket/Bin – 10  Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

Ikea carries this great little metal wastebasket bin in a couple of sizes,  and they usually have them in fun colors as well as silver black and white.  I use them for dog food,  hand towels, fabric samples and any kind of junk I don’t want out and visible.   I like to use them together in my office in various colors.  No folding, no sorting, no filing.  Open lid.  Dump stuff in.

#3 –  The Mini Faux Taxidermy Deer Head – 10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

I love this little dude from White Faux Taxidermy.  It’s a mini dear head that I hang in pairs in my bathroom.  I have some really long necklaces that don’t fair well when I toss them in a jewelry box but this is really handy way to hang them.  I like that my necklaces are accessible and they don’t end up in a pile on my countertop.  Note to husbands: not designed for smelly post-workout hats.

#5 –  The Jar – 10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

Yeah, I know.  We’re all burnt out on the mason jar craze but we all have them around.   I tossed some pens in a jar one day and found that I like using them for my desk storage like paper clips, rubber bands, pens, binder clips, etc.   I like to be able to fill these jars to the top with stuff I need at my fingertips.   They hold way more than the little cheap things you find at office stores so I don’t have to refill them every couple of weeks.   And that means I don’t have to have an entire storage cabinet for backup supplies.

#6 –  The Wall Pocket – 10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Require

These little wall pockets from The Container Store are kick-arse!    And they have some funny little kid versions if you’re into that sort of thing.   So they have 2 open rings at the top to hang.  I bought a couple of those cheap things that go over a door and I can hang them on the back of my door to hide my junk.   I keep supplies like file folders, paper products and magazines, and that crap you get in the mail that you just don’t know what to do with but you’re afraid to throw it out too soon.   I used it on the back of my bathroom door when we lived in an apartment in Toronto and I could hide junk like combs, brushes and soaps.

                      

#7 – The Evernote App – 10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

Put your techno hat on a minute for this one.   Check out the Evernote app.  It comes in 3 versions, Basic, Plus and Premium.    Basic is free so you can give it a whirl and learn a little about the basics to see if you want more options.  I love this thing for storing important documents and files that I can access almost anywhere and I don’t have to drag a paper file every where I go.   This means less paper blowing around my office every time I turn on the fan.    You can organize notes into notebooks, use tag words, and with the upgrades you can even annotate files.

#8 – The Canister Set –  10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

I have absolutely no use for kitchen canisters as they are intended but they are an extension of my junk drawer.  My favorites are the retro variety in fun colors and patterns.   I also prefer the square variety versus the round ones because they fit together nice and neat on a countertop.   I stuff one of them with Clif Shot Bloks so I can grab and go on my way out the door, another is simply more of that junk that you think you may want one day but really you won’t, and the other has pens, note pads, extra house keys, and more junk that I think I may want one day but really I won’t.  I found that I’m more apt to go thru these little canisters and trash the junk I haven’t looked at since I put it in there than I am to go through a 15″ wide drawer that I can’t open.    These are from Wayfair.

#9 – The Wine Crate – 10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

Wine crates are good for everything.   My powder bath is a little on the rustic side with burlap drapery and a vintage mirror, so these wine crates are perfect for holding toilet tissue and hand towels.   I simply nailed screwed thru the bottom of the crate into the wall and I stacked two of them.  It freed up so much space in my cabinet and it makes the toilet tissue and towels highly accessible.   In another bathroom I don’t have the wall space but I had a little room on the floor so I filled it with toilet tissue, soaps and towels.   And they stack nicely as well!

 

#10 – The Shoe Drawer – 10 Great Organizing Products – No DIY Required

These drawers from The Container Store saved the life of my shoes.  These things stack, shoes are visible through the clear drawers, and the drawer pulls out the front for a quick grab-and-go.   I no longer have to dust my shoes before wearing them and none of them look like a kitten anymore from all of the Papillon fur flying thru my house.  The official “shoe drawer”  is smaller and only about 4″ tall and works for a lot of my shoes.   But if you have really high heels or just don’t like to lay your shoes down, the sweater drawer is double width and is 8″ tall.

So there you have it!  Organization for people that don’t have time to be organized.   For further info or design assistance contact Jamie Kern with Design Theory Interiors of California, Inc directly at [email protected]