Everything has a place and a place for everything

I live in a 121 year old home, it’s full of character, beautiful molding, a wraparound porch, but what it doesn’t have are closets.  I have had to be more creative about my storage solutions, it’s not enough that something just looks pretty, we also need to be able to live here.

I want to point out a huge mistake I made, when I first moved into my home, I decorated every nook and cranny of my house, months later I realized I had no place to put anything.

In came my storage.  I will go into this in a huge amount of detail and show you all my storage in my home, because it is everywhere.  But I’d like to show you my “center” for all things organized in my home. 

I’m a girl on a budget, so it’s smart for me to shop around and really evaluate my space long and hard.  

I bought 4 bookcases from IKEA, 2 bigger ones, and 2 smaller ones. And then I bought a million boxes for the bookcases.  I love my home to be decorated like the cover of a magazine, but this space is not for decoration, it has to be almost entirely functional. That being said, I still think these bookcases are beautiful. After I bought everything it was probably about $300 including the baskets and boxes.  However it was a good investment for a small home. It also fits our wall perfectly so there’s not an inch of space lost.

There is a box for: Pens, Batteries, my contacts, Jewelry, Headbands, Sea Shells, craft supplies, mail,  Magazines (organized by title), Candles, Medicine, etc etc..

Before I labeled any of the boxes I was thinking about using my caligraphy pen and writting the items in pretty scipt writting.  I dont have the prettiest writting so I was thinking of asking a friend or my sister to do it. I know eventually I will need to change a box label to something else, and it would be unrealistic to think that I would have my friend or sister write a new label, and I didnt want the labels to be different.  Furthermore organization is not all about unattainable beauty, containers and keeping things perfect.  Organization is about finding a solution that works for your home so you have more time with your family, friends, life and hobbies. So I dont sweat my bad writting, we know where everything is and thats what matters. 

Some great things about this storage solution

1.       Everything big or small (that we use often enough) has a place to live

2.       The boxes are labeled so it’s easy to find things

3.       I can group boxes together that go together

4.       I can change the labels & rearrange the boxes anytime

5.       I can double stack boxes for extra storage in years to come

6.       It’s all white and the same storage so it doesn’t look chaotic
7.       I have plenty of empty boxes, so I wont grow out of this storage solution soon

I want my home to feel warm and inviting, and part of that has to do with organization.  This storage solution helps me spend more time with my family and less time looking for things I’ve misplaced.

My husband once joked “ Do we really need a box for rocks??” I like to know where the things that I use often enough are, as long as we have lots of extra boxes, then unfortunately for my darling husband, even the rocks have a place to live.

I also love that you can use them in different rooms or different houses. I currently have 3 small bookcases in my dining room also, I wanted some of the things out of my kitchen that I didnt use all the time.

Hope you enjoyed my storage solutions today!

What are some of your storage secrets?


Come back tomorrow and see our  budget yard makeover!