A Few of Their Favorite Things: Household Items for Every Organizational Style
We know we are professional organizers using personality types to help you figure out the best way to organize for you, but we wouldn’t be able to do that were it not for some key items to help us get there. No one can get organized in a vacuum, right? We need tools — and not just any tools, but those that will help us save time and energy. Good quality organizational items can be tough to find when there are so many flimsy ones out there, so we thought we’d give you a list of the ones we love and use daily.
For the Laundry Room
-Everyone knows that laundry is a bear, especially when you have multiple people in your household. The Small Spaces collection at Pottery Barn has the perfect trifecta of laundry organizational items for smaller spaces. The Lombard Laundry Drying Rack comes with movable metal rods that fold in and pull out, depending on how much laundry you need to hang up to dry. It attaches to the wall and takes up no floor space whatsoever. Anything that can be mounted on the wall automatically saves space, so you can move freely about and have plenty of room for folding and sorting.
-The Lombard Laundry Drawer Shelf is meant to work in tandem with the drying rack. The drawer is mounted on the wall and meant to hold anything you’ll need for hanging, hand washing or sorting. The drawer opens to act as a holding space for sponges, dryer sheets or any other smaller laundry items you might need to have on hand.
-Finally, the Lombard Laundry 3 Compartment Container acts as the third piece to this set. These items can be purchased and used separately, or together for the ultimate organized laundry experience. The container, like the other pieces in the set, can be mounted on the wall for easy access. Separated into three parts, put detergent in one, softener in another, and stain spray in the third — or design your own system. The point of these items is that they are mounted on the wall in order to save much needed space for things like a folding table. Think about it — when doing laundry, you don’t want to be bending over and reaching for things. We like one-step solutions, and these small space items make it that much easier to achieve.
For the Kitchen
Shelf Risers– They are called Cabinet Shelves at the Container Store, and we can’t say enough about them. These organizational items make it a lot easier to better use the vertical space in your kitchen cabinets by breaking it up and essentially adding another shelf within the shelving you already have. These not only make stacking and storing easier, they make retrieval easier, too (a core Pixie Principle!).
Glass Fridge Containers– We like the oven safe set
from Amazon. These make transitioning from fridge to oven to table simple. And we love simple. The set comes with containers of different sizes, and eliminates the need for Tupperware (a nightmare for certain types). Who wants to waste precious time looking for the top to a certain piece of Tupperware? Make sure to have a large drawer to store the pieces that aren’t in use, and store with lids on (that eliminates the ‘lost top’ phenomenon — you’ve already got a sock monster — you don’t want a Tupperware one, too!
Modular K Cup Storage– Who wants to wake up in the morning and have to rifle through a bunch of K Cups to find the French Roast? Not us, and especially not Funs and Classics (having things out but contained is key). Pottery Barn carries a Mission Modular System Collection K Cup Storage that makes it easy to conserve counter space and economize your morning coffee routine. Put your coffee maker on top of the drawer, and store the K Cups underneath. This item eliminates counter clutter and allows you to see every pod (instead of storing in a bowl, which takes up counter space and adds time in the morning). Brilliant!
For the Home Office
Pottery Barn Mission Pop-Up Desk– Part of their modular collection (for small spaces), this desk is easy to assemble and has a hidden compartment to store unruly cords and other small items like cellphones. All of Pottery Barn’s modular collection is designed to conserve space and utilize it in the most efficient manner (which is why we love this collection!).
Ikea Folding Stool– These light and slim chairs can be easily folded when not in use to take up less space. And you can’t beat the price point.
Sapien Bookshelves– These stand-alone, open bookshelves are perfect for Organics and Smarts, but can be tough to find. Tables with shelves also can be useful when placed next to desks.
Miscellaneous
are amazing as extra mattress protectors if your child is going through a bedwetting phase. Disposable, waterproof, and available in different sizes, putting one of these over your child’s mattress pad could save you the (giant) hassle of cleaning both the pad and the mattress.
Huggable Hangers
are one of our most favorite items for the following reasons:
-They have a non-slip surface, eliminating slippage
-They’re strong enough to hold a winter coat as well as a camisole
-They match
Now that we’ve shared some of our favorite things with you, we hope you, too, will eventually enjoy and get use out of them. Remember: anything that you can easily retrieve is better than anything that you have to hunt for. And one step solutions to finding or using something are the key to efficient household organization.