Multi-purpose furniture are ideal for small spaces, or if you don’t like to have a lot of furniture in your room.  When you can store a multitude of items in one piece, it can alleviate clutter in your room and make organizing a lot easier.  One of the most popular multi-purpose furniture pieces today is the Armoire.  Armoires are used to store and organize clothing and crafting supplies. They are also used as TV entertainment centers, or as a  small office that you fold away at the end of the day.

Another multi-purpose item that is perfect for both teens and adults is the Nightstand Valet (pictured above).  This valet stand comes with 2 shelves, a pull out drawer, a hanger for suit coat or shirts, bottom shelf for shoes, top shelf for personal accessories, side bar for trousers and the other side comes with hook for additional hanging storage.  It is the epitome of multi-purpose. 

CD organizer

Cosmetics organizer

Your teenager or pre-teen can get organized the night before school by choosing their outfit, including their shoes, packing their backpack and selecting the books and other items they may need for school the next day, and all can be stored in the Nightstand Valet.  On the left you’ll see some additional organization products that can help your children keep their rooms organized from Home Storage Warehouse.

 Visit Home Storage Warehouse to learn more about the Nightstand Valet and other organizing products to help kids keep their rooms organized and clutter-free!

Find more organization product ideas and back to school tips for your kids here.

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Summer break has ended for many school children and they are finally back to school. Do you have a specific place for the barrage of papers and schoolwork that comes home? If not, make this year your year to be more organized and less stressed.  The barrage of papers received during the first few weeks of school can be overwhelming. You will feel a lot less overwhelmed if you have a good paper management system in place to stay on top of all of the papers. Follow some of my paper organization tips to prevent from being buried under piles of paper clutter.

To begin your paper flow system, purchase some hanging file holders or manila file folders to store and organize your papers.  Using file folders will allow you to quickly file away each paper for quick reference or action.  Set up a table top or desk top file on the kitchen counter or somewhere else convenient.  Be sure to clearly label each file folder. 

desktop file organizer

 Here are some file category ideas:

1. School work & projects;

2. Papers to sign/return (check daily!);

3. Papers to file – ideally you should file right away. However, if this is not feasible, decide on a time that you can set aside 5-10 minutes a day or every other day.

4. PTA info – this would include volunteer opportunities, fundraisers etc.

5. School – This is a general file and would include the school calendar, telephone directory, teacher contact info etc. You could have more than one if you have your children in two or more schools.

You may also wish to have a folder devoted to each child, so that they have somewhere to file papers that they need to refer to from time to time.  Check out some of the variety of desk top organizers, paper trays and file organizers at Home Storage Warehouse.

 Click here for more back to school tips.

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Organization products, like toy bins, pop-up storage bins, pop-up hampers, over-the-door organizers and hanging shoe pockets are just a few of the many organizing products available to help keep your children’s rooms organized and free of clutter.  Summertime is a good time to get those organization products in place in time for back to school.  Once your kids get busy with homework and afterschool activities it’s going to be even harder for them to keep their rooms clean and organized, so every little bit helps. 

Most children can do basic room upkeep chores on their own.  However, it’s best to continue to build confidence in them by showing them how to do routine tasks, like, picking up toys and putting them away, putting away their clean laundry, light dusting and even vacuuming. 

At the very least, all children should have easy access to a laundry hamper as soon as they are able to dress themselves.  Begin by explaining the rules and consequences, if you decide to have consequences.  One example of a consequence would be to not wash anything that’s not placed inside the hamper!  After a couple of weeks of this, they will soon realize that there is very little left to wear, except maybe a handful of their least favorite clothing! 

Purchase a fun or decorative hamper for their room or bathroom that they actually won’t mind using. Here are some fun kids’ hampers for both young children and teens at Home Storage Warehouse.

You may also like:

More back to school organizing tips
More Organization Products for Keeping Your Children’s Closets Clutter-Free

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Getting around to clearing the clutter and finally getting organized can be hard enough.  Once you’ve cleared the clutter you have to find storage options to fit your needs.  This can get seem quite expensive if you are new to organization and have only ever had a few bins here or there, so the key is to budget for your storage, which may include bins, baskets, trays, cubbies and furniture.  It might also mean making some sacrifices in other areas of your life so that you can declutter and return to a normal life at home. 

Getting your organizational systems in place can be even more complicated if you’re environmentally conscious  and don’t care to use plastic.  If you’re opposed to plastic storage containers and organizers, whether it be due to environmental reasons, aesthetics or you’re simply trying to “go green”, you may find it a challenge to find organization products that are not made of plastic.  An alternative material is wicker.  Contrary to popular belief, wicker is not a plant material, but is made of part of a plant.  Wicker also includes some plastic fibers, but, at least you’re moving in the right direction if you’re trying to go green. 

So, what exactly is wicker?  According to Wikipedia, “Wicker is hard woven fiber formed into a rigid material, usually used for baskets or furniture. Wicker is often made of material of plant origin, but plastic fibers are also used.  Materials used can be any part of a plant, such as the cores of cane of rattan stalks, or whole thicknesses of plants, as with willow switches…”

Another advantage for using wicker and other similar materials, like rattan, banana leaf  and seagrass to organize your items is their beauty.  Wicker baskets, bins and furniture can add color and texture to any room and can be used as decorative baskets, as well as functional organization storage.   Wicker organization products can be used in family rooms, linen closets, laundry rooms, bedrooms and much more.  Take a look at a few of the wicker, rattan, banana leaf and seagrass organization products here from Home Storage Warehouse

.

For the Bathroom:

Bathroom set

Triple Laundry Sorter

For Bedrooms, Living Rooms and Family Rooms:

Seagrass storage chests

Wicker Magazine Rack

With today’s busy schedules, paper towels have become more of a necessity than a luxury.  As much as we all want to go green, who wants to spend hours washing dirty washcloths and kitchen linens every week?  Also, when you do laundry each week you are using a lot of water and electricity, so either way, you’re not really helping the environment.  Plus, you have to find a drawer or linen closet to store all of those extra kitchen washcloths and towels.  So, at the end of the day paper towels are convenient, and can even be an attractive addition to your countertop, when you select a decorative paper towel holder. The typical paper towel holder is an upright stand allowing quick and easy one handed tearing.  At Home Storage Warehouse, there is a wide assortment of metal paper towel organizers including bronze, black, & silver.

If you have counter space issues, then consider an over the door paper towel holder.  Here are two to consider from Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Do you have a messy pile of jewelry in a variety of jewelry organizers, but not really organized?  If you love jewelry, you probably have a large collection of everyday pieces that are difficult to keep organized.  Whether it is valuable jewelry pieces, costume jewelry or both, you’re going to want to have easy access to all of it, while stored in an organized and logical way.  

Here are a few tips for sorting through your jewelry:

1. First you’ll want to go through each piece of jewelry and discard anything that’s broken.
2. Set aside any jewelry that is tarnished and needs cleaning. 
3. As you sort, try to keep only the items you love and plan to wear again. Then organize the rest by type or occasion.  Dressy jewelry can be stored together, casual jewelry together etc.  You can also organize by color, especially if you have a lot of costume jewelry to match a variety of outfits.

4. Extremely valuable jewelry pieces should be stored separately, ideally in a combination safe or secret place in your home. 
5. If you have jewelry pieces that are valuable, but that you no longer want to wear, look for a place locally that you can bring your jewelry pieces to sell, or call in an appraiser for help. If you decide to sell your jewelry online, be sure to use a reputable site.

 Acrylic Jewelry Organizers for Everyday Jewelry:
For your everyday jewelry, consider storing them in a clear acrylic jewelry organizer.  Acrylic jewelry organizers have a crystal-like appearance to them that is suitable to be displayed on a bedroom dresser – the pictures on this page really don’t do them justice. Acrylic jewelry organizers are perfect for everyday jewelry because you can clearly see what’s inside.  You’re not going to forget what you have and you’re unlikely to let the organizers get cluttered because you will always be able to see the mess!

 
Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

If you love to garden it makes sense to have a garden hose reel that is convenient and easy to use.  If you currently coil your garden hose around a faucet attached to your garden wall, you probably find yourself frustrated as you try to untangle the hose each time you use it.  There are a variety of garden hose reels to choose from, so it all depends on how often you will be using it.  Also, consider how much space you have, your budget and the design you prefer, e.g. do you want your hose reel to blend in and not be noticeable or be a part of your garden décor?

Then decide if you would like a wall mounted hose reel, an automatic winding hose reel, a hose reel stored and organized in hose reel decorative pot, a hose reel cart or a hideaway hose reel.  Suncast, an outdoor storage manufacturer, offers many of these styles and designs to choose from at Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing classes and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Over the door shoe organizers, sometimes called over the door shoe pockets, have a multitude of uses.  Don’t limit yourself to just organizing shoes! If you’re short on space and tired of picking up random small items that seem to have no home; or your kids have a gazillion little toys that get lost in toy boxes, consider an over the door shoe pocket organizer.  Over the door shoe pockets fit on any standard sized door and take only a couple of minutes to install.  No tools or handyman required!  These organizational wonders are also excellent for homeowners on a budget, since most are priced below $20 and can store and organize almost anything.

Here are 8 ideas and uses for an over the door shoe pocket organizer:

1. Organize small toys, e.g. die cast cars, stuffed animals, Barbie dolls etc.

2. Organize tools:  Hang over a door, or if it has grommets, attach to a wall and store small tools, nails etc.

3. Organize toiletries:  Not enough bathroom storage? Keep one in the bathroom to store your hair brushes, lotions, make-up, etc.
4. Organize sewing supplies:  Use to store a myriad of sewing supplies that can create clutter, including threads, trims, buttons, scissors, sewing patterns, sewing machine supplies, etc.

5. Organize craft supplies:  It can be craft supplies for children or adults.  Store and organize small craft paints, paint brushes, glue, scrapbooking scissors, trims and ribbons, etc.

Over the Door Shoe Pocket Organizer

6. Organize winter accessories:  Store gloves, scarves, mittens, knitted hats etc. for the kids or the whole family. 

7. Organize gift wrap:  Use together with a gift wrap holder to store and organize gift wrap ribbon, scissors, tape and gift tags.

8. Organize office or homework supplies:  Use in your home office to store and organize tape, scissors, stapler, etc.  Plus, school supplies, e.g. markers, crayons, colored pencils, calculator.

Over the door shoe pockets come in a variety of styles and colors.  The most popular are the clear pockets, because you can see what’s inside.  When placed in a child’s room, it’s a great way to help a child learn organizational skills from a young age.

If you liked this, you may also like: How to Cope with a Small Cluttered Closet on a Small Budget

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Closets come in all shapes and sizes and are one of the first things that prospective homeowners look for when searching for a new home.  Walk-in closets are what’s expected today, but are not always available, especially if the home buyer is looking for an older, more classic home.

Custom closet installation is not in everyone’s budget, so it’s always good to know what organization products are available to help homeowners to maximize the space that they currently have.  Worrying about the lack of closet space, without the means to make structural changes isn’t going to make the problem go away. As a professional organizer, when working with a client, I recommend that we start by going through all of their existing clothing first to determine what they are actually wearing now.

At the end of the day, you want to be able to access the clothing that you’re wearing and eliminate the rest.  This task alone can relieve some of the problems of not having enough closet space and the frustration of not being able to find the clothes you need. 

If you are currently living in a home with a small reach-in closet, you can still have an organized closet, without the expense of a remodel.  By educating yourself with what’s available in the marketplace or getting the help of a professional organizer, you will discover a myriad of inexpensive closet organizers that will maximize the space in your closet, without spending a lot of money.  Here are a few to consider:

Swivel Tie Hanger

Handbag organizer

Shoe and Sweater Organizer

Revolving Shoe Stand

Shelf organizer bin

Scarf Hanger Organizer

 

With Father’s Day coming up, you’ll want to be thinking about buying a gift sooner, rather than later.  Having the time to choose just the right gift is always a lot less stressful and you’ll feel more organized too!  If your husband, brother or Dad is a golfer, he will appreciate a gift to keep his golf clubs and golf accessories organized.  Golf bags can be difficult to store because of the way they’re designed.  Trying to lean a golf bag inside a closet, garage or basement can lead to a big mess on the floor, if it’s not stored just right.  The solution is to purchase a golf bag caddy.  Golf bag caddies are designed to store golf bags and golf accessories and will keep everything neat and organized.  

There are a variety of styles and sizes available, depending on whether you need to store and organize one or two golf bags, and if you want to also store golf shoes and golf balls.

 Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com