Organizing is not all about buying a bunch of plastic tubs, even though we sometimes think so.

 

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Entering a busy warehouse-type store the other week, I encountered a person I knew with a cart load of plastic tubs.

“Hey, what are you going to do with all those tubs,” I inquired, since I am ever curious about organizing.

“Girl, I am going to get organized,” she exclaimed. Then she chattered on about how she has so much stuff and she doesn’t have a home for all that stuff.

This encounter made me wonder if her organizing plan would really work for her. After all, if she puts all of her “too much stuff,” in tubs, she may still end up with too much and no home for the tubs, which means she still doesn’t have a home for all of it. After her work, she may only feel better temporarily because the stuff is nicely contained in plastic. She may, unfortunately, still be disorganized.

While they don’t work for every situation, tubs can be part of your organizing plan for storage. Here are some handy hints to help you decide if plastic storage tubs are really needed in your organizing plan.

• Only keep the items you really love, use and need. Before purchasing any kind of organizing product, decide if you need the items you want to organize. Then see how many of those items you need to keep. Maybe you only need some of them.
• Think about how often you access that item. Plastic tubs are best used for long-term storage. The good thing is that they can be stacked, to maximize storage. The bad thing is that they can be stacked, to maximize storage, which makes finding and retrieving any items difficult. If you access the items often, then choose storage drawers, rather than tubs. Or, consider using shelves with baskets or organizing products which hang from garment bars. If you need to get to the item, then store it in a way to access it.
• Tubs are good for long term storage. Some examples of good use include seasonal decorations, financial tax records, baby keepsakes of your grown child or baby-maternity clothing for a future child. 
• Make the most out of your tub use by following good organizing principles. Sort like items together. Label the tubs. Store tubs of similar items together, such as putting all of your financial records in one stack. Keep the storage area organized by adding labels to the attic floor, shelf or wall. This way, your organized tubs will get returned to its proper location after use.

© 2010 Professional Organizer Lea Schneider, www.organizerightnow.com.

 

About Lea Schneider

Professional Organizer Lea Schneider’s organizing advice has appeared in Woman’s Day, Natural Health and Better Homes and Gardens Kids’ Rooms magazines. She is the Grand Prize Winner of the Rolodex Office Makeover Challenge. Her team of professional organizers, at Organize Right Now, provides organizing assistance through her Organize Online program. She is the author of Growing Up Organized: A Mom-to-Mom Guide. Learn more at www.organizerightnow.com.