Friday, September 14, 2012

Organize Your Life-Keep Your Sanity!

While most times I dread cleaning on the weekends, recently I have been looking forward to it. I started organizing room by room in our home and it feels great. I do not consider myself the most organized person, however, I do get into a nesting craze once in a while. Nothing is more gratifying than seeing things in its place, tidy and easy to find. When things are easy to find and organized, it makes life so much easier. Especially when you have small children. You, as the parent, must do everything for them. So, of course you need to know where everything is at any given moment. It helps to keep the sanity at home, whilst traveling in the car, or travelng abroad.

With that being said, I discovered clear zippered vinyl bags about 6 years ago. I have always kept the zippered vinyl bags that sheets, bedding or curtains came in. They are just so useful. Besides being a borderline hoarder, I kept them for numorius usage around the house.
 
Ready for the millions of things I used these bags for?
  1. Pampers and wipes kit (car)
  2. Kids emergency outfits (car)
  3. Tiny toy pieces (home, car)
  4. Books (home, car)
  5. Picnic blanket (car)
  6. Emergency kit (car)
  7. Cosmetics/toiletries (traveling, home)
  8. Shoes (traveling)
  9. Each child outfit per bag (traveling)
  10. Swimwear (traveling, home)
  11. Kids swim gear (traveling, home)
  12. Wet clothing (traveling)
  13. Accessories (traveling, home)
  14. Beach toys (traveling, home)
  15. Kids activity sets (traveling, home, car)
  16. Sheet sets (home)
  17. Odd pillow cases (home)
  18. Seasonal curtains (home)
  19. Seasonal towels (home)
  20. Seasonal decor (home)
  21. Nail polish/nail tools (home)
  22. Puzzle pieces (home)
  23. Craft fabrics (home)
  24. Craft supplies (home)
  25. Hobbies by the bag (home)
  26. Marbles (home)
  27. Ribbons, ropes, ties, wires, tapes (home)
  28. Sewing items (home)
  29. Sweaters (home)
  30. School supplies (home)
  31. Crayons, paints, brushes, markers (home)
  32. Old Christmas photo cards (home)
  33. Scrapbook items (home)
  34. Missing socks (home)
  35. Priceless first outfits worth keeping (home)
  36. Baby blankets (home)
  37. All medications for kids in one bag (home, traveling, car)
  38. Adult medications (home, traveling)

Besides using the bags I kept from sheet sets, I purchased some more wholesale. I bought these zippered vinyl bags online. I wanted all my bags to be similar in design but have different widths, lengths and depths. This really makes a difference when it comes to making things look organized and neat...
I bought 5 different sizes ranging from 9x11 to 12x15 inches...4 of the sizes were just different in depth. 
The 12x15x4 held Lego pieces and train tracks perfectly...Imagine these track pieces all over the house? Not cute! Have the kids play with one type of toy at a time instead of all at once...Lego pieces, train tracks, cars, or puzzles etc.
I use these bags in my craft room also. They hold fabric scraps, tissue papers, sewing items, marbles...
Use them for seasonal items such as curtains/towels that can be stored away until next year...
I used up most of my bags organizing the linen closet. It was a nightmare as you can see and no matter how many times I packed it neatly, this happens again and again! It's a sliding avalanche of towels and sheets...just waiting for disaster.
So...this is a scene I have not seen since we moved in. A clean, awesome looking linen closet...I took everything out. I separated towels, hand towels, sheets, duvet covers, flat sheets, pillow cases, blankets, baby blankets, curtains, beach towels, crib sheets...
 
I matched up all pieces that belonged to a set and placed them into a 9x11 bag. The bags have 1,2,3 or 4 inch depths. It depends how thick your sheet or duvet sets are. I placed address labels on them to organize by full, queen and king size sheet/duvet sets. 
I already noticed how easy and stress free this was going to make my life.
High up on the side of the top shelf, I tucked baby blankets that were hardly used out of the way.
I placed all beach towels and unmatched pillow cases in one area (below right)

All towels are neatly stacked...jeez I have way too many for just 4 of us!
After using up all 5 sizes (10 bags each size) I ordered more online. I am hooked!
www.theboxdepot.com offers amazing products of all kinds. You can definitely find what you need to organize your life on there. I would recommend calling them for a better price for shipping however. They have the best prices online. It starts at $5 for 10 bags. At most stores you can expect to pay about $10 for just 2 bags- what a rip off.

The Box Depot Clear Vinyl Regular Bags(Pouches) I  used these for sheets/toys/craft items etc.
The Box Depot    All other kinds of Bags

Below, are the sizes I purchased the second time around. Only 4 different sizes...


Remember to call for a better shipping rate...
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3 comments:

  1. That's really good prices online, is the quality any good?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the great question! Yes, they are very good. Very well made and strong. I re-ordered more bags just because I was very satisfied with the prices and quality.

      Delete
  2. An easy/free way to organize sheet sets is to fold top and bottom sheet and place inside matching pillow case. When time to change sheets, just grab and go.

    Great tutorial btw.

    ReplyDelete

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