Welcome back to our second installment of Fabulous 15 Minute Organizing Fixes. Did you pull together your organizing toolkit? If not…there’s still time because this week’s project is another “get ready” organizing fix. This week’s mini project is to create a container station.
“What is a container station?” you ask. Well, a container station is simply a spot in your home where you collect together containers that are available for your organizing projects.
This can include containers you purchased for past organizing projects that were extra or didn’t quite work out…but you knew you could put them to use elsewhere. If you’ve been doing some decluttering lately, then maybe you’ve emptied some baskets, bins or buckets. These would be great additions to your container station. Or, maybe you have a collection of dipping bowls in your kitchen cupboards, but you prefer to use butter on your bread instead of olive oil. These, too, would make great additions to your container station. (Small bowls, by the way, are one of my favorite containers, coming in a close second after buckets. Okay…maybe third after buckets and ITSO bins.) Which leads me to buckets…if you have any metal pails, buckets or bins that aren’t being used these, too, are perfect additions to your container station.
Here’s a quick list of empty containers to search for in your home…
- Buckets
- Baskets
- Bins
- Bowls
- Boxes (wooden or paperboard)
- (Why do all the good containers start with the letter b?)
- Crates
- Glass storage jars
- Extra food storage containers
- Empty packages such as tissue boxes, jars, cans, yogurt cups, etc.
- Flower pots (Ooh…I just remembered my beloved white IKEA flower pots…I think small bowls have moved into fourth position.)
- Mugs, cups and glasses
- Muffin tins
- Trays
Now…certainly you don’t have to collect all of these items. In fact please don’t. And please don’t go out and buy a thing. Instead, simply open your kitchen cupboards or look on the shelves in your garage, basement and elsewhere in your home to see what you already have. What can you repurpose or pull aside to create a container station? While you’re out in your storage area, see if you can clear a small area of shelf to serve as you container station. Or if that turns this into a bigger than fifteen minute project, then, simply corral what you do have into an empty bin, creating a container station within a container. (You’re so clever!) You can build up your container station as you go. It doesn’t have to be finished today or even tomorrow. Today, just see how many containers you can gather together in fifteen minutes. When you do, your next organizing projects will be that much easier! (And possibly less expensive, too! You might be surprised at the containers you discover in your home.)
Okay…what did I miss on my container list? What is your favorite type of container to use while organizing? Thanks for sharing!
We have a container station – it’s a shelf unit in the garage and it’s so handy to have. We are constantly adding to it or utilizing something from it when we are re-organizing or working on a project.
Besides the listed containers, I also include shelf organizers, book ends and magazine holders.
This is a great idea! Thanks for sharing. I am definitely going to add a container station.
The Grass Skirt
Great – glad you like the idea!
I need a container station. I am sure I would be able to get rid of lots of stuff if I had them all in an accessible place. Now I need a solution for lids of the containers currently being used without the lids on them.
I got rid of a lot of my lids a while back…never missed them. I also tend to buy containers without lids whenever possible. So…maybe you could let go of some…
Oh, I’m sooo doing this today! My scrappy containers are taking over the scrap room because of my recent purge/reorg. I’ve got some amazing containers but they just don’t work “right now”. Thanks, Aby! (Great Scrapinar today!)
I keep ziplock bags in multiple sizes in mine. Sometimes the items I have that need a real home, can coexist temporarily this way. I also try to keep a roll of masking tape and thick marker beside the container station. I can easily notate what I’ve found or why I kept it, if it’s a gift or needs further attention. Now that the Japanese paper tapes are easily available here, I color code different items with that too. Especially useful if you keep cardboard ikea magazine holders on hand (easy to assemble, mark, store loose items in them and reshelve with the tall side facing outward).