I decluttered for almost a year. Every day for 15 minutes, I went into a different room and went through a small section and threw out everything I could. After I got my life together, I started donating. I would call up Am Vets and arrange a pick up date for a donation (they'll come to your house and pick it up from the porch). For the month before the pick up date, I would fill up bags and leave them in the dining room until pick up date. I've probably given away half of my belongings in the last year and it felt great!
Once your done decluttering, you're left with a very small amount of stuff that you actually need. Now is the time to start organizing. You have two options, you can head to the container store or Bed Bath and Beyond and buy gorgeous fabric covered containers to put your things away or you can head to the Dollar Tree and pick up a bunch of really well made containers.
Here are a few examples of how I use Dollar Tree containers (each 1.00!) in our house:
All of our office supplies are separated into the green containers onto the top shelves and labeled. The green containers are available at Dollar Tree for one dollar apiece. They have these in several colors and sizes.
We upgraded our previous cardboard snack box to Dollar Tree's stackable bins. They have these in several colors.
These bins are pretty sturdy and well worth the dollar paid. I like them better than similar containers found at Walmart.
I love this post! I completely agree with purging the clutter before trying to organize it. (I literally just discovered this today1) This may be a silly question, but how on Earth did you manage to get those bins to stack appropriately? I spent at least 15 minutes at my local Dollar Tree just today trying to get them to stack without sliding or falling into the bottom bin.
ReplyDeleteYou had me cracking up because I had the same problem at first! Flip the top bin to go in the other way. The pegs and holes are slightly off one way, and perfect the other way. They hold up great and still look new several months later! I'm impressed for a dollar:0)
ReplyDeleteWow, it's really that easy? (Now I feel smart! I literally sat frustrated on the floor in the back of store with about 5 of the bins [and my other products I was purchasing] all around me. DH walked over, looked down at me, then said I'm not with you while walking away. Got love him!) I did managed to find the metal versions but the store only had 2 in stock and I can only get 6 cans per bin (also the cans can't stack or the bin won't stack). I really hope these plastic ones fit my needs! Thank you so much for sharing and answering my question!
ReplyDelete