Needed: system for the gazillion odds and ends

[Annie N]

You know that drawer in the kitchen that has odds and ends in it? I need a lot fo those drawers. There are so many gadgets, batteries, etc., that I don't know what to do with. I have no idea how people handle these things, and my house is driving me crazy (so I am spending three days fixing it).

 

Thanks for any help—this place was not really made for a homeschooling family of 6, more like a boarding school family of 4 max (only one bathroom, for example).

[Shelly in VA]

I'm right there with you! 1700 sq ft here, TINY closets, a kitchen with 2 drawers (I'm serious - one holds silverware, the other is barely wide enough to hold 2 oven mitts), no garage. In this space, we house a homeschooling family of 6, a home office for dh, a single computer shared by everyone and used by me for my part-time 15 hr/wk job, a beagle, a rabbit, and a hamster. It is driving me CRAZY!

 

Some of the things I do to make it slightly more bearable:

 

- all batteries are kept in a shoebox on the shelf in the hall closet

 

- all light bulbs are kept in a larger, clear plastic rubbermaid container on the same hall closet shelf

 

- extra TP, tissues, etc. along with my small dustbuster type vacuum and, (oddly) my iron are kept under the bathroom cabinet

 

- a narrow kitchen cabinet holds a box for small gadgets - 2 screwdrivers, scissors, etc., and that same cabinet holds our address book, stamps, envelopes, etc.

 

- I cut way back on kitchen gadgets and cookbooks, b/c of space constraints, and reduced my pile of maybe-I'll-cook-it-someday recipes to what I could fit into a 3x5 index card box

 

- a shoe organizer (really one of the wooden cubby-type organizers) set in a corner near a door for everyone's shoes; hung over it on the wall are 2 hooked boards for jackets, hats, etc., as we don't have a large enough hall closet for that (and the kids never manage to hang their things up there anyway, haha!)

 

- our linen closet contains sheets and towels (enough for all the beds and people plus one spare set, so really there isn't much to be kept in there), then the top 2 shelves hold things like cleaners, extra shampoo, dog care items, etc.

 

- a tall, over the door wire organizer on the back of the hall closet door holds our plastic wrap, foil, oatmeal and boxed mixes (brownies, etc.), since we have no pantry

 

HTH; I'm drowning in clutter, here, so I hope you get some great suggestions!

 

Shelly

[KatieJ]

I use old ones to hold rubber bands, candles, string, batteries, screws and nails....all that junk. Keeps it separate, but I can find it quickly. You will be amazed at how many coffee mugs you can fit into a drawer!

I also have a couple of old velveeta boxes. Long and skinny, but sturdy. I use them for chip clips, measureing spoons..etc. in the next drawer over where I keep my baking/meausuring cups.

 

In my new kitchen ( we are in the midst of remodeling) I am having some drawer organizers made.

[Annie N]

Oh, thanks, Katie and Shelly :) this is esp good because I have some old coffee mugs that I like but we have about 30 (I have not idea how that happened) and there are only so many you can use as pencil holders!

 

And storing stuff here and there through out the house... organizing it to be that way (as opposed to our current total lack of system) sounds terrific!

 

Shelly, I hope I get more answers too :wink: :;

 

Katie, hope the re-do goes well. I have a dream of just an island in mine.

[Debbie in OR]

Totally with you on this! My solution: I bought about 6 clear plastic fly fishing tackle boxes in the sporting goods section at Wal-Mart (very cheap...about $3 each). They are not the ones that open and are two levels. These are flat, come in different heights (1 1/2 inches tall, some were 2-3 inches tall), so they will fit into any drawer or they stack great, and they have moveable dividers so you can make each section adjust to the size you need. I keep one in our entry way cabinet with stuff we use in that area, one in my office for those kinds of things, two in the school room for erasers, rubber bands, wite-out, etc.., one in the car for those odds and ends, one in the kitchen junk drawer, etc.

[Shelly in VA]

Bump, along with a followup question. What do you do with the completed Lego projects? We have those large, 4-drawer plastic rolling carts for the loose pieces, but my son wants to keep his large completed creations on display. Some are on the bookshelf in his room, but they just seem cluttery to me like that. Maybe there's no way to display a dozen Star Wars Lego creations in a Southern Living, home decor sort of way. :001_unsure: Is this one of those parenting things I'll miss in 20 years when my kids are out of the house?!!

 

Shelly

[Ellie]

For many years I only had *one* drawer in my kitchen, so I learned to keep all the stuff in other places...as in the places where they actually belong, lol.

 

Batteries in the garage, tape/pencils/rubber bands/whatnots near my "desk" area (for many years there was no room for a desk, either, but I kept office-type supplies in their own little plastic boxes), and so on. Even now I have lots of kitchen drawers, but I only have *one* drawer for odds and ends, and those odds and ends are carefully scrutinized to make sure they really belong in the kitchen.

[Debbie in OR]

What do you do with the completed Lego projects?

 

It's not perfect but my dad took a piece of wood about an inch thick and 4' x 2', and added a 1" square wood "handle" (like a square dowel-rod) to the length of the short side. Now, ds puts all his finished creations on it and it slides nicely under his bed and he can pull them out whenever he wants to show people. Just a thought...

[Shelly in VA]

That's a GREAT idea; I'm making a Home Depot run today! Thanks!

 

Shelly