For the "a place for everything" people or wannabees - a question or two

[OrganicAnn]

I don't start many threads, but I'm doing some "decorating" and it is just raising a lot of issues with me. So I would love to a be "a place for everything" person. I find that when I do have a place for something, it is so much smoother. But there are things that I just can't find a good place for. I don't know if it is the lay out of our house, or me (I'm thinking it is me).

 

One thing - we put out recycling. My DH usually has a pile of newspaper and cardboard that we send off to the recycling every other week. Currently it is on top of a short bookcase in our living room. Which is handy for taking outside, but an eyesore. My main question: I can't think where else to put it and how to make it less visible. Honestly if it is put away, then it is forgotten. Also my DH prefers that it is up higher so that he doesn't have to bend down to lift it. It we put it outside and it rains, then it turns into a mess. I need the Hive mind for this problem.

 

I've already decide to ban permanently housing dress up clothes in the living room (see other thread), so how can I possible leave this pile sitting there?

 

This is what buying a new couch does a sane person. I'll probably reorganize and paint the whole house before I can settle down again.

[nd293]

We have a basket outside the front door for shoes that are too dirty for the inside shoe rack. Would a basket of recycling on top of the bookshelf look neater than what you have now?

[2squared]

My recycling is in my laundry room in re-usable cloth grocery bags. I have four bags - plastic, paper, cardboard, and metal/glass. When a bag is full, my boys move it to the back of the van. When I run errands in town, I drop off the recycling. If I only recycled every two weeks, I would move full bags into the garage. I don't worry about forgetting the recycling since I put things into the bags all.day.long. Every piece of paper the kids get out goes into recycling as soon as I can get my hands on it. :D Every meal seems to result in an empty can or jar or something.

 

I couldn't handle having recycling in our living space. Yikes.

 

If our dress-up was in the living room, I would put it in a wooden trunk with a top. You can buy an inexpensive one at Michaels and paint it. Our dress-up is stored in a square laundry basket in one of the kid rooms.

[Perry]

We have one container under the kitchen sink for garbage, and one for recycling. The city provides a large recycling container, so we just empty the under-sink container when it fills up every few days.

This is what buying a new couch does a sane person. I'll probably reorganize and paint the whole house before I can settle down again.

Be careful! Three years ago I bought wood blinds for the living room. That led to ripping out the carpet and replacing it with hardwood flooring in the entire house, which led to painting the entire house, which led to new furniture, which led to enclosing the screened porch and turning it into a sunroom, which led to more new furniture.

 

There goes the college fund.

[2squared]

Be careful! Three years ago I bought wood blinds for the living room. That led to ripping out the carpet and replacing it with hardwood flooring in the entire house, which led to painting the entire house, which led to new furniture, which led to enclosing the screened porch and turning it into a sunroom, which led to more new furniture.

 

There goes the college fund.

 

:lol:

[OrganicAnn]

Its like "If you give a mouse a cookie" only the Mommy version. It you give a mommy a new couch for the living room after 8 years without one, then she'll realize that the wall color is all wrong.

 

Thanks for the responses so far about the recycling. I think I will try putting the papers/cardboard into cloth shopping bags and put the in the hall closet. I will be easy to take outside and out the way. If that doesn't work, I do not know what I'll do.

 

I think part of our problem is that we don't have any "utility" space in our main floor. We do have it in the basement, but we don't go out to the garbage/recycling bins via the basement. The direct route is through the front door.

[Ellie]

I don't start many threads, but I'm doing some "decorating" and it is just raising a lot of issues with me. So I would love to a be "a place for everything" person. I find that when I do have a place for something, it is so much smoother. But there are things that I just can't find a good place for. I don't know if it is the lay out of our house, or me (I'm thinking it is me).

 

One thing - we put out recycling. My DH usually has a pile of newspaper and cardboard that we send off to the recycling every other week. Currently it is on top of a short bookcase in our living room. Which is handy for taking outside, but an eyesore. My main question: I can't think where else to put it and how to make it less visible. Honestly if it is put away, then it is forgotten. Also my DH prefers that it is up higher so that he doesn't have to bend down to lift it. It we put it outside and it rains, then it turns into a mess. I need the Hive mind for this problem.

 

I've already decide to ban permanently housing dress up clothes in the living room (see other thread), so how can I possible leave this pile sitting there?

 

This is what buying a new couch does a sane person. I'll probably reorganize and paint the whole house before I can settle down again.

You just can't put it in the living room. Laundry room, garage, anywhere else. Do you *have* to recycle? Because truly, if not, then I say toss the stuff and call it a day. Otherwise, it's just garbage lying around your house.

[MariannNOVA]

This reminds me of an article I read a few years ago in a 'kitchen' magazine. The couple went to purchase a new kitchen faucet. The new faucet made the sink look shabby, so a new sink was next..and then new countertops......and then cabinets.....and you get the idea.;)

[klmama]

I think I will try putting the papers/cardboard into cloth shopping bags and put the in the hall closet. I will be easy to take outside and out the way. If that doesn't work, I do not know what I'll do.

 

 

Do you only recycle paper? What about cans and bottles? Is there room in your hall closet for a kitchen-sized waste basket?

[OrganicAnn]

Under the kitchen sink we have the trash can and a trash can for recycling cans/glass jars. There is no room for anything else there.

[Ali in OR]

Newspapers stack pretty neatly in our front closet. We have curbside recycling and have a large can for it in the garage right by the door to the house, so it's pretty easy to take everything else out (cardboard, milk bottles, etc). But the newspapers we do collect in the hall closet first and just put them in the recycling can once or twice a week. Sometimes you need to find an ad or need some paper for the chimney to light the briquettes for the BBQ, so it's nice to not have to go digging in the recycling can!

[Perry]

Under the kitchen sink we have the trash can and a trash can for recycling cans/glass jars. There is no room for anything else there.

We don't have to separate the recyclables so the paper goes right in with the cans and plastics. Guess you don't get to do it that way. :(

[regentrude]

One thing - we put out recycling. My DH usually has a pile of newspaper and cardboard that we send off to the recycling every other week. Currently it is on top of a short bookcase in our living room. Which is handy for taking outside, but an eyesore. My main question: I can't think where else to put it and how to make it less visible.

 

 

Our paper recycling is in a cardboard box in the cabinet under the sink. Every bit of paper is put in there; we open that door several times daily and it is impossible to forget that the box is there. It also makes sense because it sits next to the garbage can, which is on the other side of said cabinet- so I can take both out together.

It is on the floor, but since it has to be lifted only once a week, that is not really a big issue.

 

Until they go into the recycling, magazines are in a wicker basket next to the sofa. You might also put your folded newspaper in it if you choose.

The big recyclables box is in the garage; larger cardboard items are taken there immediately.

[fraidycat]

My "recycle bin" is just a rubbermaid tote in the corner of the dining room. We have curbside recycle pick up, so when the bin get full, it gets taken out to the outside container, just like the trash. It is on the floor, but easy to pick up because of the handles. Everything goes in there. Papers, cans, jars, and boxes from the kitchen/food prep. It's also very portable - right now it's sitting beside me in the school room/office because I've been sorting through papers the past couple of days.

 

We also have a separate galvanized trash bin in the garage, right outside the door into the house for beverage containers because DH recycles those separately (takes them in to exchange for cash).

[IsabelC]

Just get some kind of container, as attractive as you can afford. Maybe a big basket, or one of those foot rest things that opens (yes, I know, I'm very eloquent today). Or a less attractive container that is the right size to shove under the coffee table or into some less obvious corner.

[Ghee]

You just can't put it in the living room. Laundry room, garage, anywhere else. Do you *have* to recycle? Because truly, if not, then I say toss the stuff and call it a day. Otherwise, it's just garbage lying around your house.

 

I thought it was just me that felt that way. My mother has stacks of "recycling" in every nook and cranny of her kitchen. All I see, when I walk in there, are piles of trash. I'm all for recycling....but get a bin and stick it in the garage!

[Lily_Grace]

Put recycling on the calendar.

 

Ours goes out every other week, so it sits behind the house in a container when the bin next to the trash can is full. On recycling day we just have to grab it from its home and haul it out.

[BugsMama]

I feel you on the recycling.... in Germany we have to recycle EVERYTHING.... and we live in an apartment, on the third floor, with no elevator, and no garage, and no space and no storage (and you see where I am going with this).

 

I feel like I am ALWAYS surrounded by garbage.

 

We have:

Paper trash and Cardboard

Glass (separated into brown, green and clear)

Packaging (remainder) trash

Trash Trash, like diapers

Compost bio trash

Large item trash (like appliances)

Re-purposed- Give away items, like clothing

 

It's awful.

We have a whole huge closet dedicated to this crap, which isn't working out so well, because then where do I keep the vacuum? As of this second, there are three bags of garbage on my kitchen floor, because on top of everything, DH doesn't take it out, and with the baby and kids and stairs taking it out just isn't happening for me, because not only is it OUT, it's down the street. In 3 different locations.

 

Ugh.

 

(ummmmmm sorry for the hijack. I just totally get that pile of paper driving you crazy)

[Carrie12345]

I feel your pain! My paper and cardboard has to be folded and tied in 12" bundles. We don't have a garage, laundry room, hall closet (our only non-bedroom closet IS the laundry "room") or covered porch or deck! We just have a milk crate next to the dining room table. :glare:

 

After reading this thread, I may try to rearrange things to put it under the sink. Not sure how that will go, what with our obvious lack of closet space and all the requisite "under sink needs." :001_huh:

[Night Elf]

I have a deep basket for our recycled newspapers. It sits on a shelf in our kitchen/dining area. DH takes it to the recycling center when it gets full. Our other recycles, plastics and aluminum cans are in bins on the floor in the pantry. Those get dumped into huge rubbermaid containers in the garage. I wish our garbage company picked up recycles.

 

As for other stuff, we have things that have no home. They just sit on my kitchen counter or dining room table. It really does drive me nuts. But I'll admit that I toss things into baskets when I get tired of seeing them. We have a black rack shelf with 6 deep baskets. The biggest problem is paper. We let the papers pile up because no one wants to deal with them. You've inspired me to do the filing today. It's probably very backed up.

[OrganicAnn]

I now have DH's buy in to do something different. I think we'll try the cloth shopping bag method.

 

We don't have garbage everywhere and we do like to recycle as much as we can. If the one pesky pile of paper (alliteration!) goes, I'll be very happy.

 

Now if I can find a place for all the other things that are lacking a place.