8 Inexpensive Routes to a Family Organizing Station
Modern life is busy. Having a centralized location where you keep track of important papers, calendar dates and electronics can help your family stay on track. Whether you live with many family members or form a household of one, here are eight ideas for staying organized. The great thing about these solutions is that none requires a remodel. Instead, they’re relatively low-cost investments that can pay off big in terms of peace of mind. Which one — or ones — would you like to try in your home?
1. Hang baskets and buckets on rails. Vertical organizing space might go on a wall in the kitchen, hallway, pantry or mudroom. Make it flexible by hanging items from rails or a pegboard; you can change the layout and type of storage as your needs change.
This setup fits: Those of us who can’t stand a stack of mail and catalogs on the counter or wasting kitchen drawer space to hold junk.
Tip: If your organizing station is in the kitchen, consider hanging non-kitchen items like the tape measure or your random collection of pens in your wall buckets. That way, you’ll gain back the kitchen junk drawer for cooking items.
2. Add a calendar and a blackboard. With organized files and an easy way to coordinate schedules, this hardworking center combines important storage with a communications board for reminders and notes.
This setup fits: Busy families juggling a wide range of activities; self-employed adults who wear a lot of professional and personal hats.
Tip: Give each child his or her own bin, and practice using it for permission slips, sports schedules and notes from school. Not only will you eliminate the frustration of frantic last-minute searching through backpacks, but also your kids will learn the value of being organized.
3. Use blackboard paint to turn the end of a cabinet into a calendar or communications board.
This setup fits: People who need a shared calendar and memo board and don’t have much wall space.
Tip: Use chalk pens to keep dust to a minimum.
4. Make your message wall extra-large. Keep yourself organized at the top; write messages for family members in the middle; let kids make art at the bottom. With so much space, the possibilities are wide open.
This setup fits: Families who want to involve kids in the organization process; adults who like to spread out; visual thinkers.
Tip: Don’t like the look of blackboard? Consider using a piece of glass, acrylic or writeable whiteboard instead.
5. Install a charging station in an empty drawer. The proliferation of personal electronics never ceases, making cords the new clutter. With a drawer charging system available with USB ports, you can charge multiple devices, out of sight, and even get rid of those bulky adapters.
This setup fits: Anyone with a cell phone, smartphone, tablet, e-reader, laptop, exercise monitor, smart watch … and whatever “they” come up with next.
Tip: Don’t install just any old outlet; there are products designed specifically to be safe within the confines of a cabinet as well as the open-and-close motion of the drawer.
6. Make use of your refrigerator end panel. This clever organizing station puts to work an end panel that would otherwise be empty space; the end of a tall cabinet would work just as well. Here, matching the containers to the cabinet color keeps things more streamlined.
This setup fits: People with limited wall space and moderate storage needs.
Tip: Does your refrigerator have an exposed side? Leverage its magnetism and add organizing elements with magnetic backing. Or, glue magnets to the back of existing containers so you can mount them to the fridge.
7. Take over the back of a door. This photo shows the back of a pantry door used as a command center. Don’t have a pantry? Look around: A garage door or even a cabinet door would work as well. Such a solution keeps your organizing station close at hand yet hidden from sight.
This setup fits: People who want quick access to their organizing center without having to look at it.
Tip: If you are renting, choose a system that hangs on hooks over the top of a door.
8. Grab a spare hallway wall. What a great way to add function to a space that is normally just a traffic corridor. With the full height of the wall, kids can have their own organizers at their level. There’s plenty of room for to-dos, words of encouragement and keeping track of important papers.
This setup fits: Families who want to involve kids in the organization process; adults who like to spread out; visual thinkers.
Tip: If you have the space, add a vision board to help you stay focused on your goals and make time for what matters most.