Posted in Organization

Simple Journey Ministries Presents

Get it Together, Girl!

Organize Your Hard to Organize Stuff

We all have stuff in our lives that we don't know where or how to store. We have stuff in our bedrooms, our kitchens, our dining rooms, our living rooms, our cars, our garages, and definitely...most definitely in our schoolrooms. What kind of items do you have that are hard to store?

In our home I have struggled with items such as:

• hair accessories
• shopping bags
• aprons
• scarves
• umbrellas
• flashcards
• ribbon
• ties
• belts
• costume jewelry
• bras
• bathing suits
• funnels
• purses
• phone cards
• gift cards
• paper towels
• art work
• school pages (oh the abundance!)
• schedules
• warranties
• business cards
• dress-up costumes
• hats
• gloves & winter hats

I could keep writing this list, but it would take all day with the amount of stuff I have struggled to find just the right place for over the year. I bet the list in your home is similar and would take just as long to complete.

Finding ways to organize stuff that is not easily put in place can be frustrating. When I first put up my pegboard, I though, WOW! I still think, WOW! Because it is an awesome way to store a lot of stuff in small places.

However, upon using it I found I had another dilemma; what's the best way to utilize the vertical work space and what would I use to do that.

One solution that I came up with has worked in many areas other than my peg board. It is so simple and frugal you are probably going to be chuckling and thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?"

Many of the items listed above can be stored on curtain rod ring. The two types I have found to work the best are the the kind that snap apart and the kind with a clip on the bottom. Both of these curtain ring make an excellent organizational tool.

Items that have a hole in them or you can punch a hole in are ideal for the snap together type. Many of us use flashcards in our homeschooling. Punch a hole in one corner of the cards and place on a curtain ring. To store, hang on a hook or rod. Items such as costume jewelry can also be stored on these rings and hung to keep orderly. For closet items such as belts, slip onto ring and place ring around closet bar.

For those items that cannot slip onto a ring or unable to be punched, use curtain rings that have the clips on the end. This works really well for any paperwork, such as schedules and art work. Instead of hanging art work on a hook, install a curtain rod on an empty wall in your home. Place curtain rings with bottom clips on the bar and hang art work for a neat and easily interchangeable way to display art and school work. Projects that are flat and displayed on cardboard also hang well on this device. Use these type of rings to organize items such as hats, hair accessories, extra cords, scarves, bathing suits, or ribbons.

New curtain rings can be a bit costly. I have found them from time to time in a dollar store. Another great source for these at inexpensive prices is thrift stores. For some reason people donate rings that are not in a complete set, offering you the opportunity to further customize your organization for pennies. Keep your eyes open at yard sales as well. I regularly come across them for 25 cents or less!

These are my thoughts.