Maximising Your Space: Creative Home Storage Methods

In today’s fast-paced world, having an organised and clutter-free home is essential for creating a peaceful and efficient living environment. A well-organised space not only enhances the aesthetics of your home but also promotes productivity and reduces stress. 

Australians, like people around the world, often face the challenge of limited space in their homes. However, with the right space-saving strategies and creative home storage solutions, you can save space and transform your living area into a functional and harmonious haven.

1. Effective Drawer Organisation Techniques

One of the simplest and most effective ways to save space and keep your home tidy is through efficient drawer organisation. By implementing various techniques, you can optimise your drawer space and make it easier to find and access your belongings. 

Drawer Dividers: Start by using drawer dividers to separate different items, such as socks, underwear, and accessories. This not only prevents items from becoming jumbled together but also maximises the available space. 

Labelling: Additionally, labelling each section of the drawer can save you time and effort when searching for specific items. 

Categorising: Categorising similar items together, such as separating your cutlery or office supplies, further enhances the organisation and functionality of your drawers.

2. Multi-functional Furniture for Better Home Storage

Investing in multi-functional furniture is a smart choice when it comes to space-saving and maximising storage capacity. Furniture pieces that serve dual purposes not only save valuable floor space but also provide hidden storage compartments. 

For example, consider a storage bed that features built-in drawers underneath the mattress. This type of bed allows you to store bedding, linens, and other items, eliminating the need for separate storage units. 

Similarly, ottomans with built-in storage provide a stylish way to hide away items like blankets, pillows, or children’s toys. 

Coffee tables with shelves or drawers can also be used to store books, magazines, or remote controls while still providing a surface for drinks and snacks.

3. Easy DIY Storage Hacks for a More Organised Home

If you’re looking for budget-friendly and creative solutions to maximise your home storage, there are plenty of easy DIY hacks you can try. 

For instance, tension rods can be used to create additional shelving inside cabinets or wardrobes. Simply install the rods horizontally and use them to stack plates, cups, or spices. 

Another idea is to repurpose shoe organisers by hanging them on the back of doors or inside wardrobes. These versatile organisers are great for storing small items like accessories, cleaning supplies, or even shoes. 

You can also create customised storage solutions using existing items, which is effective in reducing the layer of clutter. For instance, repurpose old suitcases as decorative storage containers, or transform wine crates into rustic bookshelves. The possibilities are endless when it comes to DIY storage hacks.

Tune in to the lively conversation between Kelly and Bonnie on the ABC Radio Podcast as they share insightful tips and tricks to help you maximise your living space:

2017.02.21 ABC Radio – Junk Drawer

Transcript

Kelly:

How organised is your home? Well, we’re going to start organising our homes with the Junk Drawer. First up, Bonnie Black is a professional organiser. She is the Little Miss Organized. Bonnie’s going to be here every fortnight to give you some inspiration for making life a little easier. Hello?

Bonnie:

Hi, Kelly. How are you? 

Kelly:

Good. Did that ring some bells? Although which drawer is it for you now? For me, it is about the third and the fourth drawers, to be perfectly frank. 

Bonnie:

Sure. 

Kelly:

That are full…

Bonnie:

-of stuff. 

Kelly:

Yes. 

Bonnie:

Well, I have to tell you, I don’t actually have a junk drawer myself, and that’s no, I know. But that’s giving hope to people. There’s a solution out there, and it does work. So, we often find in people’s homes, the first drawer can be the junk drawer, but often it’s the third or the fourth drawer as well.

Kelly:

The first drawer makes no sense because that’s where your knives and your forks are.

Bonnie:

I know you’d think it would be the most organised one, but especially if you’ve got kids or you’ve had little kids, it’s full of those plastic kids spoons or the dispensers for the Nurofen and the Panadol, and nobody really knows where to put those things. And so when we’re doing a kitchen, we always start with that drawer, because that’s the one that’s the least emotional.

Kelly:

Where do you put all those little Nurofen things? I know what you’re talking about. The ones where you have to measure it out to give your child the right dose, all those sort of things.

Bonnie:

Usually you put it with the Nurofen and the Panadol, and that’s generally not in the top drawer, is it?

Kelly:

It’s in the fridge. For me, with it might be the best idea.

Bonnie:

Yeah. So, having a medicine spot.

Kelly:

Fancy that.

Bonnie:

Yeah, I know. It’s a revolutionary idea, right?

Kelly:

It certainly is. The junk drawer isn’t just the kitchen, though, is it? The junk drawer? I have junk drawers as well in my study. I have not the bedroom so much. Well, I’ve got junk cupboard, but we’ll get to that later. Let’s just stay with that. So it can be anywhere. Can it be the kitchen, the office, bedside drawers? We have a lot of little bits and pieces of stuff.

Bonnie:

Yeah, we do. We don’t really know which place to put things in, so we just kind of scoop it into a drawer and think, I will deal with that later. And later never comes, of course, so it can be any room.

Kelly:

And is the reason we have one because we think we will use it, or because it actually is useful? Because when I think about it, I don’t actually go to that third drawer very often. I avoid it like the plague, in fact, because it scares me a little.

Bonnie:

Yeah, well, that’s why we call it the drawer of doom, because it’s scary going in. You might not ever come out again.

Kelly:

What have you found in people’s junk drawers or drawers of doom?

Bonnie:

Lots of things. So, you can get anything from all those little bits of the extra bits of cutlery and so plastic things that were used when you had little kids and the Nurofen dispensers and all that kind of thing, to rubber bands, to batteries, to anything little that people haven’t given a home somewhere, it just all goes in there.

Kelly:

What’s the solution, then, for cleaning up?

Bonnie:

Look, finding a place for everything, that saying a place for everything and everything in its place, it rings true for a reason. And people talk about that being a little bit too OCD or a little bit too anal, but that’s actually what works. So, if you had a place for all your batteries to go, if you had a place for all your medicine to go, if you had a pen holder where all your pens were to go, you wouldn’t actually have a junk drawer.

Kelly:

You’d have a spot for everything. 

Bonnie:

Yes.

Kelly:

Isn’t that just a whole lot more spots for more stuff? Are you actually addressing the issue when you do that?

Bonnie:

Well, I guess the thing is, if you’re creating, say, a battery box, you’re giving yourself a boundary. So once that battery box is full, or getting too close to being full, then you say, right, no more can fit in here, so we have to do a cull. The same thing has to happen with pens, so people tend to think that, oh, my pen holder is full, so I’ll just chuck this one down in the drawer. How many pens do you use at one time? One.

Kelly:

One.

Bonnie:

And generally speaking, we’ve got our favourites. It’s that Pareto principle, the 80/20 rule. We have always got those couple that we will go back to. They’re our fallbacks. So, why are we keeping the pens that we got from the hotel or from the exhibition? Yeah, they’re useful, but you don’t need it, so why don’t you pass it on to someone who will actually use it like a charity.

Kelly:

Yeah. So, Bonnie, I just want to know, in your kitchen, do you have your utensils hanging down where you can get them, or are they in a drawer?

Bonnie:

Oh, they’re in a drawer, because I don’t like too much visual clutter. It creates too much mental clutter.

Kelly:

Right. You’re never coming to mind.

Bonnie:

Look, some people can do hanging utensils really beautifully, but really, if you’re a minimalist, that’s the only time that it actually looks beautiful, as well as being functional. And most people who try to do the hanging utensils end up with 50 of them up there, and that just doesn’t tend to look so great.

Kelly:

Yeah. How often should we be cleaning out our junk drawers?

Bonnie:

Oh, regularly, I think at least once a month.

Kelly:

I was hoping you were going to say once every five four, five years. No, once a month.

Bonnie:

Oh, that’s really going to build up a mountain for you that long.

Kelly:

I’m sure there are people like me who get put something new in the junk drawer. And it’s a bit like you open it just a bit, shove it in.

Bonnie:

Hope that it doesn’t pop out later.

Kelly:

In the middle of the night. You’re going to hear some creaking and confusion as everything goes. How can you organise these drawers then, if you’re going to do it properly?

Bonnie:

Yeah, look, it’s okay for people to actually have miscellaneous drawers. It’s not about, oh, you shouldn’t have a drawer full of those random items. It’s about organising them properly. So if you went to the discount shop near you and got a whole lot of those shallow baskets, color code them if you like, and put those in that drawer, then you can have a spot where your spare pens can go. Then you can have a spot for your batteries and your Nurofen dispensers or whatever it is. But it’s about assigning a home for things. So, a miscellaneous drawer is fine. Just don’t let it overflow and become a junk drawer.

Kelly:

Alright. I cannot promise anything with the old junk drawers. Just one. Should we keep it to just one? As I say, I do have two. I’m not even making that up. I’ve got two and sort of there’s overflow into other drawers.

Bonnie:

That’s the thing. Once we start breaching our boundaries, then it just kind of sets us up for danger down the track. So, setting those boundaries and saying, right, I’m going to stick to it. And once this drawer is full, I’m going to do some maintenance work on it. So, I think it’s fine, as I said, to have a miscellaneous drawer. But yeah, don’t let it overflow into more drawers or into the cupboard of doom or the room of doom.

Kelly:

Yes, well, we’ll get to the room of doom later because I’m sure everyone has one. Well, some people have one of those, too. Now, I bought my husband a few years back. Now, a Man Tin, actually, that’s what it’s called on,

Bonnie:

The Man Tin.

Kelly:

A Man Tin, because and I’m sure he’s not the only one, I’m sure a lot of blokes do this, and maybe some women, too, where they just collect, like, nuts and bolts and rubbish. I don’t even know what they are, but it’s like, oh, no, put that in the Man Tin. That goes in the Man Tin. How much stuff can they keep? That never gets used.

Bonnie:

I know. And this causes so much frustration for so many wives because those Man Tins overflow into drawers and into cupboards, and then all of a sudden, you can’t find the garage bench.

Kelly:

Then it’s in your living room on the bookshelf. Yes, a screwdriver. Why, I’ve got a whole set of that kind of thing, actually, on my bookshelf at home because there’s nowhere else to put it.

Bonnie:

Yeah, sure. So once again, it’s about assigning it at home give your husband a spot where you can say, all right, this is your Man Tin. But once it’s full, you’ve got to do something about it, and it’s about sticking to those boundaries.

Kelly:

All right. Going to have to get tough.

Bonnie:

Yes. Tough love.

Kelly:

We’ll see how we go. All right, so that is sort of our duty for the next fortnight. Or one of our tasks that’s.

Bonnie:

Yes. One of our homework, if you like.

Kelly:

That’s a good word. Homework for the next week. Get into the junk drawer. All right. I might do that for the fun of it.

Bonnie:

That would be awesome.

Kelly:

That would be scary. I’ll have to go through it first.

Bonnie:

No, we can’t show that one. Let’s get that out of there.

Kelly:

That’s it might be giving too much away. All right, I will Facebook Live cleaning out the junk drawers, so just be ready for it when it happens.

Bonnie:

Sounds good.

Kelly:

Bonnie, thank you very much. What’s your website?

Bonnie:

www.littlemissorganised.com.au

Conclusion

Maximising your home storage through creative solutions is a game-changer when it comes to achieving an organised and efficient living space. By implementing effective drawer organisation techniques, investing in multi-functional furniture, and exploring easy DIY additional storage hacks, you can transform your home into a clutter-free sanctuary. 

Not only will these creative solutions save space, but they will also enhance the functionality and aesthetics of your living environment. So why wait? Start incorporating these creative space-saving solutions today and enjoy the benefits of a more organised and stress-free home.

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