5 Handy Storage Items to Use in Your Home!
If you’re looking to organise and declutter your home, or if you need to create more storage space, it can seem overwhelming to know where to start. There are so many fantastic ideas and products out there today, how do you know which ones to introduce to your home?
Many handy storage and organisational products have several uses – but sometimes you need to think outside the box, and think beyond the use they were created for. Here are five tips for how you can repurpose the products you already have, or make the most of the new items you find!
Clothes Airers
Especially handy as the weather cools and there’s limited sunshine to dry the laundry, clothes airers are so versatile and practical. Beyond the scope of being convenient to fold down, move around and pop where you need for the use of hanging wet washing, the clothes airer has so much potential to be used throughout your home for many different organisational tasks.
There are heaps of different styles and sizes on the market today to suit your needs. Grab a small clothes airer to put up in your craft room, to drape your fabric over after ironing to keep it crease-free for your sewing projects. Small, fold-down airers that fit on the back of doors can be a handy spot to hang those fiddly little items like scarves and headbands, or somewhere to peg the kids’ art while it dries.
Bench Laundry Hampers
Some laundry hampers now come with a cushioned lid that can act as a seat (2021, amiright? The future is now). These hampers have so much potential to act as storage containers around the home, with the added bonus of a bench or additional seating. Place one at the front of your home in the mudroom to offer a spot for the kids to sit down as they put their shoes on, or take them off before tracking dirt though the house. These multi-use hampers are a great way to store toys out of sight, while also creating a space for a grandparent to sit while watching the kids play – definitely a better alternative than the floor! Also handy to be used to store extra towels neatly in the guest bathroom.
Kitchen Trolley
You can purchase specialised ‘kitchen’ trolleys which are so helpful for storing extra cutlery or special occasion crockery. But these trolleys can have a range of other uses throughout the home, too. Pop a trolley in the nursery as an easily accessible spot for nappies, wipes and changes of clothes. The wheels make it super easy to move as needed, so you can move it beside the rocking chair so you can reach what you need if you get nap-trapped. Use a smaller trolley to store cleaning products, and wheel it between the bathrooms, kitchen and laundry as you clean each room, to save from lugging all the supplies you need from room to room. This way you can steer the trolley into the linen cupboard when you’re done, so that the cleaning stuff is neatly tucked away but easily accessible next time you need it.
Spice Rack
Spice racks are already a fantastic contraption when used for their original purpose – they provide an excellent way of storing spices in your pantry, keeping them neat and organised and easy to find when cooking. But the usefulness of spice racks doesn’t end in the kitchen. An in-drawer spice rack can be used in your bathroom drawers to hold makeup bottles, or attach a hanging spice rack to your bathroom walls to store scrunchies and hair brushes.
Shoe Racks
One of the greatest storage inventions ever, the shoe rack makes it so simple to store and display all of your shoes, to keep them organised and clutter-free. Shoe racks come in many different shapes, styles and designs, and can be used throughout the home in different ways. A hanging shoe rack can create extra hanging space where needed, like in the linen cupboard. Use the pigeonholes to store clean tea towels, face washers or extra rolls of toilet paper. Some shoe racks are designed with a cushioned seat on top, so they can be used around the house much like the cushioned laundry hampers, and are a great addition in a mudroom or beside the front door.
When it comes to organising and decluttering your home, it pays to get creative! Don’t only take each product at face value – there are often so many different uses for a product, and no matter what it’s name suggests, it likely has more than one use. These are just a few suggestions for repurposing your current items, or for purchasing items you are sure to get lots of use out of, but you are truly only limited by your imagination. Whether it’s designed for the kitchen, laundry, bathroom or bedroom, there’s undoubtedly other handy uses for it around your home. Have fun with it!
