cheap plastic never looked so good
I'm all excited about my first wedding-related DIY project, so I'm finally motivated to clear out my craft nook.
We did a pretty good job of purging that huge pile of boxes and junk. There is still a small pile, relocated to an uglier location, but the nook is totally usable now.
Between F's artistic skills and my craft interests, we've got quite a lot of creative supplies bumbling around in various plastic bags, shoeboxes and binders.
There are two principles that have put me in this current state:
Storage Box-buying Strategy
Those decorative prints or colorful paper boxes may be soooo chic, but unless you buy a lifetime supply now, it's likely you won't be able to find them again when you need to extend your storage to accomodate more stuff. Pick a brand of boxes that will be in stock for years, so that whenever you need more boxes you know you can find matching ones at the same store. Consider the per-box price and multiply it by 15 or 20. Would you be willing to spend that much money on storage? Because that is what the lump sum view of what you will probably spend in order to store all your stuff uniformly.
Instead of buying from the storage bin section where plastic boxes cost $4-5 each, I decided a box is a box is a box and as long as it has a lid and stacks, it will work for storage. So I went to the kitchen section and found those semi-disposable Tupperware knockoffs like Gladware and Takealongs and Ziploc Snap n Seal boxes (my favorite). These containers are a dream because the food storage guys figured out how to make them super cheap. Here, a 4-pack of deep square Takealongs is only $2.22. That means 55 cents per box! And to make things even better, the Walmart brand "Mainstays" sold a bottom-shelf cheaper-than-cheap knockoff at <$4 for a 15-pack of lidded containers that I wouldn't trust with food, but work just fine for paper clips and paint bottles. That's 25 cents per box!
Ta-daaa!
Since food storage boxes tend to be small-dimensional, I also bought one Rubbermaid cake-sized rectangle for drawing instruments and rulers etc. $2.22.
Here's the before and after...I had enough boxes to store some of my office supplies in addition to the creative supplies. The only thing I didn't put in these boxes is the red and white candles, which I discovered room for in my mega candle box.
And now, I can freeze or microwave or dishwasher my craft supplies at will! Try doing that with your latch-top Sterilite bin!
We did a pretty good job of purging that huge pile of boxes and junk. There is still a small pile, relocated to an uglier location, but the nook is totally usable now.
Between F's artistic skills and my craft interests, we've got quite a lot of creative supplies bumbling around in various plastic bags, shoeboxes and binders.
There are two principles that have put me in this current state:
Storage Box-buying Strategy
Those decorative prints or colorful paper boxes may be soooo chic, but unless you buy a lifetime supply now, it's likely you won't be able to find them again when you need to extend your storage to accomodate more stuff. Pick a brand of boxes that will be in stock for years, so that whenever you need more boxes you know you can find matching ones at the same store. Consider the per-box price and multiply it by 15 or 20. Would you be willing to spend that much money on storage? Because that is what the lump sum view of what you will probably spend in order to store all your stuff uniformly.
- I think the secret to organization and impressive storage spaces is simply uniform boxes. It doesn't matter if they're wrapped in a Martha Stewart fabric or if they're dull-colored Rubbermaid bins in the garage...as long as they're a repeating pattern, they look like they belong in a Real Simple magazine.
- Boxes are stupid expensive. Like SO DUMB. Like why would I pay for a box to contain stuff that costs less than the box itself? This is my dilemma from organization havens like Container Store to drugstore brands like Rubbermaid and Sterilite and even Target and Ikea can't get the prices low enough for me to buy boxes in bulk. Why do boxes cost so much? Paper is more expensive than plastic (maybe because it doesn't nest). Wicker bins with cloth liners...you'd have to be rich to stock a storage closet with a collection of those.
Instead of buying from the storage bin section where plastic boxes cost $4-5 each, I decided a box is a box is a box and as long as it has a lid and stacks, it will work for storage. So I went to the kitchen section and found those semi-disposable Tupperware knockoffs like Gladware and Takealongs and Ziploc Snap n Seal boxes (my favorite). These containers are a dream because the food storage guys figured out how to make them super cheap. Here, a 4-pack of deep square Takealongs is only $2.22. That means 55 cents per box! And to make things even better, the Walmart brand "Mainstays" sold a bottom-shelf cheaper-than-cheap knockoff at <$4 for a 15-pack of lidded containers that I wouldn't trust with food, but work just fine for paper clips and paint bottles. That's 25 cents per box!
Ta-daaa!
Since food storage boxes tend to be small-dimensional, I also bought one Rubbermaid cake-sized rectangle for drawing instruments and rulers etc. $2.22.
Here's the before and after...I had enough boxes to store some of my office supplies in addition to the creative supplies. The only thing I didn't put in these boxes is the red and white candles, which I discovered room for in my mega candle box.
And now, I can freeze or microwave or dishwasher my craft supplies at will! Try doing that with your latch-top Sterilite bin!