That doesn't mean everything is always perfect and I don't clean the house every day, but I am organized. And the first rule of organization is the most painful one: THROW STUFF OUT.

I like bins where they are useful, but there is also kind of a "bin myth" LOL that the more bins you have, the more organized you will be -- no. If you didn't tend to put the things in bins before, you are probably not likely to put things in bins after you have them -- the bins will just become more clutter. ;) Or they will eventually attract more clutter, and then they become extra things to clean.

Really, the key is asking what do you use? How often do you use it? Where do you need it most? Then, find an organized way to make sure it's in the appropriate spot.

We find bins are helpful for things that will be stored longterm, Christmas decorations, etc, or used at least no more than every several weeks. For things you'll use every day or several times a day, bins are not really useful. It becomes in convenient to always open and close and deal with the bin -- something open, like a shelf, is better.

Baskets are dangerous, LOL. We have a few, for magazines, and they do hold the magazines, and a plethora of other items that get tossed in and covered up and then you have to go searching, LOL. I clean out and throw out the magazines on a regular basis, and have learned not to abuse the baskets. But I like how they look, and I don't buy any more -- only the two, so it's kept under control.

Everyone needs a junk drawer. One. LOL We picked out one drawer in the kitchen, and it's the junk drawer. That's it.

I also have dividers and separators for my kitchen drawers -- my entire kitchen is like a puzzle, LOL, everything fits, just so, and dh will just ask me "where does this go?" because it all has a specific spot. I know how to find it, and it fits. It's not that I am ungrateful when my inlaws want to help clean after dinner, etc but it's that things are put together in one way in here, and I hate it when something is put back wrong.

I say in general, beware of bins, unless you have specific, narrow use for them, and, throw things out. Put things you need daily in a usable, reachable place that's easy to put things back.

It's also a mindset, how a person organizes. It's very personal, I think. There is no one way. I hope you find yours. :)

Definitely a packrat here, and living with an oppressed neatnik. I have acquired containers before with the best of intentions, but I think that the organizing needs to happen before I can actually put those containers to proper use. Right now, all the containers in the world won't organize me! *sigh* I do think that at the heart of it is a mindset--a willingness to throw stuff away/get rid of stuff that I don't quite have yet.

Congrats on the change, Shirley! Best wishes to a neat life!

Hi Shirley--I love containers and organization. For years I couldn't afford containers. They were expensive and hard to find back in the day. We did not have a WalMart, our nearest city was almost 200 miles away and when the kids were little we focused on survival, not organization. Then we got a WalMart and the price of plastic containers has come down and now I am the queen of the container. I'm even ordering this fancy container frame that allows me to stack 12 big containers and get at them easily. I'm becoming a very organized packrack.
Jeannie

I'm pretty much of an in between. Some rooms are neat and others are not.