Our rePostable Home: Getting Started

Well I announced this new project, and I feel like I'm totally slacking already. Just to recap, I want to make our house organized so that moving is easy. The title of the project is Our rePostable Home because in the Army we move from post to post. It's a little difficult to get started with an organization project. An entire house can be very overwhelming. Where to start? How to budget? Cupboards, pantries, and closests, Oh My! Its more than enough to scare you away.

Budgeting is hard because each space is different. I don't exactly have that figured out well. I do know that I want to stay as cheap as possible, but rooms like the office are going to cost more if I want it done correctly. We'll figure that out together when I get there. You don't, however, have to buy everything from an organizational store. Shop sales and be on the lookout everywhere you go for something that can be functional (and cheap!) for your home. Also, remember that we aren't organizing the entire house at one time as seen on TV shows. We can spread out small purchases over time that don't empty our wallets. $10 here, $20 there can be very effective. I have several months to finish this project and some of my organizational dreams will have to be put on hold until I save up what I need. It's okay to be realistic. Maybe you organize a space as best as possible and make a list of items that would make it even better when you have the resources. Please don't run up your credit card in hopes to gain control over your home. Your house might look good, but you'll just have more chaos to manage.

Now, our starting point. Pick a spot in your home that is already decently organized and small. Focus on that little area, and hopefully, you can overcome that drowning feeling that we start to get when thinking of the whole house...or the garage or the attic. Ah! Back to that small, more calming space.

I chose our master bath. It has drawer space and a decent amount of storage so I already had it looking okay...well I thought I did. Now looking at the pictures, I'm not so impressed. I went to the Dollar Store to find cheap drawer organizers of some sort. I found little bins that can be hooked together to meet individual drawer needs. I also found some generic plastic baskets that I knew could replace the cute decorative baskets I had hidden under the sink. I know we'll find a use for the baskets elsewhere.

My goal was to place as much as possible into baskets/bins so that when its time to move, we just wrap the bins (that sticky plastic wrap works well), place bins in box, and go. Can it get easier? This will work with items that are nonbreakable/smooshable. So I set out the bins and started sorting. It wasn't too hard. The only problem was the drawers were not wide enough for two bins side-by-side. Total bummer. I should have been smart and measured everything before I went shopping. I'm sure I could have also shopped around more and found something different, but I'm happy with my Dollar Store find. I placed as much as possible in the bins and left the larger items loose in the drawer. The bins minimize the space left so larger items are not moving around much. I also added one more bin to this middle drawer (below) after I took these pictures.

These drawers are stacked on top of each other between the two sinks, a pretty common layout. The area under Mike's sink (not pictured) houses our bathroom linens and extra TP because we do not have a linen closet in our master. I know, huge flaw. With the limited space, I keep a limited number of linens here. With just the two of us, its plenty. Plus, I like doing laundry. Total Freak!

The area below my sink is picture above if you scroll up to before and after. Here's the deal ladies...and men that are not like my husband. I don't collect beauty products. We can be so easily guilty of hoarding everything from hair sprays to mascaras. I put a stop to that habit a few years ago. For one, I don't need 5 curling irons (my hair is naturally curly). Second, no one has space for 5 curling irons. Actually, I don't own a curling iron at all anymore. I went a little extreme that one time, and now I'm in the market for..just one.That's all that will fit in the basket. I know this can be hard, but just try to keep only what you use.

All joking aside, one is enough of each type of product. If I try something new, I do my testing and then pick the better one to keep. When things get old, I dispose of them. I have one basket that holds ALL my hair products and my makeup bag. My makeup bag holds ALL my make up. I have a small bag that also fits in the makeup bag that holds my brushes, a tip I learned from my sister to keep them clean. My makeup bag is not tiny nor is it huge. If you look to the far right image you can see my iPad sitting behind it. It's about that size and 4 inches wide. It holds everything I use daily and enough stuff to get glitzy for a ball.

In all, I spent $7 plus tax at the Dollar Store to completely organize this room. Not too bad. Duchess and Chloe supervised the project for the hour and a half it took to do. I'm going to go ahead and do the guest bath and upstairs linen closet. (watch Facebook for pics) Again less is more in these spaces. They should be simple. Now what to do next???