How to Be Organized with the Amazing Shoe Box

Need to get organized but don't want to spend a bundle on the fancy plastic containers or cute wicker baskets! Really, all you want to do is "hide" the things you need but still keep them accessible. So, why spend alot of money if you don't have to? And thanks to shoe boxes, you don't have to!

Just go to your local shoe store and ask for their discarded shoe boxes. They'll give them to you for free! Now, I am sure you are saying, "oh yeah, shoe boxes, just what I want all over my house!"

Well, the point of organization is not to make it presentable while you are being organized, but to be presentable because you have organized!

If you think some of your boxes will be "out in the open", fine, just get some wallpaper sample papers, construction paper or wrappng paper and wrap the boxes before you use them! Pretend you are wrapping a present, add a little tape and BAM! You have a wonderful, really nice, totally usable and accessible storage device!

Shoe boxes come in a variety of shapes and sizes, from kids shoe size to boot and work shoe size. And the boxes can accommodate your lifestyle in so many places you'll soon wonder how you have made it this far without them!

Women's shoe boxes are probably the closest to fitting in an average dresser drawer, say around a size 6. Line the boxes up in the front of the drawer (often leaving you more storage space behind the boxes) and fill with socks, underwear and things like that. All is organized, nothing is falling out of the drawer and everyhing is neat and orderly so you can find what you need! Have something (like nylons) that you want handy, but at the same time don't need daily? Kid's shoe size boxes are the perfect size! Fill with what you need ocassionally, put the lid back on, write the contents on the lid and there you are... what you need occassionally but not mixed up with everything else or falling out of the drawer.

Kids shoe size boxes are great for holding and organizing your jewlery. The larger pendants or bangle bracelets often don't fit in the jewlery boxes. If you want to get crafty, line the bottom of the shoe boxes with felt. Just store the box (with the lid on) in the dresser drawer and have them when you need to wear them! Kids size shoe boxes are also great for in the bathroom drawers as they are ususally smaller drawers to start and all the hair accessories, small bottles of all kinds of things just fit perfectly in a small shoe box! Even if you just use the lids of the boxes - this makes a nice "holder" for brushes, combs and other things that really don't need a lid, but just something to keep them in a group.

Men's shoe boxes are usually a bit larger and stronger so they are perfect for a row of them on shelves. They are large enough to hold larger items, and stronger to accomodate a bit more weight. Line a shelf with several, store taller bottles like cleaning supplies, hairspray, shampoos - anything that is in a tall bottle that is proned to falling over! Put like items in the same box. For instance,your stock of shampoo/conditioners, car cleaning supplies and household cleaning supplies. This way, you just pull the box off the shelf, have what you need and move on to the chore.

Sandles come in shoe boxes too! These boxes are usually long and narrow so they would work well for dividers in desk drawers for pencils, pens and similar style office supplies. Add kid's shoe box size for post-it note pads, paper clips and other small items! Long, narrow boxes also are great in the silverware drawer in the kitchen or even on the desktop near computer.

Shoe boxes are great for organzing craft supplies. The are sturdy and have a lid - Any crafter's dream of organization! You can use any size you need, but get a few of the men's size (larger ones) and fill them with your craft supplies. Because they are larger the box can hold scissors, glues, bags of small items, rolls of ribbon or small craft tools. IF you get several of the same size and strength, you can easily stack them in the corner of the closet or under a table. Don't forget to label the content on the front of the box. Fill a shoe box with crayons . It's easy to use the crayons and still keep them picked up and let's not forget how easy and convenient it is to share a shoe box full of crayons amongst several little ones!

Common sense says, "you will have better luck at getting kids to pick up their toys if you make it at least easy, if not fun, for them to pick clean up". Do your kids have alot of small parts to games or other toys? Do they have little pieces that go to a larger playset? Give them a shoe box, and tell them to pick up their toys! How easy and fun is it for them to just throw into a box and have just one box to pick up and put away! These can be stacked in the corners, slid under beds, shuffled on the bookshelf or put in the closet. How easy is that! And should the unthinkable happen and the child not put the box away? Well, better that a box sits there on the floor than a bunch of toys scattered around to be stepped on and broken!

Depending on the shoe style and genere, shoe boxes come in square or rectangle. Just get some that fit your need! Square ones can sometimes be better in a drawer as the drawer only pulls out so far, and you don't waste any space if you use a square shoe box instead of a rectanble one.

Don't you just hate it when you are in your utensil drawer searching for something and get stabbed in the finger with the pointed end of the corn-on-a-cob holders cause you just dropped them in the drawer end of last summer? So organize your kitchen drawers! Get the right sizes to fit in the drawers and fill, fill, fill! Can opener, bottle opener, tupperware, cookie cutters, potatoe peeler, meat thermometer, twist ties, measuring spoons and other seldom used items and yes, those corn-on-a-cob stabbers too!

Boots and work shoes come in an even larger shoe box. These are great for storing seasonal things. Got alot of summer pool or outdoor toys? Christmas ornaments? Holiday decorations? Pack the items into a large boot box and start sliding! Slide under the bed, slide to the back of a shelf, slide across the rafters in the garage. Easy to fill, easy to store and easy to retrive,

Another good thing to use the large boot boxes for is paper back books. Do you have a collection of paper back books that you want to keep to re-read, but probably not until next year or so? Fill the big boot shoe box with these books and store them where you can pull them out next year and enjoy! Boot boxes are also great for storing your kids school work or handicrafts. Fill and if you need the lid more secure, grab a ribbon and wrap and tie your box of hand made memories

And probably not a home goes by that doesn't have a bunch of CD/DVD's laying around. Organize them! Shoe boxes to the rescue! Women's size's are probably the best fit but choose accordingly. The boxes are just tall enough to be able to see the title on the spine of the jewel case. Horizontally, you can view from the top or stand vertically on end and see the titles straight on or just slide under the bed or dresser for quick, easy storage but quick, easy access when you want them.

And let's not forget the shoe box lids! If you can and need to, just place them on the box and you have an extra added bit of organization - only open the box when you need something. Things don't fall out and things don't get put in the box that don't belong! But if you can't use them this way, use the lid for other things.

Make smaller boxes out of the lids! To adjust the size of the box lid, just cut it in half - top to bottom. Then take one half and cut off the upper and lower parts of the lid that, when put on the box, slides down to hold it on. Now you have a side that is actual cut in half and a side that has only the side panel still on (you've cut the top and bottom "sides" off). Just slide this part INTO the part with all sides, secure with some glue or tape and now you have a small "lid box" that will accommodate a small space.

The box lids are also great for crafters that use things like glitter, glueing small parts, beads and other really small things. Do the work over the box lid and anything that falls, falls into the lid. This makes for easy clean up, help to not loose things, stops things from rolling all over and getting lost as they would if you just worked on the table top alone. Or do you work with things like small screws and blots and such? Use the box lid to hold all your things while working - those little bolts and washers can roll off your workspace, but a box lid keeps them all handy for you!

And as all mothers know, what child doesn't like to have their own "special box"...just for their own special little things? Although a common use for a shoe box, make it more special. Decorate it for them or let them decorate it themselves. Use paints, paper, wallpaper samples to cover it, and then add things like buttons, stickers, tags, silk flowers, and other embellishments that the child relates to. The scrapbook department at craft store is the perfect place to get this kind of thing and very unusual items for the child to make their own special box! Line the box with felt, add a ribbon to tie it closed then add a tag with their name on it!

The Shoe box. Who would have ever thought that such a simple thing that is so universal, could be your best organizational friend!