My Top 5 Storage tips
” A place for everything, and everything in its place” – this is absolutely one of my favourite quotes and I couldn’t have put it better myself.
Having an organised and clutter free home does wonders not only for your mental health, as it can most certainly reduce any stress levels, but it can also boost your self confidence as you actually can find things you are looking for, which in turn can help you accomplish tasks and also be on time!
Recently, I spent a wonderful day at one of L&Q’s developments, visiting their absolutely stunning show home at Saxon Reach in Milton Keynes, to see how I could implement some organising and storage solution and ideas to work in their beautiful homes.
I was super impressed with the level of storage options in their homes, there is absolutely no way that living in one of these homes you can live a cluttered life!
The number of inbuilt storage options is my dream! And this is true of all L&Q developments, not just the one I visited.
Utilising the space in this L&Q home, I am going to share with you my absolute top 5 best affordable storage items that can be bought from the high street.
1. Wilko 3 Tier Rectangular Kitchen Organiser – £4.50
https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-3-tier-rectangular-kitchen-organiser/p/0450001
This item is an absolute game changer for a kitchen cupboard!
Not being able to see what you have in a kitchen cupboard can result in out of date food being hidden at the back, as well as duplicate items.
You physically cannot see what you have and then go out and purchase the exact item again as you just couldn’t see it for the amount of tins in your cupboard.
This organiser from Wilko is a three tiered shelf organiser that fits easily into a kitchen cupboard.
It is absolutely perfect for stacking all your tins onto, in stopes going down, making them easily accessible and also helps you to see exactly what is in the back of the cupboard.
No more lost tins of beans or out of date spices, literally open your cupboard door and you can see exactly what you have in one glance.
2. Eden & Willow Glass storage Jars with cork lid – From £2.95
https://www.edenandwillow.com/storage-solutions/glass-jar-with-cork-lid.html
These jars are so beautiful to look at and serve a great purpose in your kitchen.
I use these to decant any grains and pulses into, such as lentils, pasta, porridge, as well as sweets and treats for the children.
These come in a range of sizes and have a cork lid, which makes them airtight (which is especially important for perishable goods)
There are so many reasons why I feel that decanting food is a great option to staying organised.
Having clear containers makes it so much easier to see what you have and easy to know what you need to purchase when going food shopping. (Quick tip – cut the use by date off the packet and stick it to the bottom of the jar, that way you’ll know exactly when it’s time to refresh the product)
Having the food in an airtight container helps items stay fresher for a lot longer than they may do in their packets.
Talking of packets, decanting items also means that you are getting rid of any excess packaging and makes your cupboard a lot more organised and streamlined. (These jars also take up so much less space than large packets too).
3. Amazon Velvet Hangers – set of 50 for £23
What’s not to love from a streamlined look of a wardrobe?
These hangers will absolutely help you to achieve this look.
They are extremely slim, so will give you so much more hanging space than any clunky wooden or plastic hangers, giving you a much more minimalistic feel to your wardrobe.
They also hold over 10 lbs, so they can hold quite heavy clothing items too, no need for keeping hold of those larger hangers.
The fact that they are non slip is just the icing on the cake.
No more dresses and shirts crumpled on the floor from falling off their hanger.
To really make your wardrobe feel super organised, hang like for like items together and then colour organise the categories in a rainbow ROYGB (red, orange, yellow, green, blue) adding white and then black onto the end.
You will then truly have that instagramable wardrobe!
4. John Lewis – The Home Edit & iDesign Divided Turntable Storage Container – £22
https://www.johnlewis.com/the-home-edit-idesign-divided-turntable-storage-container/p4797186
Toiletries seemingly multiply over time, so being organised with these is the key to living a clutter free life in your bathroom!
This is one of my favourite products of the year.
It operates like a Lazy Susan, so basically it has a turntable underneath it to help swivel it around , so you can find your products easily and efficiently.
It’s been designed with practicality in mind, and to be honest, it just makes sense using this!
It has dividers within it, so you can keep like for like products together within each area, it also has a removable divider if you want to take items out of the room and carry them elsewhere.
The reason I also love this product is that it is super space saving, no more having your bottles strewn around your bathroom sink, everything is in one streamlined (and swivelling) place.
Now, what’s not to love about that?!
5. Primark Woven Belly Baskets – £8
As a professional organiser, I do love a storage basket and I can honestly say that these beautiful baskets from Primark tick every box for me.
The price alone is extremely impressive, but this doesn’t detract from the quality.
They are large and sturdy, being the ultimate space saving storage basket for me.
These types of baskets can be used in so many different areas and cupboards in your home.
One of my favourite places to use them is in the laundry cupboard, as they are light and breathable, which is super important when storing cotton or fabrics in closed up cupboards.
In a laundry cupboard, towel storage can be a bit of an issue, especially if you have more than one member of the family!
Not only do you need towels for you, but guest towels, beach towels, swimming towels, hair towels, fancy towels……the list can go on. (This feels VERY Monica from Friends right now!)
Having an easy and accessible solution for storing towels may not be high up on some of your priority lists, but it can save you time and effort searching for them, so having a system is always a benefit.
I would absolutely suggest that you roll towels and store them vertically in these types of baskets, rather than folding.
Not only do they take up so much less space, it also doesn’t mean that you cause a towel avalanche when you try and pull one out!
I do hope that these items and tips have given you the inspiration you need to organise your home space .
Hopefully you can now see the many benefits from living an organised and clutter free lifestyle.
Rachel x
Find out more about L&Q’s space-efficient homes here: lqhomes.com