do you remember last week when i was re-organizing our laundry room? i mentioned i would be back to talk about a tall 5-drawer plastic bin that is also in that space.
this one….
this 5-drawer bin used to live in our office closet. not all of the drawers were being utilized in the office, and it’s pretty big so that means it was taking up a lot of space…too much space for something that wasn’t functioning well enough to begin with. it’s also missing 2 of its 4 wheels. at some point during our move across country, those 2 wheels went missing.
i planned on donating it to a local charity, but then the thought occurred that this would be a great organizer for all of the boys sports stuff. the stuff that gets lost in each of their closets – like t-ball uniform belts, colored long socks, and the like.
excitedly, i moved all of our sports gear into this bin. i love finding a new use for something we already have. here i was wracking my brain trying to find a cute sports organizer – then i realized this bin could be just the answer i was looking for! when you re-purpose a solution like this, and it makes your life easier/better = win-win.
this organizer worked out so well last spring when we had both baseball and basketball. when it was time to get ready, everything was right there in one spot. even my husband didn’t have trouble getting the boys ready at any given moment.
then came summer…..which means my house was in shambles by the time the new school year began. and the bin was in shambles too.
anyone nodding in agreement?
it’s time to clean up the bin and get it ready for another t-ball season (which is right around the corner, if you can believe that!). we only used 3 of the 5 drawers for sports stuff, so the remaining 2 were used for other purposes. the bottom drawer housed our plastic and paper shopping bags….
the next drawer held sports shoes and gear (like shin guards)….
another drawer held team uniforms….
another drawer held sports socks….
and the final drawer held school socks. our boys attend private school so i prefer keeping those specific socks in this space. that way on a school morning i am not searching for clean white, navy or beige socks. instead they are all clean and ready to be worn…..and away from the general sock bins in their closets….
like i said, over the summer this bin became disorganized and it needed a clean-up. as well as some simple labels. as i sorted and re-organized each drawer, i added a label to the front. now there is no question as to what is where…..
first i removed all of the shopping bags and sorted those worth keeping. what wasn’t good or had holes went into the recycling bin…..
a few of our re-useable grocery shopping bags had migrated into this drawer as well. so i pulled those out and moved them to the back of my car with the rest of our re-usable bag inventory.
*quick tip – i like to keep our re-usable shopping bags in the back of my car so they are there whenever i need them. did you know that a lot of stores credit you on your purchase when you use a re-useable shopping bag? my local grocery store does and Target gives you $.05 per bag!!*
i went through the next drawer and discovered a pair of cleats that don’t fit anymore. those will be donated to a friend that has younger boys…..
next, i went through our team uniforms. found quite a few were ready to be moved to mommy’s sentimental clothing box in the attic. at least i have photos of my boys wearing them. booooo-hooooo!!!
the next drawer = sports socks. these can get pretty grubby so it was a good time to sort them. not only did i find socks without a match or socks with stains/holes, but some of them were too small…
and finally, the school socks drawer. i sorted through the socks and then browsed the boys sock bins in their closets – where i found many more pairs of school socks. moved all of those into this drawer. hopefully they will all stay here from now on….
and here’s the bin now – all re-organized with simple labels…..
and i love that it’s located in the laundry room. when the boys get home from any given sport, they strip down out of their yucky clothing, the clothing goes straight into the washer, and when it’s clean – right back into the bin! talk about efficiency!
i love re-purposing something to give it a new life or meaning in our home.
if you have a bin like this to re-purpose, this would be a great way to use it. if you have other organization challenges, like sorting your daughter’s dance clothing and ballet shoes, and you have figured out a great way to solve that issue….share them here! i’d love to hear about it!
(i linked up this project with iHeart Organizing!)
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