Organizing Tools
The following is a list of products that I recommend for almost every home -they are the tools that enable good organization. These 
products are all widely available from a variety of manufacturers in almost any discount department store and/or home improvement store.
Cheap pre-finished shelving –available at any discount store –provides efficient storage in the living areas of your home. The most efficient way to store almost anything is to pop it on a shelf –no opening of cabinet doors, no prying off lids.
Hint: for those who are Chronically Disorganized, or loathe to attempt assembly, do yourself a favor, and either pay for assembly, or haunt the consignment shops for a used shelf that is already assembled.
Sturdy modular plastic shelving takes advantage of vertical storage space and can be assembled in ten minutes with a rubber mallet. The light weight and modular nature allow you to easily modify their height and locations as your storage needs change. If you don’t have two or three of these in every rough storage area of your home (garage and basement), you probably have no hope of conquering the clutter monster.
Hint: always buy the five shelf high model for maximum vertical storage space and the 24” deep variety –you don’t want your possessions hanging off the front of shallow shelves.
Clear plastic tubs without lids are useful for storing small collections from dishtowels to Barbies. If your tub comes with a lid, leave it off, toss is out, or store it beneath the tub. (For storage in very dusty areas, simply rest the lid on top as a dust guard without actually snapping it on.). Keeping the tubs lidless has the added advantage of discouraging stacking. It is inefficient to un-stack a tower of tubs, and then pry off the lid every time you want to put something away. The style pictured above is a nice alternative for those who like to retain the lids, as on this model the lid hangs down to the sides and out of the way.
Hint: Make sure to choose clear tubs: you shouldn’t have to touch it to know what is inside, and you certainly don’t want to waste time managing labels if you can avoid it.
These bins are often a nice alternative to lidless bins as the open front provides even easier access, while the small front lip prevents items from falling out.
Hint: Purchase the style with a solid bottom –mesh bottoms have limited uses since small objects fall through the gaps.
Clip-on over the door hooks install in 3 seconds or less –no tools, no screws – and they can be useful in almost every room of your home: behind the bedroom and bathroom doors for bathrobes and towels: the laundry room door for hang-to-dry garments: the guest room door to enhance visitor storage capacity: outer doors for coats and hats. I even put them on the door in the finished basement for ‘hoodie’ style sweatshirts that your teenager will inevitably leave lying around.
Hint: If the top of your door fits very snugly into the frame, it might not close with this hook on top
. So buy a cheap single plastic hook and test it on your doors. Note that the further the hook is from the hinges the less it interferes with closing the door. Then go back and buy the metal multi-hook models (they tend to be thinner in the bracket in any case) for doors that will close no matter where the hook is placed; and two or so single hooks for those doors that will only accommodate hooks placed a distance from the ‘hinge’ side.
