Hello, there! I am Carolyn from A Purpose Driven Home, where you can find simple and motivating tips on how to manage all things home and family. I am excited to be sharing with you some ideas on how to create more space to organize in your home.

Finding a place for everything is the best way to get your home organized and to help keep your home organized. However, finding a place for everything can be difficult! That’s why I have laid out some helpful ways to create more places in your home for organizing all those things that need a home.

Get Height

Use all that wall space in your house! This can be done through tall bookcases, wall shelves, and hooks. Anything that either extends up or can be screwed into the wall will allow you more space for organizing. Here you can see how we utilize tall bookcases and wall shelves to create more storage for our desk/home office area and pantry area.

Utilize Doors

My favorite thing to use in creating more space is an over-the-door shoe organizer. The pockets are great for small items around your house that never have a specific place. Batteries (which can then be organized by size), clothespins, matches, measuring tape, and small flashlights are just a few of the many things that can be organized here. We have one in our playroom for erasers, pens, pencils, book rings, labels, anything artsy and creative. Then there is one on the back of the bathroom closet door for sunblock, lotions, shave gels, hair care, nail clippers and files. Finally we have one on the back of the main hall closet door that we use for everyday small things. The organizing possibilities are endless!

Baskets, Baskets, Baskets

You really can never have too many baskets. They are one of the best organizing tools. I use baskets all over our house. I especially love using them on shelves, creating little pockets of organizing space for corralling similar items together. Like in this picture below of the girls’ room. There are baskets for shoes, socks, and books. I can tell the girls (ages 1.5 and 2.5) to put away their shoes and they can do it! My other favorite area for baskets is by the door. We have one for adult shoes, one for kids shoes, and one for library books. Any way you use them, baskets are key in creating more space in your home.

Places to Scout

This is merely a list of suggestions and places I have found to be helpful in finding the above items to help me create more organizing space.

• Ikea – A variety of bookcases, shelves, hooks, baskets… you name it. They have it. You can go either cheap or expensive. Our tall bookcases are from Ikea and I believe cost us under $30 a piece. I found this to be a great price for the amount of space it created for us!
• Craigslist – Nice furniture at the retail price is tough to swallow. And cheap furniture brand new often doesn’t last. That’s why I love Craigslist! You can often find quality furniture at a great price. And if you have the time and patience, you can even turn a piece of worn furniture into something beautiful for your home with just a little sanding and paint.
• Dollar Stores – My favorite place for baskets and bins! Most of my baskets are hidden behind closed doors or curtains or stuffed into small cubbies. So I really don’t need them to look super fabulous. I just need something cheap and easy.
• Retail Stores After Holidays – I have found some gorgeous baskets at places like Target and Michaels shopping the post-holiday clearance section. And usually the “holiday” baskets don’t really look very holiday-ish anyways! Another great time to stock up on organizing items is right after the school season in September. We found some great big bins for our toys for $1 on clearance at Walmart after the school sales ended. Always check for clearance!

There are endless ways to create more space for organizing in your home. Using your wall space, doors and baskets are just a few. Sometimes you just have to think out of the box and get creative. Happy organizing!