Plastic storage bins come in a variety of sizes, styles, and colors. They protect the items they hold inside from mold, mildew, and moisture. Without them, we'd all be swimming in a pond of toys, searching for last season's decorations, and buying new sweaters.
There are over a hundred different ways to use plastic storage bins around our homes, inside our garages and sheds, and outside in our yards, but in this article we will address ten, to get you started.
Toys. Large and medium sized plastic bins are great for storing toys. Containers with wheels work wonderfully for this task. You can organize your children's play things by placing different types of toys in different colored, sized, or labeled bins for easy pick up and availability. Keep two bins of toys, one visible, and one hidden for rotation, when a child becomes bored with the same toys after a while, you can trade toy bins.
Clothing. Low lying, flat bins are convenient for storing seasonal clothing, and can be easily slid under a bed for easy access. Deep plastic bins easily preserve children's clothing for handing down to siblings or passing on to a relative or friend. They keep the dust bunnies out, and, if sealed properly, help prevent the clothing from yellowing.
Seasonal Decor. Every holiday, stores put out their colored storage totes. It's easy to remember your Christmas stuff is in red or green, Halloween in black or orange, Thanksgiving in orange or brown, and Easter in pink or blue. Color coding creates fewer hassles when sending your spouse to seek out your holiday decorations. It also makes your bins more visible from high places of the garage or far corners of the attic and basement.
Craft/School Supplies. Tall three drawer plastic bins are perfect for storing craft supplies and school supplies. Each drawer contains important components, and sometimes within a drawer you can place a smaller plastic container holding things that can get lost quick. For example, you might have a drawer for paper, a drawer for writing, painting, and arts supplies, and a drawer for coloring books. In tiny little plastic containers, kits can be made up for keeping things like your needle, thread, and buttons together for sewing. They can hold scrapbooking supplies, photography prints, puzzles, and so much more.
Travel. If you have small children, consider putting together a "Travel Bucket". First, you'll need to go to your local grocery store and buy a 5 quart bucket of ice cream. Once the ice cream has been eaten or removed then you can start to put together you travel essentails. The handle of the bucket makes it easy to carry, and it fits nicely in any size vehicle. Inside this bucket you can place items like paper towels, wet ones, small snacks, bottled water, soda, or juice, and a small first aid kit. With small kids, it becomes a instant potty when there's no rest stop in sight for miles, and a barf bin in a matter of seconds when they are sick.
First Aid. There is no need to go out and purchase expensive first aid kits, when from home you can make your own using a small plastic bin with different compartments. You'll need bandages, antiseptics, gaze, tape, and spray. If you or a family member is asthmatic or have allergies you can keep and emergency dosage of meds inside there as well.
Gardening. Every spring, if like me, you start small flats of seeds to grow. Small long narrow plastic bins are good with starter plants. You can fill the bin with water to continuously feed the plants as they grow without having to remember to water them every day. When they are ready for the garden you can carry your "flat" outside and transplant them.
Nuts, Bolts, and Tools. Setting foot inside many garages could become hazardous if they have tools, parts, and small unknowns laying everywhere. Are you able to find your tools? Are there nuts, bolts, wires, and nailslost across the work bench? What you need are tiny little plastic bins with drawers for in the garage. You can take small mailing address labels to identify each drawer's contents. Tools can be placed in size appropriate bins and hung from the walls. If there's not a tool box in sight, grab a bin with handles, they work just as well.
Books. For the avid book reader, whose bookshelves are sagging with the weight of their overloaded platforms, grab some some plastic crates. They are stackable. They hold books up to the size of an average textbook. They even come in a variety of colors. The best part, they are inexpensive. If you decide to move a crate of books to another location inside or outside of your home, you can pick of the crate without having to take them off a shelf and restack them elsewhere.
Memorabilia. Plastic bins can collect items from birth through the college years and still hold up when your first grandchild arrives. You can label the top lid with the items placed inside. What I like most, is every time you open it up, you know nothing can get inside and destroy the treasured items you've placed there.
Using plastic storage bins helps to eliminate clutter, organize our belongings, and protect what we hold dear. If your home is like my home, you'll be exploring more than just these ten ways to put plastic bins to use in no time.