My husband is active duty military. We move more than the average family, and because of that much of my decor, furniture, and organization materials have to reflect a mix-and-match style. Each house is different, our family grows and changes, and everything seems to be shifted in each move to satisfy the needs of the given location and our family at that time. Most of our frames contain neutral matting. Our furniture is generally either a honey colored wood, or a cherry wood. Mission and traditional styles tend to be favored. Other colors that are popular are bright red, royal blue, sage green, white, and honey. Our living room has “lived” in three homes. Our bedroom suites (master and the bunk room) have lived in four. The point of this isn’t my decor though, the point is how I stay organized regardless of location.

I have learned, through repeated attempts with different methods, that the best way for me to keep my stuff organized is using baskets/bins on Real Organized Shelving in my closets. I put each set on a set of heavy duty casters (available at Lowes as well), so that they can move around the house if for some reason I decide they need to be moved. (ie: I wanted to craft in another room, but all of my materials were on a rack in my den closet? Boom. Roll the rack into the playroom and you’re good to go in 3 minutes. Cleanup time? Roll it right on back and neither the closet got torn apart nor the baskets disturbed. This is why I am OK with the loss of my craft room in a prior home in lieu of a shared den. I went mobile!). I have 2 of these in my den (one for pet supplies and tech stuff (wires/plugs/batteries… seen below). The other for my crafting materials -read the prior gigantic parenthetical tangent), 1 in my guest room closet (for random storage like ski supplies, luggage, and things my landlords left in the house), 1 in Hubs military supply closet (I make him keep his stuff all together in one spot so that it doesn’t take over the house whenever he comes in, and its easy to pack when its time to go…), and one that is not on casters in my garage. I have the bigger one in the garage, with the smaller ones dominating inside on casters.

The cool part about these racks is that all of the shelves are fully height adjustable to fit your needs, and that they pack really small for relocation or storage when not in use. I buy bins with label slides that can be changed when their purpose is changed. I don’t make anything permanent because most bin purposes evolve over time. During moves, I will keep one or two of these on hand to put up in an interim lodging space to put our supplies and clothing onto for easier access! It got to be a joke in this house for Hubs to say “you know what we need? another rack!”. But you know what? We fit all of our stuff into our house without needing a storage facility space, shed, attic, or alternate storage option. We have closets that are over half empty (Boy, Girl, Military, and Guest room), we know where all of our stuff is, and we can access it easily… I don’t feel badly about any of those things, so tease away! In my humble opinion, if you’re looking for a great way to make the most of a space (small, cluttered, or otherwise), and to organize yourself… Rack ‘Em Up (on adjustable metal shelving) and Roll ‘Em Out! (on casters)!!