NOW is the time!

Get into the stores and load up on all the 'Back to School' sale stuff at Target, Christmas Tree Stores, and Staples--it's geared towards the broke college student shopper and cramped dorm-room dweller, which means it is full of smart and inexpensive storage and organizing supplies and furniture.  Much better than the 'Get Organized' sales at Container Store and Home Depot, which are targeted at well-off grown-ups trying to pretty-up their already lovely homes.  Don't get me wrong, I would kill for one of these beauties

from The Container Store, but those are priced at $10.99 each!

You can get cute cardboard magazine files for ONE BUCK at Target.  Along with cute pen holders, bins, baskets, totes, and bags; shelving, cubbies, racks, and...

... oh sure, that's $6 more than that file holder... but it's a FOOTSTOOL.

So go stock up!  Get storage containers in threes in order to gather up your things and make them look like a nice collection.  Or, if you're in the Target dollar section, go ahead and splurge on sets of five--treat yo'self!

quick check-out:

This short Boston Globe article hits all the key points:  clutter=stress, a mention of the fascinating Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century, as well as seven great clutter reduction tips from the immortal Peter Walsh.

Feeling overwhelmed by clutter? 7 stress-reducing tips  

8/09/2012 5:52 PM   By Deborah Kotz, Globe Staff

With the 21st century’s constantly evolving technological innovations and the wild success of bulk-shopping stores, our hoarding habits have gotten worse. Some of us feel like we’re drowning every time we take a moment to look around our homes.

so how do we keep all the toys sorted into the right bin?

ta da! 

snip a picture from the box or instructions and tape to the bin
or
ask the kids to draw a picture of what goes into each bin, and tape that in.

the best place for all those new toys?

open. bin. shelving.  available at Target and Toys R Us.  

(hint:  Target's is 33" wide and $59; TRS is 42" wide and $44.  you do the math)

Ikea's Trofast drawer bins

are also a good way to go.  but not the best because...

there are three essentials for toy storage to keep in mind:

1. accessibility:  for kids this means not just easy-to-reach but also easy-to-see.  kids are not great archeologists.  they don't dig for long-forgotten items at the bottom of a drawer, they play with toys that are there for the taking.  
2. transportability:  little hands can carry lightweight bins from the playroom to the bedroom to the kitchen, all the stuff can get tossed in at the end of the day, and then back to the shelves.
3. toss-in-ability:  if you don't have to do anything else--sort, open and close drawers to find where stuff goes, rearrange it all to make room for a drawer to close--a quick clean-up becomes possible and even pretty easy.