I am organizationally challenged.  I love to see simple, clean lines and uncluttered surfaces, but it’s like visiting a zoo.  I marvel at a clear kitchen island as though it were an exotic beast that I will never be near in real life.

I’m also cheap.  To a fault.  And we move very often.  Any organization device must be simple, flexible, and inexpensive.

One of my fave ways to organize?  Dishpans!

I use them all over the house.  I must own 15 or 20!

I put underthings in them in our family closet.

We use them to organize our block shelf, or other play items that don’t need to go in a clear box.

I have one in the bathroom for the flotsam and jetsom of everyday living that we need often, but don’t necessarily want to see – like alcohol, peroxide, sunblock, and so on.  Our downstairs bathroom has no storage, and I don’t like keeping those things where the littles can get them, anyway.

I keep one in the fridge, full of fruit that the children are allowed to eat at will.  I can wash the fruit all at once (well, theoretically), dump it in, and they always know where to find a snack.

I use it in the fridge to hold meat for repackaging or defrosting.

It holds our paper products at the top of the pantry – I found that straws and forks got stuck or slipped out of the holes in baskets.

Other uses:

Kitchen prep in front of the TV or outside

Sick bucket (waterproof and eminently bleachable, plus it was a wide opening)

washtub

soaking sore or injured feet

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