How do you organize everything?

[Sesame]

So... I quickly accumulated various things for Sesame (flat-rate boxes of sticks, toy parts, hanging toys, dust, fleece items to rotate out, glass jars for other treats, hay, a mini dust pan, etc., etc., etc.).

I was wondering, how do you organize everything you've accumulated for your chins? Do you use a shelf and put everything in boxes? Throw stuff in storage bins? Any innovative ways to keep it organized, clean, and stylish? I know I'm not the only one here who loves to spoil her fuzzbutt to the max, but I'm running out of space to put Sesame's stuff in an orderly system of sorts. I have a QC, so there's no shelf underneath like the FN has. I'm a bit of a clean-freak... so this is driving me nuts.

 

[chinsNdobermans]

How about storage bins, the stacked/drawer kind? I use big storage bins for my stuff but I need LOTS of it. If I had one or two chins again I'd invest in the storage bins with stacked drawers.

 

[PaperMoon]

I know what you mean. I have storage boxes for all the small stuff. Treats go in one drawer, Chews go in another, Dust stuff in another, etc. The big stuff, like the hay and the food I put it in a big cardboard box together so it looks *somewhat* organized.

 

[1_animal_@_a_time]

This lady has those storage bins we been taking about imbetween her two cages.
http://www.chins-n-hedgies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134&highlight=club

 

[InkedupTara]

I have the storage bins as the pic above has, and I have wider ones, and I stack the liners on top of the wide one.

 

[mistywaterwoman]

I rearranged since then, lol!

Now all my storage is in one corner.

 

[Tillygizmo]

I am a basket girl. I buy baskets for everything that doesnt have a home. For the chins I have two big baskets. One of them has big containers full of treats and food and dust and the other has a bail of hay in it.

 

[SunshineChins]

We built a stand for our cages to go on so everything goes into baskets underneath. I am very OCD about all my cages and bins matching so the baskets all have to match too.lol Same goes for the bunnies. Hay , food and dust go in the closet since they are in bigger bags.

 

[Molly]

Same goes for me -- when I built my chin's home, I added a large section on the right hand side for shelving. That way it looks all neat and pretty when the door is closed.

 

[jmdebb]

I love the storage bins, but personally I can't use them because they are made out of plastic and when I let my chins out for playtime, they get the whole bedroom, wish i could use them.

Anyways, what i do is this: I have two boxes that i put in my closet, one is for extra dishes, shelves, bottles..etc.. Then one box is their emergency kit. For things like their hay and treats, or chew treats what I do is place part of a sheet over like 1/4 of the cage on top and put stuff on top of the cages so that the chins can't get at it. I am however running out of room myself because like you said, things do accumulate when you have chins..:hilarious:

So just a thought don't know if that will work for you or not..Good luck on finding a way to rearange your chin stuff.

Jean

 

[Essentia]

I have a bit of stuff everywhere, but I am somewhat organized with it. (Please ignore Chula's chewed fur. Apparently he just isn't going to stop. )

The drawer works well for the hay because there is about an inch space on each side where the drawer doesn't reach the top. I also cut holes into the back of the drawer for even more air flow.

That dust container actually contains Blue Cloud. I just like not having to lug the 10 lb. bags from the drawer.

My bulk items I keep in my closet.

50 lbs. of PANR and 9 lbs. of Oxbow Hay

I also have a drawer in that dresser to the left that has a bunch of toy parts and about 25 lbs. of Blue Cloud. I just forgot to take a picture of it.

 

[Mystic]

I just use storage bins that I stack on top of each other. And I also store stuff under my ferret nation and on top of it.

 

[rach_leigh]

Im working getting some storage cubes for all of Kunya's stuff! Now I am just using the bottom shelf on his CN for storage.

 

[Sesame]

hmm... I was worried that the plastic storage bins wouldn't be ideal for the wood sticks/toy parts because it doesn't have the best air flow and they sometimes have a really strong plasticky smell. Seems like people haven't had many problems with them. I'm heading to IKEA for some other things, so I'll probably poke my nose around to see anything cool (I could spend ages in that store lol).

 

[ABBY W.]

Essentia, I am totally impressed with your organizational skills! I am always struggling to keep everything in its place, and to remember where it all is.

 

[kdr13]

I have the stacked plastic drawer type things with 3 drawers and mine are actually on wheels so they role really easily which is really nice b/c you just pull one of the "rollies" (thats what I call them) out. One rollie holds stuff for the cage (dust, hay, food) and one hold play things and then since we got a new ferret nation i put everything else under the cage in the storage area....it works great for us!

 

[Essentia]

hmm... I was worried that the plastic storage bins wouldn't be ideal for the wood sticks/toy parts because it doesn't have the best air flow and they sometimes have a really strong plasticky smell. Seems like people haven't had many problems with them. I'm heading to IKEA for some other things, so I'll probably poke my nose around to see anything cool (I could spend ages in that store lol).

I have been absolutely fine with my plastic stuff. If you're worried about the plastic smell, just let the new storage stuff air out for a few days before putting anything in it. That "new" plastic smell seems to go away fairly quickly. Also, with plastic you can cut holes in the drawers just like you would with a cardboard box. If you get something like I showed in my picture (made my steralite) they are far from air tight. On the sides of each of the drawers there is at least a 1/2 inch-1 inch. (didn't measure) gap all the way around to add even more air flow.

 

[iayla]

Once I got past 10 chins, I converted one of my dressers into a chinnie bin. It holds all their toys, treats, first aid stuff, and any tools I need for making toys, fixing cages, etc. Before that, I used the plastic shelves like others have mentioned.

Feed, dust, hay cubes are in Stack-N-Stor bins I bought at TSC, and hay is in a huge cardboard box (I buy 40 lb bales, so there's not many ways to store the hay)
~Barb~