One project I’ve been meaning to tackle for a long time L.O.N.G. time is my linen closet. It has been out of control for longer than I care to admit. But, it has also been about as near to the bottom of the ‘To Do’ list as you could get until I couldn’t stand it any more and finally made the time to clean it out and get it organized!
I’ll be sharing my linen closet reveal soon, but today I’m giving you a sneak peak into my out-of-control closet and one of the remedies that solved a huge part of the disorganization and saved tons of wasted space.
Psst…are you wondering why you don’t see many ‘linens’ in the linen closet picture below? You’ll find out in the big reveal!
See those little white trays? I picked them up at Target a few years ago and I actually really love them. They have little tabs on the sides so they interlock with each other. The problem is look how much wasted space is above them! What was I thinking??
I originally put them in the closet like this to keep the medicines and cleaning products far out of the reach of my toddler. But, the waste of space has been driving me nuts ever since I did this.
Then one day, as I stood there staring at the closet pondering a solution, it dawned on me…I needed a mini shelving unit to hold those interlocking trays. Then it hit me! And, I already had them…
Stackable letter trays!
This was a solution so simple and so perfect it was like my favorite little interlocking trays were just MADE for it! I knew I had a few extras laying around so I grabbed them and tried it.
They fit perfectly!
I even had space for a few more, so I ran over to Target and they still sell the same product even after 5 years! Woo hoo!!
I put the taller meds, like children’s liquid medicine, on the top shelf and boxes and smaller bottles on the middle and lower shelves.
The trays fit absolutely perfectly in the letter trays and are super easy to slide out one at a time, or the whole “shelf” at a time if you have them locked together.
Although I am planning to keep it in my linen closet, I tested it just for fun and it fits wonderfully in a kitchen cabinet, too.
One other benefit is that I can easily store my First Aid Tips under the lower shelf. They easily slide out if needed (hopefully not!).
I’ll be sharing my totally clean and organized linen closet with you soon, including some other uncommon organizational uses for everyday products! I would love to have you follow me, so you don’t miss the next post!
By the way, did you see how I organize my cleaning sponges with a mini letter sorter?
What a GREAT idea Ginny! So much better use of vertical space. I love it when a “problem” can be solved with an item you already have and when items can be used for different purposes than what you bought them for. Can’t wait to see the rest of your closet organization 🙂
Thanks, Hilda! I appreciate your sweet comment. 🙂
Love it. I just saw some of the letter trays at a thrift store. I might be going back to get them 🙂 I love the lockable containers from Target – good to know they still carry them.
Haha! I hope they are still there waiting for you. 🙂 I got mine at a yard sale, so it made the project extra cheap. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Love this idea Ginny! I think this is the storage solution I’ve been looking to neaten up this area of my cabinet. How many sets of the snap-together containers did you use as shown in the picture? Can’t wait to try this 🙂
Thanks, Amy! I’m glad you like it. It would take two packages to fill up three stackable letter trays as shown. There are 8 interlocking trays in each package, but some are small squares. I used 4 large, and 4 medium trays. They are both the same depth as the letter tray. The small squares are 1/3 of the depth of the others. I have used them to store my girls’ hair twisties and bobby pins. I hope it works as well for you as it has for me! 🙂
Awesome idea! Never thought to use a letter tray!
http://www.domesticblissdiaries.com
What a great idea!!
Thanks, Britney. I’m glad you like it. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
What an AMAZING idea! I love it!
Bobi
http://westernwarmth.blogspot.com
LOVE this idea! That’s going on our workbench in the garage ASAP!
That is a great idea. I like having all that sorted out so everything is easy to find when you need it and this sure would do that! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
That’s a great idea! Hmmm…I wonder if a cutlery tray might also work. Going to give it a try and if not I’m heading to Target. Thanks for the inspiration!
You bet! I hope you find something that works well. 🙂
I love this idea for smaller medicine containers for individually sealed things. This will work great in my linen to help organize my first-aid supplies. We get many meds/vitamins from Sam’s Club, so when we organized our medicine cabinet, we needed something that could hold taller bottles, but provide more storage area. We use the CD boxes that have lids on top of them (ours are called Sterilite Show-Offs) and stack them to double our storage space. I also have them organized by who it is for (adults or kids–this helps make sure my children are not accidentally given an adult-strength medicine), how it is used (liquid or pill for the kids) and how frequently we use it. I keep a small snack-sized baggie inside the kids’ liquid med box to keep the medicine droppers and cups in, so they are easier to find and stay clean.
I love this idea! We have recently moved and lost my “place for everything and everything in its place”. I have one large hall linen closet – nothing else. This sort of system seems to work the best for me because I can stack and I don’t have to deal with taking lids on and off boxes/bins to get in and out of every day items. I have scoured through 3 targets and online. Can’t find the interlocking tray sets anywhere. Has anyone else looked for these recently? Or found something else that works just as well?
Oh, that’s too bad, Sara! Target sure does seem to discontinue their products pretty quickly. You did pique my interest though, and gave me another idea…what about using a silverware tray? I looked at Target.com to see if I could find the white trays, and came across a silverware tray that could be perfect! It doesn’t have the length in the specs, but the width is 7.5″ which would be PERFECT for the letter trays. It has several different sized compartments, too. 🙂 You can see what I’m talking about here: http://tgt.com/WoL2Cl
This is a great idea! Your blog is really wonderful and I love your ideas!! Thank you so much for the binder printables!!!
Bansari
Thanks, Bansari! 🙂
This is such a great idea. I just put a set of these stackable letter trays in a bag to take to Goodwill. I will bring them right back in the house! Thank you so much!
Thank you so much , I have been wondering how to organize my medicine and keep it out of reach, this is awesome!!!
Wow!!! Smart idea!!!