5 Brilliant Ways to Use Bins

Bins bins bins. You either love ‘em, love ‘em wayy too much, wish you had more, or assumed that if you only had more you’d be more organized. The truth about bins is that they won’t solve your clutter problems (owning less stuff will solve your clutter problems!), but they can be absolute heroes in your home in a multitude of unexpected ways. 

Let me tell you about the ways: 

To contain donation/sell items in your closet. This is my absolute favorite and unexpected use for a bin. Since I’m someone who fixates regularly on the clothes in my closet, a bi-annual declutter is not an option for me. I’m constantly refining, plucking and pruning my clothes and since I’m not overly sentimental, I have no problem doing a regular purge (ugh, I hate that word, anyone got anything better? Let’s go with declutter). That’s where the donation/sell bin comes in. Toss anything here that no longer fits, that makes you feel less than great, or reminds you of some bad times.

This way, you’ll break that painful cycle of trying the same thing on and hoping maybe that you’ve had a change of heart. Once your donation/sell bin is full, toss the items you’d like to sell in an empty box and send it off to the Real Real/thredUp/wherever you do your selling of nice wares. 

Toss your donate clothes in a shopping bag and deposit it at your local thrift store/Goodwill/Salvation Army. It’s really that simple! Don’t overcomplicate things when it comes to where to drop off your stuff; it’s going to a good place, and what’s important is that you give yourself space to start anew! Lest we forget what the purpose of all this decluttering business is, it’s so you can spend less time wavering over outfits and more time doing other cool things in clothes you LOVE.  

As a catchall for homeless clutter around the house. If you live in a multilevel home, a duplex, or just an all-around sprawling house, and if said house houses kids, chances are you’re going to have some clutter floating about. This is not clutter that necessarily has to be tossed, donated, or “purged,” but since it has a habit of moving about the house, we tend to think of it as such. 

It could be anything completely and utterly random, like a new candle to some cool new hot sauce for your kitchen to a book you received in the mail that you’re eager to place by your bed. In other words, stuff that needs to be deposited in different places in your home. Just plop those miscellaneous items in the bin and plunk them in their rightful place at the end of the day (get the kids involved too if they have toys in the bin!). 

I recommend placing it at the bottom of your stairs or in a common area like the living room or kitchen so you’ll remember to use it. I recommend getting a bin with handles so that you can hold it like the organized boss that you are. Examples include: any and all baskets with handles by The Citizenry. They make EXCELLENT baskets. 

For outgoing items that clutter up your entryway. Place this bin in your front hall and load it up with all those ‘to do’-style items, like clothes that need to be dry-cleaned, gifts that need to be given, library books that need to be dropped off…you know the kind of stuff. 

This is a great way to kick entryway clutter to the curb, which is especially important as it’s the first place you see when you walk into your home (talk about first impressions!). I recommend investing in a wide and shallow basket, so that nothing gets lost in the shuffle. In other words, no tall baskets! You’ll just forget what’s inside, and the basket will become a black hole of stuff. 

To store exercise gear. Unless you find a tangle of resistance bands and medicine balls fun to look at, it’s nice to give your exercise gear a home. Store your yoga mat, foam rollers, and all other workout paraphernalia in a nice tall basket like this one from the Citizenry (not a sponsored post, just really like their baskets!). I love this storage hack because it doubles as decor in any area of your home..total win win. 

In the end, if you just own a yoga mat and a foam roller, you definitely don’t need to go out and buy a tall basket; however, if an area of your home is looking a little sparse, this is a reliably easy way to spruce things up. 

As a storage vessel for your winter accessories. If you’re blessed with a front hall console contraption that has drawers or cabinetry of some kind, this is a great place to store all your winter accessories. If, on the other hand, you own a simple console table with nary a drawer in sight, consider the bin. But make it chic! (Remember, entryways, first impressions, yada yada.) 

If you have several members in your household, each member gets their own bin. The chicest option is the woven leather basket from Rejuvenation. It’s butter soft and the color is so muted and zen that you immediately feel at peace just looking at it when you walk in. You can comfortably store a few hats, a couple pairs of gloves, and one to two scarves in this bin. And that’s all you really need!