If you’ve ever been on Pinterest, you are well aware of the hundreds, or possibly thousands, of pins there are that related to home organization. You can find tips on organizing your whole house, your bedroom, your kitchen, your bathroom, or any other room you can think of.
However, sometime these organizational tips don’t work out quite the way you hope—Pinterest Fail memes exist for a reason. That being said, Pinterest can be a great source of inspiration, you just have to use it the right way.
Look at the Cost for You Specifically
Many of the organizational tips out there claim that you can make organizers and storage tools for free, just using items you already have around the house. While that might be true for some people, that doesn’t mean that it’s true for you. If you don’t have the required materials lying around your house already, that means you’ll have to go out and buy some. Some items may not be that expensive, but little things can add up.
For instance, there are a number of pins about using dollar store items to organize your house. $1 for each item is pretty cheap, but when you need 50 little containers to organize one room, things can start getting expensive. If you’re tempted to try a supposedly cheap organizing method, set yourself a budget, one that you’d be willing to invest the extra time involved if it’s that cheap. Then go window shopping to price all of the materials that you will need. If they fall within your budget, go for it. If not, you might want to consider other options.
Think About the Time Involved
Some people are born with a creative gene that lets them turn old newspapers into lampshades or something else amazing. Some of us, though, have a little less in the way of creativity. But that’s okay! Just keep in mind that one person’s idea of a “short afternoon project” might take you a week.
Don’t undervalue your time, either. Is saving $20 really worth a whole weekend of trying to make something amazing out of old baby food jars? If you enjoy that kind of thing, then it’s probably not about saving money for you, anyway. If you don’t, it might be worth
Consider the Practicality
If you are eying a pin about creating a magnetic makeup board or taking advantage of high ceilings to store things higher up, take a moment to think about the practicality of what you want to do. Not everything that sounds good in theory works out in reality.
For instance, when using height for storage goes, think about what you will need in order to get to the stored items. Do you need a stool? A ladder? Are the items small and light enough that you can get them back down safely? How often do you need those items? Out of the way storage is great for non-fragile items you only use once or twice a year, but you should probably come up with a different solution for breakable or heavier items, or items you need to access more frequently.
