An Underused Organizational Hack: Make the Most of Your Vertical Spaces

Using vertical space is almost always a great idea because it reduces the need for horizontal surfaces, which are clutter magnets. Also, the smaller the horizontal footprint, the less cluttered a space tends to feel, and be. People don’t always think about or take advantage of the great resource available to them with vertical spaces, so read on for many ways to use them to their fullest.

* Accordion Band: What’s not to like about accordion files? They take up very little horizontal space, but pack a lot of paper—tax information, receipts, and more—in their segmented, labeled sections.

* Climb all mountains: If filing your desk paper is equivalent to making it disappear, try a vertical desktop file. These drives hold files in a graduated, vertical fashion, so you can easily see what you have. Remember, though, that the files you choose for this storage location should be the ones you use on a daily, weekly, or perhaps monthly basis; nothing should reside there that you use less often than that.

* Magazine, anyone? If you want to store magazines, newsletters, owner’s manuals, catalogs, maps, brochures or construction paper, try magazine holders, which come in many materials to match your decor and tastes. You can label the spine or place it us its spine so that the contents face you and are easily visible.

* Five gold rings: Or maybe it’s 12 rings, whatever comes in a standard pack of shower curtain rings. Whether plastic or metal, they can hold bags, umbrellas, scarves, wallets, and many other things when hooked to a clothes rail in a closet.

* Q, R, ‘S’ Hooks: Like shower curtain rings, ‘S’ hooks are great for hanging on closet rods to hold umbrellas, brooms, mops, and empty backpacks. The strongest can contain bags full of other things like gift wrapping sundries, swimwear, beach towels, rags, craft supplies, yarn, and winter accessories.

* Pinch Me: One idea for hanging long, unwieldy items like rakes, hoes, mops, and brooms is to use snap fastener strips, those “pincers” that hook onto tool handles and hold them against the wall.

* Can: Just like mugs, pots, glasses, and vases can hold pens, brushes, kitchen utensils, razors, and toothbrushes upright… tall buckets and cans can hold things like umbrellas, banners rolls, maps and rolls of wrapping paper. Trash cans can hold rakes, shovels, brooms, canoe paddles, hockey sticks, and baseball bats. Putting garden tools in an old golf bag even allows you to carry the tools around the garden.

* Throw in the towel: Towel racks are naturally great for hanging towels, but when installed inside cabinets and on the backs of doors, they can also hold folded tablecloths, blankets and other linens, as well as ties and scarves. These items also hang nicely from hangers that have divided paper towel tubes strung on their bottom edges. Towel rings, although smaller, can hold hair ties and necklaces.

* Pots, pans and frying pans, wow! We’ve all seen pictures of gleaming copper pots hanging on pot racks in large kitchens. You can do the same thing by hanging your pots and pans from a shelf attached to the ceiling. Or try hanging sports equipment or tools from a suspended planter rack in the garage or basement.

* No glass ceiling here…In the garage or basement, attach a ladder, wire rack, pieces of chain, or a garden trellis to the rafters and hang everything from lawn chairs to sleds to bikes from “S” hooks or elastic cords.

* Mount the rails: There are many systems on the market that include some type of rail that attaches to the wall, with buckets or baskets hanging from that rail. Try them with kitchen supplies, office supplies, or shop hardware and tools if drawer, counter, desk, or workbench space is tight.

* Do the laundry: lingerie bags are great, mesh bags with a drawstring or zipper that allow you to machine wash lingerie or a bunch of small items that might otherwise get lost. They also make great holders (and drip dryers) for kids’ bath toys when suspended from a shower caddy or bathtub faucet.

* Suction power! Suction cups with attached hooks can hold all kinds of individual items, or even small organization units, in the kitchen, bathroom, or shower stall, saving space on your countertop and vanity.

*In the stands: I have a friend whose spices reside in what she calls her “spice stand,” a graduated vertical unit that allows her to see the labels on all the little jars that would otherwise obscure each other in the cabinet. If you want to think big, put several stands together to create a spiced “stadium.”

* Hang it up: There are also great spice racks that attach to the inside of doors. They work well because they fit different sizes of spice jars, but they are not so deep that they prevent the door from closing. Similar shelves are available that hang over the doors to accommodate CDs, DVDs, books, towels and tall bottles in or near the pantry.

* Ski with ease: Ski racks, assemblies of “knobs” that hold the ends of your skis together, are great in the basement or garage because they keep your skis on the wall and don’t fall on unsuspecting people or objects. find below.

*Mail East: I’m not a fan of bulletin boards, because much of their (usually large) usable surface area is covered by the very things that hang on them! Also, I think those things quickly become just another part of the wallpaper, the opposite of what should be happening. But, if you really like the concept, consider a cork or magnetic band instead. You can mount one or even a row of them in smaller spaces, and they don’t waste space because the items hanging from them cover the wall space, not the rest of the usable surface.

* Poor Susan… The double-tier version of the “lazy Susan” is great for spice jars, pins, buttons and small office supplies, while the single-tier version holds tall bottles of cooking oils ; beauty, cleaning and laundry products; and items in the fridge. Giants can hold condiments and napkins on the table.

* Do you have milk? While I’m glad to leave behind the days of milk crates as furniture, they really are resourceful, especially when you create a shelf by turning them on their sides and stacking them in multiples.

* Against the wall: Many types of baskets or containers can be mounted on the wall to serve as magazine holders, mail receivers, and inboxes. (Just be sure to clean them out very often, or they’ll overflow and become useless.) Current magazine or mail rack can also hold rolled towels in a bathroom. And try nailing coffee cans or sand buckets to garage walls to hold small garden tools, spools of string, or seed packets.

* Practical Towel: A wine rack can be placed on the bathroom floor, or mounted on the wall, to become a smart place to store rolled-up hand towels and washcloths, bath gloves, brushes, and rolled-up magazines.

* Flip your lid over: I love pot lid racks as-is, mounted inside a cabinet door, holding pot lids, but they’re also great as mail and magazine holders when mounted elsewhere.

* You stud, you: Nail boards across exposed studs in your garage or basement, and you have great vertical corrals for catching rakes, hoes, shovels, hockey sticks, and baseball bats.

* Double Rail: By crisscrossing ribbons on a wall or board and tacking them down, you can clip or slide notes, photos, tickets, greeting cards, and invitations under them for a decorative wall storage option.

* Dig into the picture, so to speak: Displaying art and photos on picture rails, rather than hanging them on walls, offers more flexibility because you can rotate, add, and edit them without driving more nails.

* Coats and capes: A free-standing coat rack is a classic vertical concept, and if there is an umbrella or shoe rack at the base, all the better. Try one in the bedroom for bathrobes and clothes to wear again.

And now, thinking more broadly… Here are some time-honored vertical storage gems. Run with them and apply them in new ways!

*First and Best: Blue Ribbon winners have to be Hooks and Pegs: The chairs that hang from pegs in Shaker homes reveal their beautiful simplicity and utility. You can store a lot of things on a peg or hook (or even a bare nail), as long as it’s the right size and shape and securely and solidly attached.

* Hang belts, necklaces, scarves, keys, purses, backpacks, clothes, kitchen utensils, garden and workshop tools, brooms, dustpans, sports equipment, sleds, hoses, ladders, bicycles, hair dryers and much more not only from the walls, but from ceilings, in or under cabinets, inside cabinets, and on the front and back of doors and cabinet doors.

* A pegboard (or wire rack system) is a very versatile option. Some people even suggest painting outlines around dangling items so you always know where they belong, but I disagree: if you add or remove even one thing, then your system fails. However, if you like the idea of ​​outlining, use chalk, it’s much more forgiving.

* Stack ‘Em Up: Stackable sets of baskets, bins, drawers, or boxes…with or without lids…that are clear or well-labeled…can be placed on shelves or in cabinets to store everything from diapers to root vegetables (although probably not at the same time). If you put your stacking game on wheelyou can even “go mobile”.

* Filing cabinets and hanging files are old, but good: you can add wheels for mobility, cover the cabinet with a tablecloth if it’s ugly, or pair it with a partner to support a door or wide table top to make a sturdy desk.

* Shelves – need I say more? They are classics, and the holders of books and magazines stand us vertically adds even more to its efficiency. They can also house baskets or bins that hold smaller items.

Go vertical: Hang it, stand it, stack it, rack it and embrace that vertical space that many people overlook to maximize your organizational potential!