Just Like That I Spent $300 on a New Shelving Unit


I decided not to wait any longer before purchasing a clean, orderly storage solution. The Container Store was running a 30% off sale on all elfa products so I went online and ordered $300 worth of shelves.

I saved $10 by purchasing a $100 gift card from Gift Card Granny for $90. (If more gift cards had been on sale I definitely would have snatched them up.) I also drove to the store, (it’s on my way to work), so I could avoid shipping fees. Despite the small savings here and there I still managed to spend quite a bit of money.

In retrospect I probably could have purchased one, high quality dresser to store a lot of our belongings, but the truth is that our storage room is unbelievably tight on space and I thought it would be nearly impossible to find the perfect piece of furniture to fit in that little room.

The good news is that I purged quite a bit of our belongings and reorganized what remained. I still have a drawer full of strange odds and ends that I’d like to get rid of. You know the types of things, small bottles of quality products that are all half empty, vials of nearly expired medicine and tubes of lipstick I never seem to use.

I put them all in one drawer and decided to set a three month expiration date on it. If I don’t use the products in three to six months I’m throwing them out. I’m much more ruthless about purging things than I used to be and I see no reason to leave items sitting around if I never intend to use them. Organized or not there is no need to let things linger indefinitely.

If you read this blog frequently you know that I absolutely hate to spend money, but I feel really good about this purchase. The shelves are neat and clean. They slide in and out easily and fit all of our belongings with room to spare.

I moved our old, rickety IKEA shelves into the basement and took the odds and ends of my husband’s electronics collection downstairs with it.

I’m inspired to keep reorganizing and plan to pull apart our filing cabinet early next week. I have a feeling we can file and shred the majority of paperwork in there.

I do need to find a better storage solution for all our old photographs. I know some people scan their images but that seems like a ridiculous amount of work. I’m not sure that I want to sign up for that job, but I would like to figure out a system for them. Right now they are stored in a hodgepodge of boxes and bags around the house.

I plan to stop by the Container Store on my way to work tomorrow to pick up a missing shelf. It seems I was one short. I might just have to go early and spend a few minutes walking around. That store is like an oasis to me and yes I am a total dork.

4 thoughts on “Just Like That I Spent $300 on a New Shelving Unit”

  1. I know you can hire people to scan photos for you (eg snapfish), but i've never used them. I would be a bit worried about losing them forever in the postal system!
    maybe a better idea is to hire a trusted someone (a neighbor's kid?) to scan them in for you and label them.

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  2. You could buy a bunch of cute, but inexpensive, picture books and then line them up on bookcases or a shelf. Organization and bonus decoration! Plus, it would be a fun way to spend nights when you feel like sitting in front of the TV.

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  3. Photographs is a tough thing for me too! Currently all of my old family photos (somehow I got them when my parents separated) are sitting in a box in my spare closet. Part of me wants to get them all scanned, but part of me is scared that I'd loose a few cd's full of pictures rather than a box full of pictures (or a hard drive, or a computer crash) So for now they are staying where they are and will be sorted through at some point!

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  4. @sense – I love the idea of paying a neighbor to scan photos, but w/ our current scanner it would take him forever!

    @scuttleboose – I like the idea of filling albums and buying shelves to display them. At least if they're organized I might actually pull them down and look through them.

    @mercedes – I'm a little worried about losing them in the mail too. Plus to be honest I like the look of some of the polaroids. The photos wouldn't be the same w/o the white strip along the bottom.

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