I Reorganized My Whole Life With These Top-Tier Acrylic Bins

Organization has become a bit of a trend over the past decade or so, and I have a theory: For the longest time home fantasies were all about home renovation. Everyone wanted to live in an open concept home, and to see the kids in the living room from the kitchen (I could talk about this for an hour, easy. What a pointless and terrible idea!). Now the kids are older and you don’t want to see and hear everything that’s going on in your house at all times. Plus, you’re trying to sell that open concept house and no one wants it because they learned from your mistakes, which have been airing non-stop on HGTV for 15 years. People all over the country sunk tens of thousands of dollars into a remodel that no one wants anymore. They’ve learned their lesson…. kind of. Now, the home fantasy is organization. It doesn’t uproot your life for months, it costs much less (or not, more on that later), and it holds the promise of a neater, easier, more aesthetic life.

Here’s what the Organized Home Fantasy leaves out: Organization is an ongoing process, and it will change over time. Life changes! The systems you need to keep your life liveable also change! I’ve lived in this house for about three years, and I’ve reorganized multiple times. Here’s my process: First you move in and you just want stuff away, then you try to create some kind of system out of the stuff, then you live in the space for a while and figure out what will actually work for how you live. Now you have a baseline, and you can adjust as time goes on and your needs change.

Recently, I found myself with some disposable income, time, and a desire for control. Naturally, I decided to reorganize some spaces in my home. My closet had remained basically unchanged since I moved in, and I had some organization happening in my hall closet but it wasn’t working. I did a little internet research, measured, took photos, and set out for The Container Store.

My tactic for Shopping With a Plan is to either put measurements in a note on my phone, or write them down with a little drawing on a piece of paper, then take a photo of that paper so it’s still all in my phone. I also take a photo of the space I want to organize as it is now, so I can visualize what will go where once I have my organization tools. This whole prep process takes minutes (I took photos and measurements of at least six different spaces in my house and I probably spent 10 minutes on it), and it will make your shopping experience about a hundred times easier.

I had done some research online, but this was something I needed to handle in person (literally handle. I needed to touch things), so I had a few ideas, but I wasn’t devoted to them. As I was meandering through The Container Store I kept running to The Home Edit’s acrylic organizers. I don’t dislike The Home Edit, but I had seen their organizers before and I thought they were a money grab. Their Container Store line is a partnership with iDesign, which already makes acrylic organizers that are sold at The Container Store. PS: They’re also always at Home Goods. There’s no guarantee you’ll get a whole matching set, but they are cheaper.

Now here’s the part where I eat my words and spend a lot of money. The Home Edit stuff is better. Like, much better than other seemingly identical organizers at The Container Store. They took what was already pretty good, and improved it. The acrylic is thicker, so not only does everything feel higher quality, it actually is. The measurements of each product aren’t identical to iDesign, but they make more sense. It’s pretty clear that The Home Edit ladies have bought a LOT of acrylic organizers and actually USED them (this is their whole schtick, btw. They fill two SUVs with clear bins from The Container Store and then go reorganize someone’s whole life). I probably spent 90 minutes in The Container Store adding various bins and dividers and whatnot to my cart, and then? THEN? I WENT BACK AND GOT MORE. I used my Home Edit bins in one part of my house, then realized they’d work great elsewhere, so I got more. I ended up going back to The Container Store two more times, and now my hall closet, two bathroom cabinets, and even my workout clothes drawer in my dresser have gotten a Home Edit makeover. Here’s what I did:

If everything’s clean, normally the two sections of the bin are filled, but I wanted to show that I kept the divider in. The lid that came with it is underneath the bin, so if I ever want it I know where it is. Each side of the drawer has leggings of different sizes/styles so I can grab what I want quickly.

One easy fix was my leggings/sports bra drawer. I was using a bin from Target to hold my sports bras, and because of the way it fit, I was cramming leggings in the drawer and the sports bra bin was warped and it just wasn’t working. I initially wanted to get drawer dividers, but my dresser is an antique and the drawer dividers were either too big or too ugly. I ended up getting The Home Edit Large Divided Fridge Bin, and it is perfect. I love using things for unintended purposes!

My hall closet is doing a lot of work in this house. I have a bunch of bins in it from other places I’ve lived, and each bin was overloaded with stuff. Plus, when I needed something, I’d sometimes have to pull our multiple bins, because I knew it was in one of them, but I didn’t know which. I needed a system where the things I grabbed often were in easy reach, and the things I needed but not directly at hand were stored accordingly. Plus, I had a lot of expired/unused/no longer necessary crap in there, so I also needed to do some serious weeding. Here’s a before and after, with weird angles/zooms because the hall is about 2 feet wide:

The transformation is much more dramatic in person. The biggest change is on the middle shelf, AKA the one I use most often. In the previous setup, I had a bin horizontally in the back that was full of skincare overflow, then in front of it I had a lazy susan that was too small for what I was keeping in it (hair products) so often they would just be sitting on top of the divided sections of the lazy susan and not actually in it. Plus, things like eyeglass wipes, alcohol swabs, extra razors, and other things I reached for often were scattered all over the place. I wanted all the things I grab regularly to be front and center, and I decided to splurge on two of these Home Edit Stackable Drawers, and then within the drawers, I added some of their little organizing bins.

Here’s the top drawer of the two. The back has two medium bin organizers, then in the front section there are two of the small bin organizers and a tall bin organizer.

These little bins to subdivide the larger drawers were so helpful, I decided to use them in the medicine cabinet in my bathroom. My medicine cabinet wasn’t too bad, but my organization tools were an acrylic makeup brush container I bought at Target a million years ago, the container from an old candle, and then just kind of.. stacking things? It was hard to get what I needed and I wanted it to look as cohesive as the rest of my space. So I bought a bunch of the bin organizers, and even delved into the inserts for the bin dividers.

In the upper right bin in the medicine cabinet I added a bin divider so I could separate out my small things. Now it’s infinitely easier things without dumping out a whole container or dismantling a stack of crap.

Then, because my medicine cabinet was so much easier to use after I added the Home Edit bin organizers, I decided to do the same thing to my second medicine cabinet, which is in the wall behind my bathroom door. For this one I used bin organizers (and a divider for one bin organizer), plus some other pieces. First, a before and after for the secret cabinet:

Starting from the bottom shelf, I’ve added the Hair Accessory Bin with Sliding Tray, then on the next shelf I have one of the Tall Bin Organizers (filled with hair ties and clips) and the Mini 2-Drawer Organizer. The third shelf has one of the Tall Bin Organizers with the divider insert. (The bag hanging on the door is for my used cotton rounds, I wrote about them here. That’s just a Command Hook stuck to the door.) I am so thrilled with how it turned out. Now I can see my stuff, get to it easily, and the whole look is cohesive. I’m sorry I doubted The Home Edit’s Container Store line. It’s easy to make fun of a business created by already wealthy people who cater to wealthy people, but no matter how you feel about their business, the product is legit.

If you’ve made it this far, you are a passionate organizer like myself, and to reward you for your perseverance, I’m going to add a few tips:

If it’s at all possible, I recommend buying all these things in store. It’s easier to visualize (no one will judge you for laying out a bunch of crap in the aisle of a Container Store, it’s to be expected!) but also because you can do quality control. The first drawer unit I picked up was broken - the frame part was loose. It still worked, but I wouldn’t have known it was defective unless I picked up another one and wiggled it around to see how it fit together. Then I made sure to get two drawers that were solid. You can also check for scratches.
Acrylic is durable, but it can scratch or get hazy over time. Also, these are not dishwasher safe! I didn’t wash any of these when I got them home, but I wasn’t putting food in them. If you’re organizing a fridge and plan to put food directly in the bins, HAND WASH. Also, get some specialized acrylic cleaner. I have this spray, which has always been all I’ve needed, but you can get a little set of the three step system at Container Store while you’re getting all your organizing bits. For reference, I bought the spray to tidy up my Muji drawers, and I have had to use it once. This is not a material you have to maintain regularly, but it’s nice to have the tools should you need them.
You may have noticed this was not an inexpensive endeavor. It was more expensive than I expected, and I went in knowing it was going to be spendy! Like I said, you can get plastic organizers at Home Goods, for less money. BUT, you can’t guarantee they’ll have what you want and that everything will match. It was worth it for me to save up and buy the high end version of what I wanted one time. I won’t have to replace this stuff, I can repurpose it if my needs change (those Muji drawers that held makeup at my old apartment hold batteries and charging cords now). I would much rather spend more money to buy something once, but I do recognize that that is a luxury. If you’re milling around The Container Store, I highly recommend checking out The Home Edit range, and don’t forget, there’s no rule that says you can’t use a fridge organizer to hold your bras.

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