I don't know about you, but when the cleaning bug hits me, it hits hard. My husband knows that when I get that look in my eye, he had better 1) help me or 2) get out of my way. When I casually mentioned to him over the weekend that I wanted to do some spring cleaning, he looked at me warily and asked, "Today?" "Oh, sometime this week," I said breezily. The relief on his face was palpable.

Having four people living in an 800 square foot apartment is no easy feat, especially when half the family is under the age of 3. My motto is that whenever something comes in, something needs to go out. This morning, I set out to go through the living room bookshelf to discard, rearrange, and donate a lot of the clutter. In our living room sits one of these handy IKEA monstrosities, of which 90% of New Yorkers probably own as well.

Measuring 72" x 72", this storage system packs a lot of punch. Unfortunately, it also permits for a lot of clutter. Every member of our household has at various moments stashed items behind a neat set of books, hoping that no one will notice. Usually when something is missing in our home, it's hidden in the abyss of the IKEA bookcase.

In anticipation of spring cleaning, I picked up 9 clear plastic shoebox sized bins. These boxes became my best friends as I happily placed stationary, stamps, glue, paints, stickers, and beads in their appointed, contained places. Clear plastic bins are a crafter's lifeboat.

New Yorkers need to be storage geniuses to make use of the small space we have. And crafters in NYC have an especially burdensome task. Some great stores that can help us make the most of our space are:

The Container Store
IKEA
Target
Home Depot

What's your favorite organizational system?

Karina Glaser

WindowsOfAgate.etsy.com