Liquor Makes Organizing Quicker 3

Okay. That title caught your eye. But it’s true! Give me a minute and you’ll see what I mean.

It seems starting every January, all the store circulars and ads are promoting products to help you organize all your crap junk clutter things. They advertise plastic storage totes, boxes, bins, baskets, and bags. Shelving units, crates, containers, and cubbies – everything you need to get your home or business space organized. While these products certainly do the job, and many of them look nice doing it, they are an added expense you probably can avoid as a small business, ecommerce shop owner. That’s where the liquor part comes in…

No. I’m not talking about drinking liquor to make organizing quicker, I’m talking about the boxes liquor is delivered in. Yes, those boxes that are free, offered in abundance, and are readily available. All you have to do is go to your local liquor store and ask for boxes. Oh! And the boxes can be customized, too! More on that below…

The Boxes

If you are an ecommerce small business owner who stores inventory until it sells, these boxes offer a HUGE benefit – especially for small to medium sized items.

• Low-sided boxes can be used as “trays” to hold small, similar items and keep them visible on a shelf. Because these boxes are just like a tray, they also make it very easy to place and pull items when stocking or shipping. They are also heavy-duty boxes that don’t fall apart easily.
• High-sided boxes without a lid act as a deep bin-like box for holding larger items. Again, they are sturdy boxes that will hold up very well over time. Without the lid, it’s easy to place and remove items from the box.
• Covered boxes – either the kind with flaps that close, or the kind with removable lids – are great for seasonal items or fragile items. Since these types of boxes have a lid, they can easily be stacked while in storage. They also keep dust and dirt from accumulating on stored items.
• Wood crates are the Holy Grail of storage boxes! These boxes are more difficult to come by, but if you have a liquor store near you that specializes in wine, make sure to ask about the wood crates. Some of the crates you’ll find have lids, others don’t, but because the boxes are made of wood, they stack very well and they look good, too!

Storing the Boxes

Of course you need a place to store the boxes. Shelving units, old bookcases, or even shelves hung on the wall are all ways to store boxed inventory. You can often find free or low-cost shelving units or shelves through your local Freecycle, ReStore Shops, Facebook Groups, and Craigslist.

If you have limited space available for your inventory, convert a hall closet into your storage space. Simply place a shelving unit in the closet, or hang shelves from floor to ceiling to store your boxed inventory.

Another place to store boxes when you have limited space is UNDER things! Place boxes under chairs, benches, counters, beds or benches in your living space. If the boxes look nice (see the customizing paragraph below) they will fit right into your decor and no one will know they are boxes of inventory for your business.

Organizing the Boxes

Okay, so now you have all these great heavy-duty (free) boxes, and you have a place to store the boxes, but how do you really organize them? One way to organize the boxes to make it quick and easy to find the contents is to color code the boxes. For example, yellow boxes are used for vintage ephemera, green boxes are used for vintage jewelry, red boxes are used for knick knacks – you get the idea. To customize and color code your boxes, use colored duct tape! Put a strip of colored duct tape across the front of the box, then write on the tape the category for the products the box contains – i.e., “Jewelry”. At a quick glance, you’ll know the color of the box you are looking for, then it’s just a matter of reading the label on the box. There are SO many colorful choices of duct tape available now, that you’ll be able to get those boxes organized and looking cool very easily.

Customizing the Boxes

If the boxes you’ll be using need to be stored in a visible area of your home and you don’t want your guests to think you’ve consumed all that liquor (LOL), you can customize the boxes even further than just using colored duct tape. Here are some ideas:

• Paint – Paint the boxes to match your decor (either spray paint or craft paint). Metallic paint, such as silver or copper, looks great in any decor.
• Contact Paper – Cover the boxes in inexpensive contact paper. Even if you use all white contact paper, the boxes will look uniform and will fit with whatever your home decor colors are.
• Fabric – If you have lots of vintage fabric scraps laying around, use a spray adhesive and glue the fabric over the boxes. TIP: Vintage sheets and pillow cases are perfect for covering boxes.
• Rope – Cover the boxes with rope to customize them. Using a thick white rope or thick sisal rope and a hot glue gun, you can wrap the box in no time! Just lay a bead of hot glue along the bottom edge of the box to start gluing down the rope. Continue gluing and wrapping the rope around the box until you reach the top edge. Cut the rope and you’re done! TIP: To prevent the rope from unraveling or fraying when cutting, wrap the rope with clear packaging tape in the area you are going to make the cut.

So there you have it! How liquor can make organizing quicker!

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

• Sources for Free Boxes – In addition to your local liquor stores, there are many other places where you can source free boxes. There are generally lots of offers for free boxes on Craigslist. Check in the FREE section (which can be found under the FOR SALE category). Grocery stores usually have a lot of boxes that they are happy to give away. Produce boxes are the best, as they are heavy duty and are made to be stacked. Discount stores, such as dollar stores, are also a good source for free boxes.
• Alternate Ideas for Shelving Units – If you don’t have shelving units, or cannot find free or low cost units through the sources mentioned above, another idea is to look for free lumber that can be cut to size and laid across boxes to form your own quick-and-easy shelving unit. The sources mentioned above (Freecycle, ReStore, and Craigslist) often have free building material that you can pick up. For a really quick shelving unit, place two sturdy boxes on the floor, then place a board across the boxes to form a shelf. Add two more sturdy boxes and another board and repeat until you have shelves in the height needed. Instead of using boxes, you might be able to find free cinder blocks to use as the shelf supports. Another alternative to shelving units is to use a bunch of cardboard boxes (without lids) to form a shelving unit. Place similar sized boxes together with the opening facing outward to form “shelves” or cubbies, then clip the boxes together using heavy-duty binder clips, or use heavy-duty clear packaging tape to tape the boxes together.

Do you have any tips for organizing your shop area that you’d like to share? Post a comment below.