Storage Cabinets

Archive for April, 2010

Our garage is a mess! The last house we lived in, there was no garage. So we were excited when we moved two years ago into a larger house with a garage. How wonderful for winter weather! We would not have to go out and defrost and clear the snow from the car. How wrong we were! Last year we were dumped on with snow, the worst winter in decades, and our car was outside in the driveway. What about our garage? It was a being used for storage, both organized and unorganized.

We really did try to organize our garage. We built shelves along the walls for boxes and plastic totes. Along another wall we had some metal shelves for home business items. There was also a work bench to keep tools organized with a cupboard above it that came from the kitchen remodel. But everything was still a mess, there just wasn’t enough room. The motorcycle was in the garage, so that was good, but it took up floor space requiring the rest of the garage to be even better organized if we hoped to fit a car in as well. Also, we were sloppy recyclers. We were really good at recycling milk jugs, cereal boxes and cardboard, but for some reason people just opened the door and threw it into the garage to be gathered and taken to the recycling center once a month. I know that we had recycling bins at one time, but who knows what happened to them?

So enough was enough, we did not need another winter with our car outside. My husband is a “do it yourself” kind of guy, which is really great, but we needed some help to get our garage organized, something that didn’t cost a lot of money. We did not need the fancy large cabinets that are really nice but out of our budget. Also, it is the garage, rough built shelves worked great, we just needed creative ways of finding more space.

With a little research, we discovered some GREAT garage organizers to help us get more out of our limited space. Obviously, this was a universal problem that someone had put a considerable amount of thought to and had done something about it! There are many different items available to hang most anything on your wall or ceiling.

If you have wall space that is not used up by shelving, you can get some great wall garage organizers. They come in different forms, but are basically like a peg board or wall slat system that is used in department stores. Once you have the wall system in place, you can purchase different types of brackets, hooks and shelves to fit most any need. There are hooks for hanging gardening tools to help organize your rakes, hoes, shovels, etc. There are special shelves and baskets available to fit other sporting goods or other miscellaneous items. You can get large hooks specially designed to hang bicycles or garden hoses, or really small bins for organizing different hardware items such as screws, nuts and bolts.

Now, I don’t really have much extra wall space for special hanging needs, though I could used some of these specialty hooks to help better organize some larger tools and bikes. And such hooks are available without having to purchase an entire wall system. Perfect for what I need.

The main accessible space that I have is the ceiling and I discovered some really neat systems to hang items. Some garage organizer systems are full metal shelves that hang. The shelf can come in varying sizes and depths. Sizes can vary from as small as a 2’ x 6’ to as large as a 4’ x 8’, with drop down depths varying from 12” to 45”. These shelves are perfect for seasonal items such as camping supplies. Some shelves, such as I have described, you have to access by ladder, other systems are available that work on a pulley system for easy access.

Another great garage organizer system that I found was tracks that hung from the ceiling. The tracks have an “L” shape. You position two sets of tracks the distance apart that you need so that you can hang plastic totes between them. For us this is perfect. All of our Christmas supplies are already kept in green plastic totes. We just hang the tracks 30” apart, label our totes and hang them by their lips on the tracks! Economical and we can keep using storage container that we already have. Also great for hanging plastic file containers. After all, where are you supposed to put those files that you are encouraged to keep for seven years? Many of these systems also come with special hangers for bikes and ladders.

Well, it did not take too much to get our garage organized. After all, we had been trying but were short just a little space. By using garage organizers to better organize some wall space for those awkward items like large tools and ladders, and then ceiling space for specialty items that only need to be accessed seasonally really helped. Though I have to say, that my favorite garage organizer gadget is my bike pulley!

MJ Marks
http://www.articlesbase.com/diy-articles/my-garage-is-a-mess-but-what-are-my-options-in-garage-organizers-702050.html

No medical practice can run in a state of chaos. How can you treat a patient if the last time you saw their file it was in the clinic kitchen, next to the peanut butter? Aside from the confusion it causes, there are also legalities to consider. Patient privacy is one of the last bastions of trust people can believe in. That trust must be maintained through careful handling of sensitive patient information.

If your practice is large enough to have a central filing room, like in a hospital, open shelves and a locked door are usually sufficient. Though once a doctor checks out a file, that locked door is no longer enough. Offices should be equipped with cabinets that have sliding covers that can be locked when you are not in the room – either out with a patient or gone for the evening.

Comprehensive charts that incorporate codes and colors are ideal for grouping files together. Yellow for oncology, red for “contains x-ray” – these are little ways to make file retrieval more efficient for yourself and your clerical staff. It also helps you note at a glance if an item or bit of information is missing from the chart. X-rays are best kept in special envelopes that prevent bending and creasing, and that can be easily attached within the patient chart.

Wall mounted chart holders by your exam room door allow for your clerical staff to leave the chart handy for you as you move between patients. In addition, once you are done with the file, leave it in the pocket for your assistant to complete and re-file.

Storage of small equipment, such as syringes and scissors, as well as pharmaceuticals, is another consideration for clinics and hospitals. As with patient charts, items like needles and drugs need to be kept under lock and key for safety reasons. Most of the time drugs are locked in the pharmacy in a steel cabinet. Yet in a hospital, nurses may go from room to room dispensing medication. For that moment when his or her back is turned to deal with a patient, the integrity of the remaining medications must be maintained. Multi-purpose carts with a locking option can provide that integrity and peace of mind.

Hospitals may use the color system to differentiate their medicine storage carts from their crash cart or isolation cart, making it easier on orderlies in an emergency. Slotted cassette carts are used for moving multiple x-ray and CT results from the radiology department to nurses’ stations. Stainless steel carts insulated to contain heat or cold are necessary for food delivery in an in-patient environment. Stainless steel surgical carts ensure that a surgeon’s equipment is organized and at hand when needed. And because it is so easy to clean and sterilize, stainless steel maintains the sterility of surgical equipment.

There is so much more than just pens and clipboards necessary for running an efficient medical practice or hospital. These are just a few examples of items that can improve the way you work and provide a simple, safe and efficient environment for all your staff and patients.

Stephen Lamb
http://www.articlesbase.com/self-help-articles/keep-your-practice-organized-through-proper-medical-storage-equipment-670982.html

Do you look around your house and feel unsettled? Can you relax in your home without always feeling like you have to tidy up? Are you constantly looking for items you’ve misplaced?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then it’s time to reduce the clutter in your life and get organized. If your house is on the market, reducing clutter is the first step in staging a home for sale. After all, you’re selling a product and you want it to look its best. If you’re not selling, getting organized will just make you feel better, more relaxed and content with your surroundings. It will give you the feeling of being in control of your world. Life’s events will not feel so haphazard and random.

I can honestly say, I enjoyed my last home the most when it was up for sale. Everything was so clean and I was never apprehensive about letting friends see behind closed bedroom or closet doors.

Getting organized in all areas of your life will make you a happier person. Today, let’s start with your house and see how you can reduce clutter, step by step.

Kitchen:

Countertops are valuable work areas, don’t fill them up with things you don’t use on a daily basis. I don’t know about you, but I hate preparing a meal in a messy kitchen.

Find a spot for everything so you’ll know where to look for it.

Organize items in your drawers and cupboards with dividers. You may want to store your utensils in a caddy instead of trying to make them fit in a tray.

Use shelf hooks to hang measuring cups, and install pull outs to get to the back of your cupboards.

The kitchen seems to be the easiest place to dump your mail, purse or other personal items. Each day, make a habit of clearing off the counters by the time you’re ready to sit down for dinner.

Get rid of items you have duplicates of, or that are rarely used. Store those once-a-year items such as canning pots or Christmas cookie tins on a shelf in the basement or the back of a cabinet.

The Dreaded Mudroom:

Line a wall with shelves with coordinating baskets to hold all your stuff. Label the baskets so that you know where to look. Neither you or your friends should enter a room that looks like it’s been hit by a hurricane.

Assign a basket to hold things you don’t want to forget as you rush out the door, such as letters to be mailed, grocery lists, library books or school packs.

Get decorative hooks to hang coats, hats, keys, purses, dog leashes, etc.

Find an easy way to keep all the shoes in one place. If you have a bench, you may want to store them underneath on a tray. The wire mesh, tiered stands also work well.

The Family Room:

Consider how the room is used by all family members and plan the best ways to organize based on this. For instance, in addition to TV watching, this may also be the area for video game play or doing crafts. Find a cupboard or storage solution for all your activities.

Just as in the mudroom, line shelves with labelled storage baskets or boxes to hide your video games, movies, magazines, etc. Go through your magazines, keeping only one or two issues. Rip out pages you want to keep and store in a separate file.

Sneaky storage containers can be hidden behind a couch or big chair. Large hampers or baskets are attractive and store toys nicely. Coffee tables or ottomans with lift tops are also great for hiding stuff.

The Bedroom

Get a laundry hamper that should be filled with that day’s laundry by the end of every day.

Store seasonal clothing in clear plastic boxes under the bed. They work even better if they have wheels.

Blank walls are perfect for shelves for all those smaller items that soon overflow from nightstands.

If the same items are being piled up each week, you need to create a permanent home for them.

In kid’s rooms, use labeled baskets, hooks or wooden cubbies, installed at their height, to store items. They’ll put their things away if it’s easy to do.

Give them a place to do what they enjoy. Create activity centers such as a craft table with storage for glue, scissors, paper, etc. If they enjoy painting; set up an easel with paints, paper and drawing books nearby so that everything is ready to go when they are, and equally easy to put away.

Make sure your children understand where things go so that they can be responsible for tidy up.

The Bathroom

Tidy your linen closet and medicine cabinet for expired or unused items.

Store similar items in small baskets in your drawers. For instance, a make-up basket, first-aid, hair products, etc.

Where you’re not using baskets, use acrylic separators to keep items in place.

Place a roll of paper towels, a container of treated cleaning wipes and toilet cleaner in every bathroom for quick clean-ups.

Lauren Kline
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/get-organized-and-feel-great-748098.html