I’m A Container Store Junkie

It’s no secret. Well not on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. I love The Container Store. What I love even more is taunting my friends Melisa, Tarrant and Denise with my trips to the store via photos on Instagram. I even purposely tag them to the photos. Let’s explore why I love the Container Store shall we? Before I continue, the picture above has two things that I love. Those ridged buckets can be used for storage OR ice buckets during parties, and those plastic bins on the bottom are what the little ones have to store toys in. They need bigger ones. No, this is not a sponsored post. It should be though. I’m just saying. I’m like  Melisa with Teavana. 

It’s a store I’m sure a kid that loves school supply shopping came up with, but for their future selves. Honestly, what is not to love about being organized and it being CUTE? There is something to be said about having loads of things to organize, and being able to find them all. I also think that secretly, I’m in love with it so much because this is the type of store that my sister Jessica and I could have and would have spent an entire day in. Yes. One store. Dreaming of places to put each and every single item that they had, or better yet, planning our newest Elfa organized closets. 

You see, my sister was a natural organizer. So much so, that people from church hired her to organize their homes. I was lucky enough to get it for free. During one of her visits to my apartment in Waukesha, WI before she passed away, I left home for work to a house that only reflected the cluttered mind of a new mom (and now my house reflects the cluttered mind of a mom of four – and a wife – and a work from home mom, but I digress.) and didn’t think much of it. I mean, I would get back to it when I got home, or at least on that weekend, right? The surprise was on me. When I returned home 8 hours later, not only was my home spotless – and I mean it, she vacuumed and polished, and everything – but it smelled good, and I KNEW where everything was because she found a spot for it all. And it worked, magnificently. 

Unfortunately, my sister did not pass on her ability to organize well to me. She and I DID share a love for pretty things that were also functional. I know if she were alive today, we would be the decorators of the new house. Mr. Houseful would give the blessing and we would be off checklist in hand. I know that organizing my pantry closets would be a priority, and I know that she would give a nod of approval for this Elfa door or wall organizer. We would however have a deep discussion on whether to get white or black, and exactly how many of the baskets are too many. It’s just how we rolled. 

 

The next thing that we would do is get to organizing the room of her nieces and nephews. By the way, she’s only met one of her eight (I have half of them – go figure) so she would probably end up spoiling them rotten. I’m sure that the twizzlers and the ladybug would have been able to talk her into large bins to store their favorite toys, and she would have been able to talk them into actually USING those bins to house their toys properly. It was the charmer in her. I’m sure the ladybug and Lil Miss would have complained that there are no ladybugs on any of these bins, and Jessica would have stepped right in and encouraged them to find another animal that they loved, and all would have been right in the world. 

 

THEN we would move on to my office space. Creating a space that didn’t smell, and that moved fluidly from one wall to the other. I’m still not sure on the desk set-up that I would like, but I know from experience that I love the Freshwave line and have been using it for a couple of months now. I take the spray with me when we travel out of town and use it in hotel rooms that may smell more like other families than I want them to. I’m due for a refill of the Crystal Gel ASAP. Looks like I’ll be spending some time there this weekend.  

 

I also know that with this venture, we would have found a way to pack up this house in a much faster time. Not because Mr. Houseful doesn’t help – he does – but he works out of the house the majority of the week, and I know that the stars would have aligned and had my sister on leave from the Navy right at the moment that I was moving, so that we could spend a solid two days super packing and laughing. Because that’s what we do! Seriously though, dry erase tape. Why haven’t I thought of this? 

 

Just for kicks and because it would make us giggle uncontrollably, I would have purchased this laundry basket. Mostly because I would be buying it as an homage to the Saturdays that my sister and I spent at the laundromat when we were younger while my dad and brothers cleaned up at home. My mom earned days off because she had four of us to contend with, and if we’re feeling feisty we’ll kid her about not having to do laundry for at least a 20 year time span. 

 

Last but not least, we would sit down, in my perfectly organized home, and make homemade extracts for all of those people in our family that pretend to love to bake, and those that really do love to bake. She’d trick me into baking her something as payment, and I’d pretend to be tired. She’d roll her eyes and call me by my middle name, and threaten to undo all of the good that she just did. I’d turn the oven on. While whatever greatness was in the oven, we’d go and wrap presents with the help of the trusty wrapping station that was on display. It would be snowing, and Mr. Houseful would think that we were mad. We were the gift wrappers of the family. Often looking in magazines (which was OUR google back in the day) for inspiration on wrapping styles. I remember doing some accordion thing and getting into big trouble for using way too much paper on one gift. Ah, good times. 

 

While the Container Store may just look like a regular old place to buy organizational products from to you, to me, it holds memories unrealized.