Organization vs. Clutter

After several years of leading I have accrued a lot of STUFF!  From crafting supplies to office supplies, organization has been a challenge.  I grew out of my coat closet and into the garage.  And while the bin system in the closets in the garage seems to work well, the amount of materials and supplies I am lugging to and from the school has increased as the girls age.  I have recently noticed I have started a new system without really trying. A few years back I purchased large tubs often seen in the garden area of Wal-Mart or Target in the spring.

I use the tubs for collecting left-over Halloween candy that my girls send to the American Soldiers serving overseas every year.  For the longest time the tubs were just stacked in a pile in the corner of the garage, but more and more I have used them to help transport supplies.  I can put a lot of things in a tub and I can easily pick up the tub with the handles.  The tub also serves as a trash can when needed at meetings.  Plus, the girls have identified the tubs as the place to return supplies after the end of the meeting and they are more inclined to help pick-up when they know where things go.  So I throw in my baggie of scissors, baggie of markers, baggie of glue sticks, construction paper, pipe-cleaners etc, whatever I need for the day and load the tub into the back of my car.
TIP:  Initially I was really bad about unloading my tubs.  I would get home from a jam-packed meeting around dinner time and rush into the house to make dinner and before you know it 2 or 3 days have passed and the tub is still full.  Often times I would go to load in my Junior stuff and find the Brownie stuff from the previous week.  So, I now make it a point that the bins have to be unloaded before I can go back into the house after a meeting.  This system has really cut down on the amount of GS stuff coming into my house and sitting around for a week or so.  After time all this stuff can begin to clutter your every day living space.  This system requires some what of a commitment, but now I feel really organized. The tubs are especially helpful for Thinking Day too.  I can load a lot of heavy stuff in the tub and make it into the building in one trip!  Plus, the tub stores nicely under the Thinking Day table or off to the side.  It's great for additional storage at Thinking Day too.