This week, Stephanie dives into her favorite products of the year. As a certified professional organizer, Stephanie shares her top 10 products that have either changed her perspective or have been consistently effective in her organizing work. From versatile bins to space-saving storage solutions, Stephanie covers a range of items that she has found invaluable in helping people create efficient systems in their lives. Whether it's for the garage, small living spaces, hobbies, the kitchen, digital organization, or other universal needs, Stephanie provides insightful recommendations for products that have stood out in 2023.
In this episode we talk about:
- Must-Have Items for a Clutter-Free Space
- Tried and trusted products we found during this year
- Recommendations for products of good quality and practicality for reuse
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Review the Transcript:
Hey organized and productive listeners and community. Welcome to our next episode here of the podcast. I'm Stephanie, your host, and welcome. If anybody is new welcome, I'm so happy that you're here. Today we are talking all about my favorite products of 2023. But more specifically, the you know, I'm not, I'm not in the business of influencing you to use a particular product. I'm actually the opposite of that. I am a CPO, Certified Professional Organizer. My whole goal and my values lie on making sure that that whatever systems you use are optimal to how you lead your life like he's had doesn't have to be with a product, I am also not married to one particular product or brand, I actually make it a very strong point to not be influenced by that because I never want that to be the reason that I suggest a product to you, or don't suggest one at all. So this list is all about my favorites that either are new to me this year that I have, like changed the way that I think about something, or I've been using through and through. And they just made the list again this year. Okay.
So these are all products that I use in the organizing world, whether with my clients or myself. And there's just happened to be my favorites for this year. So let's get to it. Welcome to the organized and productive podcast with organized Flamingo. I'm your host, Stephanie, a professional organizer and productivity expert, ready to explore the right organizing and productivity solutions for you. Yeah, well, then let's go. So in typical format, I like to give you a table of contents, if you will, so that you know what's coming for the episode. So for this year, I've got 10 products that I'd like to highlight. And these are in no particular order. So I've got the 10 that I'll talk to you about. I've got them labeled and organized in the typical area or spot that you would normally like use them under or in. But some of these products that I'll talk about it when I talk about each of them can be used in multiple rooms, it just happens to be the you know, I'll I'll kind of name it off based on the area that you would normally use that product in. And but again, these can be interchanged for different things. And I'll talk about that. And there's 10 total. So let's go first one is going to be bins and the bins, I actually didn't put them under a space because you can use bins wherever. And my favorite bin for this year, there's actually two.
One is the black bin like the black and yellow bins at Costco, I'm not going to name the brand because each region area changes a little bit. Right now I think they've got a consistent to Maker production company that makes them but it's not always the case. So I just don't want to name off that brand. Because if you listen to this a couple months later, and they decide to use a different brand than it won't be the same and you will be looking for something that doesn't exist. But basically the black and yellow lids, their black bins and then yellow lids from Costco. If you don't have a Costco membership, or in your region, you just don't have one at all. Really, honestly, most black bins with the yellow lids are really good. And I recommend them for multiuse. But here's what I want you to look for, which is why I like the Costco ones, the food grade because they can be interchanged for so many different things.
You can put your food in there, you could you know, if you go camping, you can use it to organize your stuff in your garage, just the critters will be less likely to get in there because they just the material is a little bit hardier. They're meant as food grey types, so you can use them in your kitchen in your restaurant. There's just so many uses for these. I'm also a big proponent of purchasing items that are of good quality. And if they're priced, right, that's a big bonus but good quality so that if you need to resell it, or reuse it or give it away to somebody else, there's still some life in it. And it just doesn't end up in the landfill right away. And so these types of bins tend to be in that in that category where they can be just used and reused. I've had I've had some my own personal ones for years. So you know highly recommend them under the same category of bins and bins that I would recommend Are any of the clear totes that already have the lids attached to the bin. Costco happens to have some as well but they don't have to be from Costco. Several stores carry these. I love them because you don't have to lug around the lid. You know so many lids get lost this way. So I'm a big proponent of any of those clear bins that you can just fold they have two sides of a lid and then you could just fold them in. I will say that the reason I have two bins this year is because these types of bins that I just talked about that Have more of the hinges and you close in and out.
They're not as weatherproof or critter proof if you will, because there's gaps in the hinges of the lids right they don't just snap on the way that the other more conventional one lid and it just has a snap on the sides type of bins do these will inevitably have more cracks that the elements can get into. So that's why you just want to make sure you have two types of choices. But what I love about this is if you have the type of space where you're always losing bins or you need a little bit more wiggle room because some of your items are taller and you can't close the lid and so then some of you will put the lid to the side and then it gets lost this way you can play around with the items inside the bin. If you can't close it, that's okay you're not going to lose the lid. So that's what I want to give you two types of options this year. A product that I really would recommend and that I you know you could check out and see which one works for you. Our next section here is the garage and or shed or any space where you keep your sporting equipment and more specifically, there is a product a bike pulley product that we ended up using this year that I absolutely loved it we use it on a personal basis I have seen it in clients is spaces as well. So I can attest that other people have used it as well but we installed it for ourselves and I love it. It also goes in line with going vertical I'm always talking about use your vertical space don't just think about shelving and the floor think about what can you hang from your ceiling or roof or top areas. Of course making sure that you have you can do that and you have the space and the sturdiness of of the walls and the ceilings to do that.
But always think vertical like can you hang something can you take something from the top and then that way eliminating having to put clutter the flooring space in the shelving space So always think vertical if you can and this is one of those products that covers that space. We are using it for two adult bikes and three adult bikes excuse me, and they're wonderful. They've they've stood there for a couple of weeks now I have seen it in other clients as house where they used it for adult heavier bikes and it worked great. So this police system that I have in the shownotes is the one that I'm recommending for this year. Okay next up in the small spaces RV living room or anywhere you want to maximize the space category is our two items.
One is this automatic storage that is collapsible, I'm sure maybe you've seen them around. But this one I got at The Container Store you if you don't have a Container Store, you can also get one at Amazon. But this one in particular I loved because I think they've started they've perfected I just remember getting some of these Ottomans in the past and they were very flimsy. You couldn't even stay sit on it. And I think they've just they've been perfecting their formula on building these types of Ottomans and I'm very happy with them this year. We I used him for a client where we set his RV up and it was great because it's lightweight. So you know heavier furniture in RV is not always great because you have to lug around your RV or you have to pull it so the more weight that you add to the RV, the less efficient it will be so you really do want to keep it as lightweight as possible but yet sturdy. And this Ottoman fit that category and also they could just put like you know extra stuff in the in the storage area because it's a sit down like an ottoman type of sit down.
They come in single squares or rectangle like a little bit bigger. So they come in different sizes and it was just wonderful because then you can also collapse it when you're on the road you can put it away so it's up to you. A lot of uses with this automate. I'll put it in the show notes. I got mine, the one for this client at The Container Store. But I know there's a few variations of it on Amazon and other websites as well. And then the second one under the same category is a shoe holder for this one we got from IKEA but you can again get it for most places. Now I will say that this shoe holder cabinet is the plastic type. It's very lightweight. I've only been able to see it like here. I don't know if they have a patent on it or something but the only one that I saw that was this lightweight and didn't get like the lids didn't get stuck was the one at IKEA. And so you can put it wherever to store your shoes.
And it's very slim. It's very thin, so efficient with space you can put it in hallways and areas like those. And so this shoe Holder was my favorite. Again you can use it you can get it at different places. But when it comes to whether RVs or small spaces you want to think about the efficiency of the space and how much the item actual actually weighs. All right, so let's move right along to hobbies. And this one item I really enjoyed. We've we've personally been using this item I've seen it been being used in different ways. But the puzzle storing system like a place where you can store your puzzle pieces, when you're not working on the puzzle, I loved them, I really thought it was a very like now the felt like they come in different sizes. And I just think there's just more variations to them. And again, kind of like the ottoman, I think this is a product that has been gone has gone through different reiterations. And this year, or as of lately, those products just seem to be better. And so I think for all of you who have hobbies, like puzzles, like you're like to build things, and you need to put them away, at the end of the day, or at the end of whatever you're working on that item I think like a table like this, that you can put something over it like a map or something like a cover over it and you can safely put it away so you can come back to it whenever is a great system to help you stay organized.
And you're not just having to always have to like put everything away at the end of the day and then not know where things are or you're using random places or you're occupying, you know, different boxes and things in little pieces get lost. I think this is this type of table is really good for Legos and puzzles and arts and crafts. So you just put the cover over it, put it away, it's very sleek, very thin, so it fits under, most like under like most furniture pieces like if you need to put them away for the evening, under the coffee table or wherever it may be. All right, we've got three more areas to cover with four products. First is the kitchen for the kitchen. My favorite product of this year was the M design. Standing the stackable bottle storage rack. It goes by different names. But basically it's this organizer where you can organize all of the those around, drink like containers. So water bottles, you can do you can do wine, you can put them in the fridge, you can utilize it for almost anything that's round, the drinkable kind of containers that are always running around and like in your cabinet.
Loved this product this year, there are different variations of it online, different makers make this so you will probably need to play around with the type of product that you like and would be best for your cabinet. But the reason I'm highlighting em designs is because it was the sturdiest. And for me that's really important for clients. Because well, you don't want things to be wobbly or feel like it's cheap material, you know. So this was by far the the kind of the best product for the price and for most cabinets. Now let's shift over to the digital world, though digital side of organizing. And I'm going to highlight one particular set of products that I really enjoyed and would recommend, there were my favorite for 2023. And that's the Google workspace lineup of family of products. Very important here. I do work with different types of digital spaces and products and platforms. Microsoft Office, Google workspace, some clients have their just have their own. And so I'm familiar with the you know, the popular ones out there. But the reason I'm highlighting the Google products is because they're really doing a good job with linking each of their products together so that they work. Even for even with people that don't have the platform.
So you tie like your spreadsheets together, or maybe your Word document to another, the Google Sheets or for your notes page, right. So they all can actually interchangeably work together, you can link them together. I used it a lot to organize my podcast actually. So I loved it. I loved using it for my own personal preferences. But I really do think that they've done a great job of tying all of their products together. And it's accessible to those that don't necessarily, you know, have the paid version. So somebody that just uses the regular Google free account, can use it as much as the person who uses it for business and pays for the for the workspace and for the business platform side of it. So I love any product that allows people to use it regardless of if they have a paid version or not.
So for me, Google just has done a really good job with that. I'm not recommending it now. But I do want to say something really quick that I'm not just recommending it because I'm in the referral program. I actually became I got into the referral program because I liked this aspect of Google. So really for for this, the digital product recommendation is really, for me, it's just all about accessibility, and making it available to anyone and everyone just regardless of what type of device that they use. Regardless of, you know if they're due if they have a paid version or not, so that to me is really important, especially in the digital world that it's accessible to all as much as possible. So good job for the Google products. That is my preferred one for this are the 2023. And going into 2024, under Project Management, and digital organizing. Remember, they
do have everything from Google, like Google Photos, where you can store or you can store your digital files as well, not just photos, but like your digital files.
So you can use it for files for work like spreadsheets, and they got their docks and so the list goes on. But you can they have, you don't have to use them all. And you can also use them independently of each other. All right, so under the category of other and just very universal type of products that I would recommend and wear my favorite for this year are. One is the acrylic tape that I've actually talked about this product for many, many years. It acrylic tape is a double sided tape that you can use to tape things to things to things to walls to do you know physical products, physical places. The reason I like this acrylic tape is it's the one that is most versatile, depending regardless of where what temperature you're using it in. So you know, if you're especially in Arby's, or maybe in garages, or places where the weather fluctuates a lot, this type of acrylic tape is great. So if you it's more I prefer this one more than your typical double sided like three M type of tape. Sorry, three M, I know you have a great product and love your hooks, but your tape, oh man, the one that comes with the hooks. Not the best, not the greatest.
So I really prefer the acrylic tape, I have a link in the show notes where you can find that different brands have it available. But it's just dirtier and it's easy to peel off to and weatherproof. So it's a win win for me. So that's one of my favorite products. And I know it's not technically an organizing product. But it is because if you're you know you're adhering things to the walls or the you know, you need it to like your hooks and to organize some of the products that you use to organize. So it's kind of like related, so that's why I put it under the other category. And for the last product, it's these extra large storage bags. I've actually been using these bags for numerous years. If you're following us on Instagram, I've talked about these bags for many years now. It's these oversized moving bags, they're technically I guess, they are known to be used as moving bags.
They're heavy duty, they're like square rectangle really big. And they just have become more mainstream. And people have used them a little bit more for multiple uses, uses like storing things, not just carrying and moving things. But these have been my favorites for a long time. Because they're sturdy, they're reusable, they're easy to clean. I've just had really good luck with them. My clients have loved them, when they move they get them they're very lightweight, they're multifunctional, usable, so they can use them for sporting events. But then if they need to move, they just use these bags. Also for our viewers, it's great because you can fold it on like storage bins that you know, they take up more more room, they're sturdy, you don't like heavier, they're not really collapsible. And then also remember how I said earlier than in small spaces and or like RVs weight has a lot to do with it like weight in the space. So these are just lightweight, you can just fold them and put it away in a cabinet and then then take them out when you need them. So these extra large storage bags, they're waterproof. They're just really sturdy. The thing that you want to look into is that the seems that the stitching is really well done. That's kind of one of like the secret sauce, if you will of these types of bags versus other type of like plastic tote bags.
Okay, so these are some of our favorites that really stood out in 2023. That if you'd like to try out or you are in search or need of maybe look into these and see if they would work for you. If you have a product that you want us to try. You haven't yet you've heard things about it, let us know. I'm always trying out things for clients. And for people in the community. Like if they say, Hey, have you used this? And if I haven't, I will put it up to the test and let you know what I think so if you have a recommendation, let us know send us a message at Hello at the organized flamingo.com. You can also head on over to Instagram, the socials, all the things and reach us there. So with that being said, we're off. Until next time. Thank you for listening to the organized and productive podcast with the organized Flamingo. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love it if you'd leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. It helps with letting people know that we're here. For full show notes and resources head on over to the organized flamingo.com/ This podcast Have you organizing.
