3 Ring Binders

[3xMama]

DH has about 10-15 very large 3 ring binders from when he went through culinary school. He does not want to get rid of any of them, which is understandable. There is a ton of information in them not to mention hundreds upon hundreds of recipes. Never mind the fact that he's not used them since school...The thing is, I have no idea where to put the darn things. Right now they are sitting in a corner of DS1's room, half blocked off by toys. Its an eyesore, its been that way for over a year, its bugging the crap out of me and DS2 has started climbing-the last thing he needs to climb is a pile of slippery binders with socks on. But...I don't know where to put them. Our bookshelves are full and we can't afford another. Closets are full. DH wants them somewhere he can easily get to them if he decides he needs them. There's way too many to store in a cabinet in the kitchen. Is there something made especially to store those things in? Any ideas on where to stash them? 

[laohaire]

Under the bed?

Here's a total shot in the dark. There is a little machine called a ScanSnap. It's not that big, it's about half the size of a small printer. What this little baby does is let you feed it paper to quickly scan. It is a document scanner, not a high quality image scanner, but it's absolutely fine quality. It's quick - you just feed it one paper at a time, but it sucks it up and scans it in a few seconds and then you just feed it the next and so on. It will keep appending a PDF file as long as you want, so you don't have to stop and fiddle with anything, just feed the scanner. Obviously it would still be a chore that would take an investment of time plus it's a small investment (if you're interested, I'll look it up and give you a link so you see how much it is) but if you are interested in digitizing all your files (your bills, bank statements, you name it) it might be worth it to you. And this would meet all requirements - easy to get to, but out of the way.

[elsie]

I would buy a couple nice boxes from Staples and store them in that. If he hasn't needed them in a while, then they do not need to be at his fingertips at all times. I would put the boxes in a closet on a high shelf, basement or other storage area. If there are no storage areas, I would stack the boxes and throw a piece of fabric over it and call it an occasional table.

Also, even though he does not want to get rid of any, can he condense them at all?

[zebra15]

I have tons of DS's binders from classes he takes online.  We need to keep them as each class 'builds' on the last.  Math tends to do that - ya know.  His binders are stored in the closet, current ones on the top shelf for easy access, the older ones are on shelving in there.  Wire shelves that look like crates are doing the job right now.  I think wal-mart has them for under $20,00.

http://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-4-Storage-Cubes-White/dp/B000LRGV3W/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_1

[3xMama]

Originally Posted by laohaire 

Under the bed?

Here's a total shot in the dark. There is a little machine called a ScanSnap. It's not that big, it's about half the size of a small printer. What this little baby does is let you feed it paper to quickly scan. It is a document scanner, not a high quality image scanner, but it's absolutely fine quality. It's quick - you just feed it one paper at a time, but it sucks it up and scans it in a few seconds and then you just feed it the next and so on. It will keep appending a PDF file as long as you want, so you don't have to stop and fiddle with anything, just feed the scanner. Obviously it would still be a chore that would take an investment of time plus it's a small investment (if you're interested, I'll look it up and give you a link so you see how much it is) but if you are interested in digitizing all your files (your bills, bank statements, you name it) it might be worth it to you. And this would meet all requirements - easy to get to, but out of the way.

Unfortunately, there is no under the bed. Our bed frame is solid around the outside, otherwise I'd have a ton of stuff under there! I like the idea of a ScanSnap, I'll look into it more. 

Originally Posted by elsie 

I would buy a couple nice boxes from Staples and store them in that. If he hasn't needed them in a while, then they do not need to be at his fingertips at all times. I would put the boxes in a closet on a high shelf, basement or other storage area. If there are no storage areas, I would stack the boxes and throw a piece of fabric over it and call it an occasional table.

Also, even though he does not want to get rid of any, can he condense them at all?

I will talk to him about condensing them. He probably won't want to though because its all sorted out by class and food type and whatnot.  But I can try! I like the idea of the boxes though, we could use an "occasional table" anyway, so to combine the two would work well for us.
 

Originally Posted by zebra15 

I have tons of DS's binders from classes he takes online.  We need to keep them as each class 'builds' on the last.  Math tends to do that - ya know.  His binders are stored in the closet, current ones on the top shelf for easy access, the older ones are on shelving in there.  Wire shelves that look like crates are doing the job right now.  I think wal-mart has them for under $20,00.

http://www.amazon.com/Whitmor-4-Storage-Cubes-White/dp/B000LRGV3W/ref=pd_sim_sbs_hg_1

Thanks! I will look into it a little more, but I don't really have someplace to put an item like that. 

Thanks for the replies! I appreciate it!! 

[Ellien C]

Containerize and stack! They don't need to be handy, like in the kitchen. If DH balks, he can go through them and condense to 1 handy reference that needs to be READILY available. No one has space for 15 3 inch binders.

[SomethingAnonymous]

I agree- if you don't have space, you don't have space. It sounds like you have run out of storage space. The only solution then is to get rid of things that are less meaningful or useful to keep the things you really want.  Otherwise you'll have to move to a bigger place, live in a crowded house, or spend money every month renting a storage space.  None of those options seem that appealing to me.  Maybe you can get rid of something on the bookshelf?  Or the scanning idea was a good idea. Maybe ask him to go through them and just look at what he has. It may be less important than he remembers. That often happens to me.

[Ellien C]

Be careful on that, though. Hoarders tend to "re-bond" with their stuff if they go through and touch it. He may look at those books and start thinking how valuable they are and how much he ought to use them. I'd stack them out of the way (or in HIS way) if it were me.

[3xMama]

Originally Posted by SomethingAnonymous 

I agree- if you don't have space, you don't have space. It sounds like you have run out of storage space. The only solution then is to get rid of things that are less meaningful or useful to keep the things you really want.  Otherwise you'll have to move to a bigger place, live in a crowded house, or spend money every month renting a storage space.  None of those options seem that appealing to me.  Maybe you can get rid of something on the bookshelf?  Or the scanning idea was a good idea. Maybe ask him to go through them and just look at what he has. It may be less important than he remembers. That often happens to me.

We have run out of storage space but I am devoting this next year to seriously decluttering and reorganizing my house. Unfortunately in this situation, DH's two things he won't let me get rid of are books and anything pertaining to his culinary training. I don't really have any books I can get rid of because he wants to keep them all (he dreams of having a huge library someday) so no space on bookshelves. So that's why I wanted to post this and ask for other ideas because I had nothing. :) I did have him go through it already and he just spent about 2 hours in recipe bliss, lol!

Originally Posted by Ellien C 

Be careful on that, though. Hoarders tend to "re-bond" with their stuff if they go through and touch it. He may look at those books and start thinking how valuable they are and how much he ought to use them. I'd stack them out of the way (or in HIS way) if it were me.

Just to be clear, DH is NOT a hoarder or even close. Cooking is his passion. Out of everything in the house, I could probably get rid of just about anything and he wouldn't care. Except anything pertaining cooking. Its not only his job, but his hobby and his passion. 

[hopefulfaith]

If they're that important to him to keep (physically) - and he won't go with the scanning/PDF file idea - then I'd make it as 'pretty' as possible.  I'd get nice-looking binders and a bookshelf to fit.  I did this with some binders of mine that are important to me (and that I don't want to scan/save on a thumb drive).  Scrapbooking companies make nice looking binders that you won't mind having out in public view, for what it's worth.

I'm a compulsive declutterer - I get the need to not have a bunch of unused school papers/binders hanging around! - but this was my solution when I decided that I needed to keep my materials in paper form.