Use Space You Already Have

• What: Storage bins that fit standard bookcases
• When: Birth and beyond
• Why: Fits on standard shelves, affordable
• Where: Amazon

I don’t know about you, but I owned bookshelves and IKEA furniture long before my kids came along. Instead of ditching everything I already owned and buying new furniture for storage, I thought I’d get some cute bins and stick them on the shelves I already owned.

RiverRidge Kids 2 Piece Soft Storage Bins

It turns out furniture companies aren’t exactly on board with that idea. The first bins I ordered online fit okay, but didn’t use the shelf space very efficiently. It only got worse from there, until I started resorting to the actual cubes you see everywhere – for a reason, as it turns out. Bins come in extremely handy for storing everything from pump supplies to blankets, clothes, and more. Once your kids get bigger, keeping toys corralled in bins keeps you from losing the last bits of your sanity.

I have a pair of bins on the bottom shelf of the bookcase in our living room.

So when I discovered these shorter square bins that fit on regular shelves, I stocked up. I have them in the living room on the bottom shelf of the bookshelf. That makes it easier for me and the kids to reach stuff down there. And we can pull out a bin and play with the toys, then toss everything back in and put it back on the bookshelf. I didn’t have to move my belongings on the higher shelves, since they remained out of reach of grasping little hands.

They fit like a charm on the shelves of our Besta storage unit as well.

Most bins are too tall to go on a bookshelf. My non-adjustable bookshelves measure anywhere from not quite 10.75 inches high to about twelve inches high. Even at 12 inches wide, they don’t fit a standard 11 inch cube. I searched high and low until I stumbled across this brand online, and I’ve never looked back. They measure 10.5 inches by 10.5 inches square and another 10 inches high, and fit perfectly into that shelf space. In other rooms, these bins slide in the IKEA Besta storage unit. I’ve tossed even more toys in there.

These bins fold flat when not in use.

Like most cube bins, these cubes fold down flat when not in use, so they can be stored and not take up extra space once you rearrange, outgrow, or finally break down and invest in some larger cube shelving.

One of these bins is three years old and one is brand new, but you can barely tell the difference.

Only one of my bins has bit the dust, and that’s because my eldest, now seven years old, fancied the bin as a chair (or something?) and sat in or on it regularly. It finally gave up the ghost and the handles ripped. For the price point, I can’t complain about how much use we got out of it, especially since I went straight back to my order history and got two more. They come in sets of two in sixteen different colors and patterns, so they fit in with the decor of most living rooms, bedrooms, nurseries, or any other space.

After a lot of daily use and abuse, including my kid storing himself in this bin, it finally broke.