Organizing Board Games & Puzzles
When your lacking storage space, simple solutions are the key to staying organized. Episode 30 of The Intentional Edit Podcast has two solutions to organize and store all of your family board games, puzzles and card games. Once you organize like this, you will never have to worry about pulling from the bottom of the stack and having everything fall over again.
Listen to this episode of the Intentional Edit Podcast now!
These are the zipper pouches recommended in the episode.
Full Episode Transcription:
When you’re lacking storage space, simple solutions are the key to staying organized. Episode 30 of the intentional edit podcast has two solutions to organize and store all of your family, board games, puzzles, and card games. Once you organize like this, you will never have to worry about pulling from the bottom of the stack and having everything fall all over again. Hey friends, quick tips that make a big impact in your daily life are my favorite ways to implement systems around the house. I’ve been sharing easy strategies and my go-to organizing products for tip Tuesday on the intentional at Instagram feed for a few years. Now I’m excited to bring it to the podcast with short episodes, answering your questions every Tuesday. If you want me to answer your questions, go to the podcast page on intentional, edit.com and submit your questions there. Let’s get started on this tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast.
(00:52):
Hello, welcome to episode 30. One of the intentional edit podcast. It is a tip Tuesday episode, and today will be answering a question that came in from a listener before we get started. I want to mention two things. The first one is just a couple days ago. I started a Facebook group so that we can interact with each other and I can easily answer your questions. I want it to be a community where you can post or struggles or concerns your questions about decluttering and organizing. We will get some people to join where you want to have a community with each other and can help and share what has worked for you or how you can relate to the same struggles and the same overwhelming things that are happening. I am going to be in there often answering your questions and mess messages and concerns and help you find solutions for whatever is going on.
(01:47):
We wanna solve your problems. You are on Facebook, head over there and search for the group that is specifically for the intentional edit podcast listeners. It is called declutter organize and create systems to simplify your home and life. Head on our, over to Facebook and look for that group. I’ll tell you one more time. It’s called declutter organize and create systems to simplify your home and life. There’s a couple quick questions to answer, and I will accept you into the Facebook group so we can start a little chatting back and forth. And I’m looking forward to being able to communicate with you guys like that. Right now, click on the link to my website or type in on your browser. Intentional edit.com a little button pops up on the side, or depending on what phone you have, it will either be on the side or the bottom.
(02:37):
And it’s, I think should be in different shades of gray. And it will say record. Now, if you click that button, you can leave me essentially a voicemail with whatever question you have. Like, what are you struggling with? What are you overwhelmed with? What problems do you have in your home? What are you stressed out about with family? Life, home struggles, things like that. What do you need to organize? Where do you feel like you have too much stuff or you feel like you’re constantly purging, but there’s always more to declutter. And the clutter keeps creeping in, go over there right now, intentional edit.com, click on that button to leave me a message. Like it’s a voicemail. I want to answer your questions. The tip Tuesday episodes, just like this one, come from listener questions. And usually they’re submitted to me through Instagram, but I would really love it.
(03:29):
If you would go over and click on that button on my website, that is an easy way for me to pick one of those and answer it for the next tip Tuesday episode, let’s get in into today’s topic, which is all things, board games and puzzles and organizing that kind of stuff. Question that I’m answering today says, hello, Lauren, I discovered your podcast and am addicted to all the episodes and all the advice that is working in my home. Hoping you can help with this. We have a small home, only one closet that is not in a bedroom. It is the coat entry closet and a linen closet. I also have to store board games in there because my oldest two play with games and puzzles all the time, but we want to keep them on high enough shelves that the little buddy can’t get to them.
(04:15):
How can I keep them organized and not have boxes, opening and falling off the shelves? When they pull of the games from the bottom of the stack, causing things to fall out and make a mess, we are limited on space. So they have to go in this closet. Any ideas for game and puzzle storage. Thank you for submitting that question. And I do have a couple ideas. I have two ideas or two solutions that can work in just about any space and pretty much solve a, all of your problems for board games, puzzles, card games, things like that. First, I want to address that. I love this question for a couple reasons. One it’s very solutions based. You know what your problem is. You’re identifying the struggle with it. You know that because you are in a small home with limited storage, that these things have to go there.
(05:04):
And there’s a reason behind that. It’s not just, we always keep games in this closet. So this is where they have to go. You know that you don’t have any furniture or other places where they can be stored up high. And you have a little child that can’t have access to these small pieces. There’s thought behind where the things are being stored and put away. You’re looking for a better solution because it’s partially working. The area that you have determined is working and it needs to stay that way. But the actual way that you have these things organized and put away is not working. So let’s address that. The main issue is, is that the boxes are opening and falling off the shelves because the kids don’t always wanna play the game. That’s on the top. They pick one and it might be from the bottom or a, a stack of a few games games.
(05:55):
Don’t always come in the same size boxes. You pull one out, all of a sudden, then the stack is uneven and it starts to fall or a box falls and opens. And some of the boxes are flimsy and deteriorating and they don’t stay together. So you have pieces falling out. Then you can’t play the game. You have a lot going on here. And how do we solve that problem? The fur solution is so simple instead of looking at your board games and stacking them up from top to bottom right now, they’re going on your shelf. If, and think about it, you’re stacking them in a horizontal way where it’s one on top of another, on top of another turn, your board games. So that they’re up and down so that they’re now and put them on the shelf. Like you would store books instead of stacking them on top of each other, let them slide into the shelf so that they can, they stick out.
(06:48):
And if they stick off of the shelf, a couple inches, it’s okay, but now you slide them in and out like a book. So nothing is falling over. It. Doesn’t have the space to fall over it. It’s when they’re in there. One lined up after another goal after another, in this vertical organization, then they can just slide in and out. It’s super easy. You don’t have a lopsided pile that can fall over. That’s the easiest way. Sometimes you get a really awkward big board game that has a long box and it doesn’t fit on the shelf like that. So you end up with a couple that have to stay in that pattern where they’re stacked on top of each other. Instead it depends what side size games you have vertical is the first solution. And then if you have to have one area with a couple that stay stacked out are currently, that might help you solve maybe 85, 90% of your problem.
(07:43):
The other thing you can do, this is not my favorite solution, but if you are in a situation where you have very minimal storage space, this is a great solution that will solve your problems. Sometimes board games come in a giant box at is, and you look, and you’re like, oh, there’s a board in here. It folds up pretty small. It takes up a quarter of the box. And then there’s maybe some cards or some paper money and a few little pieces or figurines. And then there’s this giant box. Why do we need this giant box? It could come in a much smaller box. Some companies have started doing that. The last couple years, you can get board games in smaller boxes or tens. I love that when all of the games from the same manufacturer come in the same size boxes. And then of course you can easily stack those or they can easily fit on a shelf.
(08:31):
That would be great, but we’re not there yet. We still have giant boxes for some board games. And you have to deal with that. If you are lacking space or your boxes are pretty much demolished and not salvageable, because you are a family that plays with games and puzzles all the time, go online and you could find these on Amazon. I love the ones from the container store because the quality is a little bit better. Look for a search that is for zipper pouches. And it’s like a zipper vinyl mesh pouch. Usually I think at the container store, they come in three sizes. They’re usually white or clear, but not totally clear to where you see through them completely. And they’re very thick. So it’s like a quality pouch. That’s not going to break over time, take all of the pieces from your board game and the board lace them in the zipper pouch, and then either print out a label and stick it on the top right corner or the, in the same space on all the pouches, or take a Sharpie and write the name of the game.
(09:36):
You can also cut out the cover or a section of the cover that has the words for what the game is and place it in that pouch so that the kids can see through, see into what that game is. That’s a great way to organize when you are really lacking, because you can put quite a few like 10, 12 of the zipper pouches in a basket or some type of container where they can sort through those almost like a file folding type system where they’re or a file system, they can just sort through and pick out the game. They want put all the pieces back in the zipper pouch and put it away. The one downside to that is it’s kind of the concept like out of sight, out of mind, because when they’re in these upper pouches, all the games look the same. You don’t see them on a shelf and get excited about playing the game because you see the box and think that you want to play that one.
(10:33):
You have to be more intentional about going to play the game, but tons of people do this. I’ve recommended this and had people do this. And it works. If you search on Instagram or Pinterest, or just do a Google search for board game and puzzle organization, people organize like this. And because it saves a tremendous amount of space. If you, you do that with a puzzle, make sure you cut out the pu the top of the box, the cover so that you know what the puzzle looks like. You have to have that image so that you can put the puzzle together the right way. That is a great way. So again, get, get yourself a basket and search for those zipper vinyl mesh pouches. Make sure it does have of a zipper across the top. And it’s a sturdy pouch by all the same ones for your games.
(11:22):
Put them in there. We’re running out of time because it’s a tip Tuesday episode. It’s supposed to be quick. The one other thing is smaller games like UNO and other card games that come in really small containers. You can just put all of those in a bass, then they’ll stay nice on the shelf. You just grab the basket and pick out which deck of cards or which small game that you want. That’s helpful. If you have travel size games too, some type of basket or plastic container will work. Perfect. Small games like that, just to recap, vertical organization is my number one solution. Have your board game slide in and out of a shelf like books instead of in a stack that stops them from toping over the second solution would be the zipper vinyl mesh pouches. So you can store them in a basket that saves a huge amount of space.
(12:14):
You can store a lot more games in one place and for smaller, tiny games, travel size games and puzzles that are very small or just card deck size, put those in a basket or a bin all to themselves. They can just be placed in there. You can grab the one you want. Thank you for submitting that question. I hope that those solutions work in your coat closet, linen closet and game closet. If you have a question for me, please submit it. Like I said, at the beginning of the episode, head over to intentional edit.com, click on the button that says record now and leave me a message just like you would leave a voicemail for a friend, submit your question or call or whatever you wanna say. And I will help you find a solution and problem solve on the next tip Tuesday episode or a future tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast. Don’t forget if you are on Facebook search for my new Facebook group, it is only a couple days old. It is easy to find if you search declutter, organize and create systems to simplify your home and life. I look forward to chatting with you over there. Thanks again for listening to another episode of the intentional edit podcast.
(13:28):
That wraps up another quick episode of a tip Tuesday. If you want to be featured on intentional edits, tip Tuesday, go to intentional, edit.com, click on the podcast page in the menu bar, and then scroll all the way down to the bottom. You’ll find a button that says record, tap on that and record your question or share what is currently overwhelming to you. What is going on that you need help with? I want to know I needed to know your struggle so I can share solutions to help you create simplicity in your home. If you are having this issue. I know other people are having it too, and we wanna help as many people as possible. Head over to the podcast page of intentional, edit.com and record your question for me there.
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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!
Intentional Edit participates in select affiliate advertising programs. If you click and/or make a purchase through certain links on this site or any related social media platforms, Intentional Edit may make a commission. All opinions are my own.
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I’m Lauren, and I’m passionate about being organized and efficient and making spaces beautiful at the same time. I hope to inspire you to live your best organized life.
