Taking care of a beloved family pet involves owning pet toys, pet food, crates, beds, and other animal accessories that quickly seem to multiply and create clutter in your home. But there are ways to tame the pet-related clutter!
If you feel like your pet’s stuff is creating chaos in your home, check out these tips for organizing pet supplies.
How to Organize Pet Supplies
Now, let’s take a closer look at how to get your pet supplies organized.
1. Designate an Area of Your Home for Storing Pet Supplies
Organizing pet supplies is much easier if you can manage to keep everything more or less in one place. In my home, it’s on a shelf in the laundry room. Use a basket for storing pet brushes, grooming supplies, and other miscellaneous pet stuff so you always know where to find it.
And before you start tossing things in your pet supply basket, make sure they are all things you actually need. Take a few minutes to declutter when you start.
If you’re holding on to a puppy collar your dog has outgrown or a leash you never use because it’s too long, for example, toss or donate those items. Make sure you keep only the things you actually need and use for your pet.
2. Pet Paperwork Folder
It’s a good idea to have an organized system for storing the vital documents of all your family members and that includes your pets. Medical information, vaccination records, licensing and microchipping information should all be stored in a safe and accessible location.
Include contact information for your veterinarian and the nearest emergency vet clinic with your paperwork. In the event of an animal emergency, you’ll be glad to have everything stored in one place.
I keep our pet paperwork in a folder in the basket with the rest of our pet supplies. But you may want to store yours with your family paperwork or in some other location. Just make sure anyone who cares for your pet knows where to find it.
3. Organizing Pet Supplies for a Walk
Regular exercise is an important part of looking after your pet’s health. For most dogs, that means a daily walk. When it’s time for a walk, you don’t want to spend ten minutes looking for your leash, pet waste bags, or anything else you need for an enjoyable walk. So get those walking supplies organized.
The best place for leashes and pet waste disposal bags is right near the door. So that when it’s time for a walk you can grab everything and go. If you leave the house by way of a porch or laundry room, a basket near the door is an easy place to toss pet walking gear and grab it as you leave.
If there aren’t any shelves near your doorway, consider setting up a walking station. For example, a coat hook near the door can be used to hang a leash and a roll of waste disposal bags. Take a look at your entryway and find the best location for organizing pet supplies and storing them for a walk.
4. Pet Food Storage
Pet food can be an organizing challenge. It’s something you want to keep sealed for freshness. And something you want to have tucked out of sight. But in some cases, the bag of pet food is bigger than your actual pet.
Fortunately, there are many storage containers designed specifically to hold pet food. In my house, we have the pet food in a large storage container on wheels. We roll it out for refilling as needed. Otherwise, it slides right into a spot in the laundry room next to the vacuum.
It’s important to note that larger bags of pet food are not always cheaper. So when you’re organizing pet supplies you don’t necessarily need to have a huge amount of space for pet food storage.
Do a little math to see if buying the jumbo bag is actually saving you money. If it’s not, you may have an easier time storing two or three small bags of pet food.
Generally, the bag itself is not ideal for storage. They often spill and are hard to fit anywhere. Shop for a tub and lid the right size and shape for storing near your pet’s food and water dish.
5. Pet Toy Basket
Pet toys are my personal pain point. No matter how many times I put my dog’s toys away they are soon scattered throughout the house again. Here are a couple of tips for organizing pet toys.
The first step is to declutter the toys. Pets need mental and physical activity but that doesn’t mean they need thirty different toys. Take some time to declutter your pet toys. It’s better to have five to ten great toys getting lots of play than to have dozens scattered throughout your house your pet never touches.
Once you’ve narrowed down your toy supply to the best and the most loved, find a hard sided basket and designate a corner in your home for your pet’s toys. It needs to be a basket your pet can reach into for their toys. But also one that fits in your home where it is accessible but out of the way.
Then get in the habit of picking up and tossing the toys in the basket throughout the day. Once it becomes a habit you will find yourself tripping over scattered squeaky toys and balls less often.
What’s your number one tip for organizing pet supplies? Share your tip in the comments!
