Welcome to Day Twenty of the 31 Days of Organizing Tips series! I'm so glad you've joined me. Throughout this series I'll be sharing organizing tips that will help you on your journey from overwhelmed to organized. I'll include lots of pictures and links for ideas that I've found around the web that relate to the topic each day. You'll find a complete list of all the posts in the 31 Days of Organizing Tips tab above, or at the end of this post.
Today's tip is to use everyday household items for organized storage alternatives. I've had several comments about how the cost of storage containers can be overwhelming. It's true, you certainly can spend a lot of money buying containers. But, you don't need to. There are lots of ways you can use or cheaply adapt items from around your house to help you get organized!
Here are a few of my favourites. Click the links below the pictures for more details, pictures and tutorials. And please remember to pin these pictures from the original source.
1. Screw jar lids to the bottom of a shelf for lots of great storage for little items without cluttering a flat surface. You can save jars from pasta sauce, jam, and pickles or you can look at garage sales and thrift stores for deals. Or look on Freecycle for mason jars like I did!
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| Mason Jar Storage Shelf Tutorial |
2. Take a soda can box and turn it into a soup dispenser. You can stack them and they look pretty. No more messy cans falling over in the pantry :)
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| Souper storage idea |
3. Use old boxes to create your own magazine holders. In this tutorial a shipping box is used but you could also use a cereal box.
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| How to Make Magazine Storage Boxes |
4. Instead of recycling your ice cream containers, use them for storing stationary items. We use souvenir cups from amusement parks or baseball games too. You're helping save the environment and getting a pretty pencil holder!
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| Cheap Stationary Storage |
5. Use items you already have in your house such as an ice cube tray for a desk organizer.
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| DIY Organizers [Update: this post has been removed] |
Here's another example using ice cube trays as jewelry organizers.
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| Organizing Drawers {Sorry the link is no longer working} |
6. This one isn't really a container but I still think it's a great DIY organizer. You can make your own belt hanger by screwing hooks into a pants hanger.
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| Bedroom Organizers |
Update: I did a whole series on DIY Organizers a few years after this post was written. Check it out here!
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| 31 {Cheap & Easy} DIY Organizers |
There are LOTS of other DIY storage options out there and later in the series I'll highlight a few more.
For Day Twenty, take a look through your house and see what you can find that can be used to help you get organized. See what's in your recycling bin. Check your cupboards for things that you can use when they are empty instead of throwing them out. Be mindful of how items can be used for organizing and soon you'll find all kinds of ideas!
{Note: If you're getting overwhelmed with all the ideas in this series, please understand that is NOT my intention! :) This series is designed for me to write every day for a month, not for you to completely organize your house in a month. That thought overwhelms me! So, feel free to skim and pin/bookmark these tips now and then come back later when you're ready to tackle a particular organizing project. I'll add a button or tab to the blog at the end of the series that will make it easy for you to find all the posts. Hope that take some pressure off!}
Tomorrow we'll continue with tips for organizing other spaces in your house. I look forward to going through this series with you and hearing your tips too!
What household items have you used to organize? What's the best organizing tip you've implemented?
Have a great day and happy organizing!
Here are all the posts in the series:
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