As a professional organizer, I admit that I love organizing products. I confess that a stroll through The Container Store makes me drool. There are many beautiful and functional organizing products available today, and I love them all. However, if you don’t have either the time or money to buy a bunch of products, don’t despair! A lot of my favorite tools are items you probably have lying around the house. They may not be pretty, but they can function very well. Here’s how to get organized cheaply by using recycled materials.
First, here are a few general principles to keep in mind when choosing items to reuse.
- Only use what can be thoroughly cleaned. You don’t want to smell old milk in your drawers!
- Square trumps round, especially inside drawers and square spaces. Stick to using jars and round containers out on surfaces.
- Go for sturdy over pretty. Tools which are flimsy just don’t work well.
- Fit the recyclable to the need, not the other way around. Before you go fishing in your recycle bin, identify what you need.
- When possible label containers so everyone knows what should (and hence what shouldn’t!) be kept inside.
- Select materials that are in good shape. Tears and breaks won’t serve you well in the long run.
Are you ready to get started? Begin by identifying an area to organize, such as a pantry, a drawer or deep shelf. Empty the contents, wipe the area clean, and sort through the pile. This is the time to get rid of what you no longer want! If you are struggling to decide what to keep, ask yourself some key questions to help you figure out what to do. [Note: if you are still struggling, contact me and I can help.]
You should now be looking at a collection of items that you want to put back into the space you emptied. In order to get (and stay) organized, you likely need to subdivide the space by adding structure to keep things in pace. For instance:
- A deep shelf benefits from smaller containers that can be slid forward like drawers.
- Drawers that house small items need shallow containers that can fit inside.
- Tall spaces need structure to help you take advantage of the vertical space.
- Loose items often need some sort of physical limit to keep them for scattering or coming undone.
When you subdivide, you give yourself the ability to assign a very specific home for each item. This is where the recyclables come in. Gather your items as you want them to be stored in your container (drawer, shelf, etc.). It’s a good idea to take a few measurements, both of the space, and of the size containers you might want to find. Now you can go hunt around to find containers and tools that you already have in your home, including in your recycling bin.
Here are a few ideas to inspire your planning.
For subdividing a large space or deep drawer:
- Shoeboxes or other cardboard boxes (remove the lids and flaps)
- Cell phone boxes
- Boxes from books of checks (for any who still have these!)
- Milk crates
For inside shallow drawers:
- Lids from boxes
- Small boxes/cereal boxes (cut them down to size…)
- Egg cartons
- Altoid or other mint containers
- Swiffer floor wipes plastic boxes
- Old ice cube trays
To hold small items on a shelf:
- Baby wipes boxes (if you have any lying around from days gone by)
- Large plastic containers with screw on lids (e.g., mixed nuts from Costco or specialty rice)
- Old plastic ice boxes
To hold round items (e.g. headbands, bracelets) :
- Pringles® style potato chip cans
- Old soda bottles
- Oatmeal container (bonus: you can store other items inside as well)
A few other tips:
-> Original containers (e.g. the box of trash bags) work well as a “drawer” on a shelf.. just remember to cut/tear off the cardboard lids.
-> An empty tissue box can be tacked to a wall/cabinet door to hold plastic grocery sacks.
-> Old buttons can be great for keeping earring sets together, especially for travel.
-> Old plastic bag closures (e.g. from a loaf of bread) can be used to label cords or mark the edge of a roll of tape.
-> Rectangular boxes (e.g. from aluminum foil) can work well for storing spools of ribbon (again, tear off the lid).
-> Toilet paper rolls or old tall socks, cut lengthwise, work as a clip to keep wrapping paper rolls from unfurling.
-> Old cardboard wine cases (with the dividers inside) can be turned on their side, put on a shelf and used to store items such as yarn or electronics cords.
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The possibilities are endless, so get your creative juices flowing. For more ideas, check out my Pinterest page on Organizing with Recyclables. Recycled materials are a perfect tool to help you quickly and affordably bring function to your space. If beauty is important, you can always cover recycled supplies with fabric, rope, or contact paper. Furthermore, once you are organized, you always have the option of investing in new organizing products. Now you will have a clear idea of exactly what you need.
Have an idea not listed above? Please share it… I’d love to learn from you!
I use distilled water every day for a medical device (CPAP), so I slowly but routinely end up with a perfectly clean, empty plastic gallon jug. I cut them just below the handle and use them in my refrigerator to corral like items: snack-sized cheese…packages of pre-shredded cheese…yogurts…condiments…butter… fresh fruit…fresh veggies…frozen fruit…frozen veggies…frozen meat, etc. Once in awhile I’ll buy milk in a similar, smaller (1/2 gallon) plastic jug. I cut the top off and use those for things like ketchup bottles that are designed to be stored lid-down so they squirt easier. The containers fit in the fridge door and keep the bottles from tipping over.
Love this idea for using the water and milk containers, cut down, to corral items. Perfect example of using what you might otherwise toss into the recycling bin to get organized. I think I’ll take your idea to make one for my refrigerator door to keep the condiments from falling over. Thanks, Hazel!
My favorite recycled container is a baby wipe carton. These are easy to clean, easy to label, and easy to stack. I have used this container for all sorts of small items, especially for first aid and make up.
I used baby wipes containers all over my house back in the day. Seems like many of the moms of littles today buy wipes in plastic “bags,” so not sure if they are as easy to come by. They were sure great, though!
These are fabulous ideas, Seana! I have used the baby wipe boxes in the past. They are so nice and sturdy – plus they are easy to label.
Indeed! I still have baby wipes boxes in my home, more than 30 years later!
I think I’m pretty good at repurposing stuff as containers, but you’ve offered a lot of suggestions that never would have crossed my mind. Thank you!
Currently I have an empty box from freezer bags (from which I’ve removed the top) in a kitchen drawer, and I use it to store empty bread bags so I can use them to store veggies and other items in the fridge instead of buying even more plastic bags.
Boxes are super easy to repurpose, and so handy inside a drawer. Love your tip for storing bread bags so they can be reused!
Oh, I love the cookie tray idea. I’ve never thought of that! It would work great for a drawer that gets light use because they are not very sturdy. I love to use what the client already has, especially if they are looking for function over form.
The cookie tray is particularly good for a very shallow drawer, such as for makeup. For those crazy drawers that are like 1″ deep. Agreed that they aren’t as sturdy, but again, they get you organized, and then you can take time to shop for something that might be sturdier.
I have used many of these, but I see some new possible ideas for when the time comes. I still have some glass baby food jars that are used for paperclips and screws. I also use greeting card boxes in my desk drawer. I love the idea of repurposing what we have.
Greeting card boxes are a great idea – nice size and typically quite sturdy!
Cell phone boxes, particularly Apple boxes, are the best! They are sturdy and neither too deep/high or too shallow/low. They are perfect for the fiddly things in your desk! And I miss checkbook boxes. They started making them more and more flimsy and now just attach them to sheets of thick folder paper, eschewing the boxes altogether. Sigh. The trick with egg cartons is to use the paper kind, not the styrofoam kind. (The latter squeaks in the drawer.)
My favorite recyclable item is part of a gift. Every year for my birthday, an old friend sends me 50 individually-wrapped Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar packets from a Vermont dairy, Dakin Farms. Every March, a large cardboard box arrives with a styrofoam cooler inside, then inside packing paper there’s smaller cardboard box, and inside THAT you find the cheese in a smaller, lidless cardboard box. The big box gets used for donations; the cooler gets used and passed along to whomever can keep using it. The smaller interior box is great for inside deep drawers, and the cheese box is ideal for organizing small, fiddly things in the fridge.
I like how you use old ice receptacles! And to go along with the cookie sheet talk, if you’ve got old ones that aren’t warped but aren’t as nice as the new ones, they work great in deep pantry shelves where you’ve put other containers that are too small to work as drawers. The cookie sheet pulls out, like an oven rack, to give you access, but it’s low profile means it doesn’t take up undue space!
Great idea about the cookie sheets in the pantry!
Agree on the styrofoam egg cartons.. they do squeak! Of course, they aren’t the most environmentally friendly anyway, so cardboard wins over all I guess. There is also one brand that comes in clear plastic, which I have to admit would be good in a drawer. I always like clear. 🙂
I’m loving this gift from Dakin Farms. Sounds like a winner gift in many ways. Maybe a few of my friends & family will be getting one of these come the holidays.