Whenever you look up ideas for organization online you are bombarded with pristine images of plastic organizers, wicker baskets, acrylic cubbies – all very expensive and made from resources that take a lot out of the earth.
A fantastic alternative to buying brand new organizing supplies it to check your local thrift store! It’s amazing what you can find there: totes, baskets, drawer organizers, magazine holders, clothes hangers, and various shelving units. It becomes a fun kind of scavenger hunt to see what is available every week, if you’re not under a time constraint that is.
If you’re more of a creative type, check out these 12 DIY upcycled organizing ideas for your next organizing project!
1. Mason Jars as… Pretty much anything
I LOVE mason jars and I use them for so many different purposes. And rather than buying new ones, I use old tomato sauce jars! I haven’t found a way to get rid of the tomato smell in the lid however, so for now I am buying packs of metal lids that come in a cardboard box. You can also use old peanut butter jars (which are fantastic because they have a wide mouth opening and are lighter than glass), jam jars, olive jars etc.
Some organizational uses for them: pantry storage, BYOC bulk shopping, pen cup, toothbrush holder, storage container for nuts/bolts/screws etc. The possibilities are endless!
2. Cracker/Cereal Boxes for drawer organizers
I did a junk drawer organizing workshop last year and we made junk drawer organizers out of old cracker/cereal boxes and decorated them with scrapbooking paper!
Cracker and cereal boxes are great because they area easy to cut up, and they are the perfect size to fit pens, scissors, and other items. All you have to do is cut off the excess that you don’t need, leaving the section that already has glued seams as your organizer! Feel free to decorate as you want, or leave them plain.
They may not work for cutlery and food related items, as they are not as durable as plastic or bamboo, and are also not able to be sanitized, but work great for other drawers!
3. Shoeboxes + Twine = Wicker Basket
Wicker baskets can be very pricey! Instead, if you have a couple hours to spare (honestly, that’s how long it took me to do it – I watched a movie while constructing), try making your own!
Grab a shoebox, hot glue gun, and a roll of twine. Start at the bottom corner, put a dab of glue to affix your twine end, and then continue gluing and winding the twin around the box until completely covered! If the box is a bright colour, consider gluing some brown paper to it first so the colour does not show through the box.
4. Cardboard boxes + contact paper = decorative basket
If wicker isn’t your style, try decorating cardboard boxes with adhesive contact paper or scrapbook paper to create pretty storage baskets for your space.
5. Wooden crates as bookshelves
Wooden crates are amazing! Some you can find vintage, some you may have inherited from family members, or nowadays they have them available at Home Depot or Michaels for craft purposes. However you get them, they are fantastic for making shelves with. They are solid, and you can construct your shelving unit as high and as wide as you want. If you want to make it more stable, use screws or clamps to keep them together. This kind of shelving unit is customizable, unlike conventional shelving units, making it more useful during different stages of your life.
I have used a bunch of crates to make a desk for myself. I use the crates to hold up a tabletop: they are great for holding binders and other office supplies, but they are also very handy for when you move – they become packing boxes!
6. Good-On-One-Side (GOOS) Paper for notepads
I keep a stack of paper that was printed on one side either accidentally, or from papers that I no longer need. Sometimes I will use this paper to print out informal documents and use up the other side of the page, but I also cut up these pieces of paper into quarters and make notepads for grocery or to do lists! You can staple them together to make a notepad, or keep them loose.
7. Broccoli Elastics as labels for jars
If you are like me and love to use mason jars, broccoli elastics make great labels for spices or other items that are hard to tell apart. The elastics are wide, making them difficult to use like a regular elastic, but because they are wide it makes it easy to write on when wrapped around a jar! Just be sure to turn them “inside out” so the brand or label on the elastic doesn’t get in the way when you are writing on them.
8. Large tin cans as utensil holder
Similar to mason jars, large tin cans can be a great option for storage. Because they are opaque they are not necessarily good for food storage (unless there’s a label on it), but can be great for storing large items like kitchen utensils, knitting needles, hairbrushes etc.
9. Muffin trays as drawer organizers
Do you have more muffin trays than you know what to do with? If they can fit in your drawer, they are a great storage option for junk drawer items like elastics, paper clips, and push pins.
10. Ice cube trays as earring storage
Similar to muffin trays, ice cube trays are great for storing small items like earrings, but could also be used in a junk drawer!
11. Old spice rack = nail polish shelf
If you have a huge collection of nail polish, try using an old spice rack that you don’t need anymore to store them so you can see you entire collection at once!
12. Cereal boxes = Magazine Holders
You can get plastic, metal or cardboard magazine holders, but why not try making one out of an empty cereal box? All you need to do is cut a corner and top off of it off to make a wide enough opening to fit magazines, papers, and folders. And feel free to decorate if need be with scrapbooking paper!
