In a year when taxes are on the rise and so many people live on so little, it’s helpful to find inexpensive ways to organize. Giving up organization is not an option, so for my last January organizing resolution I’m going to give you some budget friendly organizing ideas.
#1 Baskets, bins & boxes
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a basket junkie. I love baskets and I use them to organize every closet, in every room of my house. Baskets can be very pricey but since I use so many of them I have found lots of places you can purchase them very inexpensively. The Dollar Tree has tons of baskets for a dollar or less, and even if you don’t live near a Dollar Tree you can order them online! Here are just a few of the great baskets they sell there.
IKEA also has lots of budget friendly bins and boxes.
Click here to see all of them.
#2 Free organization
If you don’t want to spend any money to organize, you can make your own! Here are a few great ideas for making custom organizing bins using cereal boxes and cans!
Source: Cheerful Heart Mom
Source: The Creative Imperaive
Source: Shabby Chic Inspired
#3 Build your own
Often times the answer to organizing problems, is simply that you need more space. Furniture and closet organization kits can be pricey which is why sometimes it’s more cost effective to just build your own.
In our home we build things all the time because we want to save money. Here are my 2 favorite custom organizing solutions:
My daughter’s loft bed. There is tons of storage in the stairs and she even had her own Princess Dress closet inside the playhouse!
My desk. I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted in the stores so I designed this desk to give me tons of extra storage, and my husband built it for me.
Oh and for the record, my husband is a banker, not a construction worker… SO if he can do it you can too! {wink}
Here are some great ideas for creating more space in your closets. All of these plans {and many more} are FREE and available at Ana-White.com.
Find this plan here. Estimated cost $20-$50.
Find this plan here. Estimated cost $20-$50.
Find this plan here. Estimated cost $20-$50.
You can see that organizing doesn’t have to be expensive and anyone can do it! Even if you only have a small budget you too can have an organized home! Hit up your local Dollar Tree, 99 Cent store, or even the grocery store and let your creative organization juices start flowing.
I would love to hear your creative, inexpensive organizing solutions, so if you have a tip please leave me a comment!
To view my other Organizing Resolutions click on the links below:
* How to Organize Paper Clutter
* How to Organize Kids’ School Work
* Teaching Kids to Clean and Organizie
I have been organizing my sewing space. I’ve gone around my house taking all kinds of boxes and things I’d normally throw away, covering them with gift wrap using spray adhesive, or also contact paper. I used oatmeal containers, shoe boxes, small packaging boxes with the flaps cut off. I even used a one-pound butter box, reinforced with cut off flaps from the other boxes, and made myself pencil holders and one for some of my sewing tools. If my husband stands still too long I may even cover him in some paper!
Haha! That’s awesome Amber! I love hearing how many things you’ve been able to repurpose, I would never even think to use a butter box, that’s genius!
I love all your organizing tips!! I’m getting ready to start organizing my office and two closets. I’m definately going to try the repurposing box idea and have been saving Cereal/shoeboxes/tea boxes/ect…. Can’t wait to get started next week!
I have a questions….I have all my paperwork from when we bought our house many years ago. The paper is 8×14. I’ve tried to think of how I can store it, but have come up empty. Right now, I have it in the file folder they gave me on a shelf, but I don’t like the way it sticks out. Any ideas??
Hello, for the papers that are to long, maybe rolling them up and using an old tubular shaped container. A round oatmeal container or paper towel roll. This idea just popped into my head. 🙂
My husband is in the military and we move every 1-3 years I love to organize but don’t want to spend much since we’ll be moving again soon, so I use repurposed packaging. It’s free and I can recycle it when we move into a new home with different needs. Some of my ideas are here: http://organized31.blogspot.com/2012/07/organizing-my-kitchen-with-repurposed.html?m=1
I made my own “baskets” from cereal boxes and wrapped them in srap fabric. I use them in my crafting desk. It was AWESOME to be able to lay out what I wanted in the drawer then design the boxes to fit perfectly. You can check out my post on that for pictures. http://justsaynotoglitter.blogspot.com/2012/03/organization-kick.html Love your blog! Today’s post was right up my alley.