5 Cheap Organizing Ideas

As a single mom, I'm always looking for ways to save money.  As much as I could go crazy spending money on cute little things or organize my home with, I've learned a few ways to do it cheaply... 

Hangers:  Who doesn't have a few unused hangers in their closet??  I use them to organize my pocketbooks, belts, scarves, bras and bathing suits.  Sure you can make a pile of purses in your closet floor or stuff belts, scarves, bras and bathing suits in your dresser drawer (which I've tried before) but I can find what I need a lot faster since I started hanging all of those things up.

my purses, scarves and belts

Hooks:  I use hooks all over the place.  Since we are in a rental house and I don't want to leave any holes or permanent marks on the walls, that I'm going to have to repair later, I love the 3M Command Hooks.  I have used them to hang pictures as well as organize.  Here's how I used them to organize our school stuff.

I used scrapbook stickers to put each child's initial on their hook

Shoe Organizers:  You can buy these for a few dollars and use them to organize all kinds of small things.  My son has one on his closet door for shoes, hats, gloves, ties, etc.  My daughters share a closet but both have their own shoe organizer hanging on their side of the closet.  Putting their shoes in that, frees up a lot of floor space and allows them both to have room in the one shared closet.  We also have one hanging in the art supply closet.  It holds all kinds of small art things (paintbrushes, pipe cleaners, fabric, glue sticks, paint, art smocks, pencils, etc).

I just cleaned Archer's organizer out so it's got some pockets ready for this fall/winter season's stuff

Storage bins:  All of the plastic storage bins I have purchased have been on sale and I haven't paid over $3 for any of them.  I keep our pantry organized with these bins.  It keeps it looking good without much effort.  As you can see, we just throw things in the bins but since they are labeled, it makes it look nice and tidy.  This method has made it so much easier for my young kids to go in and get themselves breakfast, snack or help me pack their lunch.

I also used the plastic bins when I was organizing our school stuff.  I realized they needed more than just a hook to hang their backpack and coat on, so I got each child a bin to keep under their hook.  They throw things in there that they will need for school the next day (like shoes, socks, lunchbox, show and tell, library book, etc). 

Self Stick Tiles:  Great to use on wire shelving.  It creates a space for things you wouldn't otherwise be able to put on that type of shelf.  I used them on the top shelf in my pantry to store my cookbooks on, in the art closet to put coloring/activity books on, and even in my closet so my folded clothes wouldn't end up with those darn wire marks on them. 

$9.99 for a box of 25 tiles at Ollie's

I'm always looking for new and creative ideas so please share how you keep your home or car organized!!

Organizing clothes

My kids are beyond blessed with clothes...from hand-me-downs from friends, borrowing from cousins and grandmas who love to buy them outfits!  Keeping all these clothes organized is a not so easy task especially when my children don't have dressers.  My son has three small drawers that are attached to his crib/changing table combo but the only clothing I keep in them are pjs.  My daughters have staircase bunk beds with a few drawers on the side and we keep undies, socks and pjs in them.  But that leaves me with tons of pants, shorts, capris, etc that need a place to call home.  So I was looking for an inexpensive way to organize all the clothes that I didn't want hang in their closets.  Then one day, someone asked me if I needed a changing table for Archer.  I said no because he had one attached to his crib.  Then I had a lightbulb moment...why not repurpose that changing table as a "dresser"?  So without doing anything other than taking the changing pad off, Archer had a new, free dresser.  I loved the idea so much that I wanted to do the same thing in the girls' room.  I found a very similar changing table at a consignment store for $45.  Now all three kids have a place for their folded clothing.  What do you think?

 Here's the girls' "dresser"...bottom shelf is for pants/capris, middle is for shorts, the drawer has all their swim suits and the top has one basket for tights and one basket for dance clothes.

 Here's Archer's "dresser"...bottom shelf holds blankets, sheets and mattress protectors.  Middle shelf is diaper storage and bathing suits (which I'm going to put in the drawer).  The drawers has socks (and will have bathing suits).  And the top has both his pants (on the left) and shorts (on the right).

Have you repurposed anything lately?  I'd love for you to share!

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Organizing the pantry

I like things to be nice, clean and organzied then I had three kids and the nice and clean pretty much went out the window.  I still manage to stay somewhat organzied otherwise I'd go nuts.  So the other day when I realized how cluttered my pantry had become, I knew something had to be done!

This was driving me crazy. I had no idea how many bags of pretzels we had or that I had a whole bag of flour that had been pushed to the back of a shelf.  I purchased some clear plastic containers (small ones for $1.97 and medium size ones for $2.97 at Wal-Mart) and went work sorting what we needed and throwing out old stuff. About 30-40 minutes later, I was much happier. 

Since taking this picture, I did add another container on the middle shelf and labeled a few more things.

Putting most things in a clear container really helps in several ways. First, I can see exactly what I have and what I am running low on.  Second, it's so easy when the kids ask for a snack to just grab the snack container or when I need a baking item, I just grab that container.  No more wondering where in the heck I put that food coloring or crossing my fingers and hoping I still have some peanut butter in there somewhere.  I also suggest labeling each container so anyone else can know where to look for something (and also where to put something back). I have to say, it's been about two weeks since I have done this and everything has stayed exactly where it goes, which is something to get excited about when you have a 4 & 6 year old and a husband who are constantly raiding the pantry!

What do you do to help your pantry stay organized?

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Thursday's Tip of the Day

Linking up my tip of the day with Lindsey at Apple of Mama's Eye for:

Today my tip is how to organize headband craziness! Both of my girls wear a headband just about every day. So as you can imagine we have quite the collection.  I originally just decided a plastic shoe size box would be fine to keep them in. 

This is what it has ended up looking like: 

Pretty much a big ol mess!  When they would go to pull one headband out, it would be tangled up with another headband.  And searching for one certain headband would result in the whole box being dumped out.  I decided we needed an easier, quicker and more organized way to grab the one headband they wanted to wear.  So I took a couple of Archer's empty formula cans, some fabric (97cents/pack at Walmart), and some glue and got to work. 

This is what I came up with:

 

 Here are the results:

I put all their big pony tail holders inside the cans

This was a fun & easy project.  The girls enjoyed picking out the fabric and love their new handband organizers.  If you don't have any formula cans, you can use empty oatmeal canisters or something similar.

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Thursday's tip of the day...

This little tidbit is actually from my "School Life" page but I figured more people would see it if I put it in a post.  And I have to tell you, it has totally helped the "Which shoes goes on which foot" meltdowns my four year old had at least once a day!!  All I did was let her chose a large sticker, cut the sticker in half and put the left half in the left shoe and the right half in the right shoe.  Now when she asks me which shoe goes on which foot, I say, "Put the butterfly together." 

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Thursday's tip of the day...

I do my best thinking in the shower...seriously!  It's about the only time I get to myself all day and nobody is yelling, "Mommy."  The only problem was I did so much of my thinking in the shower I would forget half of it by the time I got out.  My solution...the Crayola Kids Bath Crayons!  I keep them in our shower to write my ideas and thoughts down on the walls.  I have made a grocery list, blog post ideas, things I need to do that day, all kinds of reminders.  I first tried out the Crayola Bath Markers but the steam would make them run and after a minute, I couldn't tell what the word was I just wrote.  Anyway, if you have too many thoughts and not enough memory (like I do) I hope this helps you out!  

I got these at Wal-Mart for $3.97

 It comes off very easily...I just use a wash cloth and water.

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Thursday's tip of the day...

If you want to declutter the front of your fridge: go buy the magnetic locker organizers, stick one or two on the side of your fridge and put magnets you are not using, pens, invitations, pictures, etc. in them.  They are still in sight so you won't forget about them but just not covering the whole front of your fridge.

I got mine at Target on clearance from the Back to School section.  Yes, they might look a little juvenile but I like them! I have also seen some at Dollar Tree (they were solid colors). So its a totally cheap way to do a little organizing!!

I use the one on the left as storage for the magnets I'm not using at the moment. The one on the right is for the photo invitations and birth announcements my friends send me...I save them all! 

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