Over the many years I organized with clients, I found that most of the time, they would have the organizing products in their homes. We would usually find them in closets, in the garage, basement, or attic spaces, and they wouldn't need to buy a thing to get the room organized. They tried to get organized before but never got to where they put the space back together. These items were either not used or used for no purpose but holding items. Noticing this behavior, I found it wasn't necessary to spend much money to organize their room. Many of these products don't even require you to buy a thing! During this process, you need to get creative. Below I am sharing cheap organizing products and tips to finish your next project. Follow along and see how affordable it is to repurpose items and products to help you get super organized. Let's begin.
Note: I added Amazon(affiliate) images below for visual purposes. If you click through and buy something on Amazon, I will receive a referral fee at no additional cost to you.
10 Cheap organizing products to use for organizing
1st Cheap Organizing Item: Old Mason Jars
You probably have mason jars in your home right now! You can buy these cheap organizing products at yard sales, flea markets, or craft stores. They run about a dollar a piece or less, depending on the size. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
2nd Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable food containers
Clean the food containers out well. Use hot water to help sterilize them. Some containers can not be washed in the dishwasher, so your best bet is to wash them by hand. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
3rd Cheap Organizing Item: Empty toilet paper rolls and paper towels cut to store cloth napkins
You can use toilet paper rolls by cutting the long ways and then wrapping them around things to keep them together. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
4th Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable shopping bag
You can use these grocery bags for storing various clothes for cleaning or other bags for storage. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
5th Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable paper bags
You can use paper bags to pick up the dog's waste. These are great to organize your kids' pencils and crayons. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
6th Cheap Organizing Item: Dollar store containers
The Dollar stores have lots of drawer organizers and bins with dividers in them that are durable and useful for under cabinets. I added a Storage & Organization link here from DollarTree (affiliate).
7th Cheap Organizing Item: Inherited decorative boxes with lids
Do you know those decorative boxes that you found in your loved one's home after they passed? Use them to organize your small items in your bedroom or closet. Use them to hold your hair accessories. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
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Visit Release Repurpose Reorganize (affiliate) website to purchase these motivating deck of cards.
But, wait, there are more cheap organizing products!
8th Cheap Organizing Item: Re-purpose old office binders to manage your recipes
Binders aren't just for offices anymore. Binders can be used for recipes and coupons to help you stay on track with managing your healthy eating. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
9th Cheap Organizing Item: Plastic trash cans
Use trash cans to hold car wash supplies in your garage. Then, when you want to wash the vehicle, you can also use the trash can to hold water. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
10th Cheap Organizing Item: Older Trunks can store different linens or books.
Those old trucks that were hand-me-downs can be used to store your children's books or toys. Below are some I found on Amazon(affiliate).
Well, there you have it. I hope this post shows you that being creative can surely pay off when organizing a home. You do not need to have picture-perfect expensive organizing products to get organized. You need creativity and time to get your home organized making it easy for you to find things.
Now it is your turn! Let's continue the conversation; what is your favorite product to use that costs you little to nothing? What cheap organizing products do you repurpose while organizing? Please share your comment below. I would love to hear from you.
Visit some of our other home cheap organizing posts to help you stay organized on a budget!
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Full Disclosure: the images above are from Amazon. If you wish to buy them, I will receive an affiliate fee that will not increase your cost whatsoever. Feel free to buy these products if you wish. Thank you for supporting my small business.
Seana Turner
I totally agree with this. I can almost always scrounge around find some supplies that can be used to add structure to drawers or cabinets. I use those trash cans for wrapping paper storage (holds the tall rolls well.) The other trick is used cookie trays (e.g. Oreos or something like that.) They are typically quite shallow, and help organizer very shallow drawers. Great post!
Sabrina Quairoli
Great idea, Seana. Trash cans are awesome to hold long items. I find that the straighter the sides of the trash cans the better items hold in them. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Margarita @DownshiftingPRO
I love some of these products. I've even got a few reviews on the blog for rubbermaid. Thanks for sharing your picks.
Sabrina Quairoli
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Linda Samuels
I know what you mean about clients often having lots of great organizing products from the attempts to get organized. Some are working well for them and others they just haven't found the right uses for yet. But using what's available is a great starting point. And as you said, you can also repurpose inexpensive items to help organize. In a pinch I've used small gift boxes (separting the lids and bottoms) as drawer organizers. I've also used the boxes from Ziplock storage bags by cutting off the top so that it creates an open box. Those are also great for drawer or cabinet organizing.
One of the things I love most about organizing and the creativity that goes along with finding intersting uses for traditional and not so tradtitional organizing products.
Sabrina Quairoli
Thanks for commenting, Linda. I wish others who are on the fence about organizing their space, would see the other benefits that come along with organizing.
Janet Barclay
Right now I'm trying to use toilet paper rolls to organize the charger cords for our different devices. Not sure how well it will work, but it's encouraging to see you do recommend them for organizing!
Sabrina Quairoli
I am doing the same thing, Janet. Still collecting all the toilet paper rolls I need to fill up a shoe box. Hopefully, it will work for all the smaller cables my husband collects. Keep me posted. =)