Over the many years of working with clients, I found that most of the time, they would have unused organizing products in their homes. We would usually find them in closets, garages, basements, or attic spaces, and they wouldn't need to buy anything to get the room organized. They never completed the process to where they actively enjoyed the satisfaction of an organized space.
These organizing items were neither unused nor repurposed. As a result, they are collecting dust in a closet or basement. Noticing this behavior, I found it wasn't necessary to spend much money to organize their room. Many of these affordable organizing products do not require you to buy a thing! You need to look at these items differently. Below, I am sharing cheap organizing products and tips for finishing 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.
Jump to:
- 1st Cheap Organizing Item: Old Mason Jars
- 2nd Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable food containers
- 3rd Cheap Organizing Item: Empty toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls
- 4th Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable shopping bag
- 5th Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable paper bags
- 6th Cheap Organizing Item: Dollar store containers
- 7th Cheap Organizing Item: Inherited decorative boxes with lids
- 8th Cheap Organizing Item: Re-purpose old office supplies to organize your home
- 9th Cheap Organizing Item: Plastic trash cans
- 10th Cheap Organizing Item: Old Trunks can store different linens or books.
- Lazy Susans
- Previously Used Plastic and Acrylic Bins
- Upcycled Cigar Box
- Plastic Over the over-the-door shoe Organizer
- Egg Cartons
- Wine Rack
- Pressure Rods
- Old bakeware
Note: I added Amazon (Affiliate Link)(affiliate) images below for visual purposes. If you click through and buy something on Amazon (Affiliate Link), I will receive a referral fee at no additional cost to you.=
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 is one I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link)(affiliate).
Mason Jar Wide Mouth 32 oz. Two (Quart) with Lid
Buy Now →(Affiliate Link)
2nd Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable food containers
Clean the food containers (Affiliate Link) 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 and completely dry them before using them to organize. Containers that can be reused are:
- Yogurt containers of large and individual sizes
- Takeout container
- Soup can
- Soup takeout container
- Coffee cans
- Baby jars
Below is one I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link)(affiliate).
Food Containers - Meal Prep Containers, 50 Pack
Buy Now →(Affiliate Link)
3rd Cheap Organizing Item: Empty toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls
You can use toilet paper rolls (Affiliate Link) by cutting them long ways and wrapping them around things to keep them together. After you use the toilet paper, you can either stockpile the rolls or buy the tubes. These products are great to use when organizing small things like cables or tablecloths/placements (Affiliate Link).
Paper towel rolls are great for keeping wrapping paper together. They're inexpensive, and you can cut them to the desired length. Just cut along one side of the roll and wrap it around the wrapping paper roll. That'll keep it together and stop the paper from unraveling.
Toilet Paper Rolls 100 Pack Cardboard Tubes for Crafts
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4th Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable shopping bag
You can use these reusable shopping bags (Affiliate Link) (grocery bags) to store various cleaning or storage items. One purpose is to collect the other reusable bags in one big reusable shopping bag (Affiliate Link). Another way to use them is to store out-of-season clothing.
5th Cheap Organizing Item: Reusable paper bags
Reusable paper bags (Affiliate Link) can be used to organize kids' pencils and crayons. Cutting them open makes them easy to use when covering books and other things in your home that may need a fresh look.
Reusable paper bags (Affiliate Link) could have handles, so you could store 'to be donated' items in your garage (Affiliate Link) before bringing them to a donation location. This would make it easy to carry odd-sized items.
6th Cheap Organizing Item: Dollar store containers
Dollar stores have many durable, divider-equipped drawer organizers (Affiliate Link) and bins 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 (Affiliate Link) that you found in your loved one's home after they passed? Use them to organize your small items in your bedroom or closet. Another option is to use them to hold your hair accessories. Below are some I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link)(affiliate).
Treasure Chest Box, Wooden + PU Leather Storage Decorative Box
Buy Now →(Affiliate Link)
But wait, there are more cheap organizing products!
8th Cheap Organizing Item: Re-purpose old office supplies to organize your home
Binders aren't just for offices anymore. They can hold recipes and coupons to help you stay on track with your healthy eating.
Wall-mount paper organizers are great for collecting paper bags.
Lay magazine holders on their side in a cabinet. They are great for organizing large food container (Affiliate Link) lids inside. To save space, the rest of the stacked containers can be placed on top of the magazine holder.
Several office supplies can be used for home organization. Below are just some of them.
- Binders and tabs (Affiliate Link)
- Magazine holders
- Drawer organizer (Affiliate Link)
9th Cheap Organizing Item: Plastic trash cans
Use trash cans in your garage (Affiliate Link) to hold car wash supplies. Then, when you want to wash the vehicle, you can also use the trash can to hold water. These trash bags (Affiliate Link) are great for things that you need to get rid of. They may need to be donated or properly recycled.
10th Cheap Organizing Item: Old Trunks can store different linens or books.
Old hand-me-down trunks (Affiliate Link) can store your children's books and toys. Below is one I found on Amazon (Affiliate Link)(affiliate). I purchased this one for my son, and my daughter now uses it to organize her things.
Trunk & Case Large Leather Embossed Vinyl Trunk with Removable Wheels
Buy Now →(Affiliate Link)
2024 Update:
But that is not all. Below are some additional affordable organizing items you can use to finish your next organizing project.
Lazy Susans
Another item you can use to organize your home is a repurposed Lazy susans (turn tables) reused for organizing spices and herbs.
Previously Used Plastic and Acrylic Bins
If you are like me, you may have a pile of different unused organizing containers. Instead of getting rid of them, store them away for your next organizing project.
Upcycled Cigar Box
Cigar Boxes (Affiliate Link) are well made and can easily be used to organize things in a home office or even to gather remotes or other electronics in the living room. They can be found in thrift stores and other second-hand places.
Plastic Over the over-the-door shoe Organizer
These Plastic over-the-door (Affiliate Link) shoe organizers are perfect dollar-store finds or items kept from your college days. They are also great for small pantries with snacks.
Egg Cartons
Clean egg cartons are great for organizing drawers and holding everything from paper clips to pens and markers. These crafty cartons can give your home a new life.
Wine Rack
Another option is to use a wine rack to organize your water bottles. These wine racks can fit inside a cabinet or over-the-range cabinet to organize the collection of water bottles. Pro Tip: Store the lids in another open-lid container next to the water bottles. This will keep the lids contained and keep your water bottle from smelling stagnant.
Pressure Rods
Two pressure rods, one in front of the other, parallel to one another, create a small shelf in the back of the cabinet for spices (Affiliate Link) and herbs containers.
Old bakeware
Instead of throwing away old bakeware, repurpose them. It can be used to reorganize small things in your kitchen or home office drawers.
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.
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 cheap home organizing posts to help you stay organized on a budget!
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Full Disclosure: the images above are from Amazon (Affiliate Link). 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 says
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 says
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 says
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 says
Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Linda Samuels says
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 says
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 says
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 says
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. =)