5 Upcycling Ideas for Home Organization
When it comes to home organizing products, I love a high low mishmash. Similar to high low fashion, I’m all for the concept of splurging where it counts, and saving where it doesn’t. Where it counts: your entryway (this woven leather bin is beyond CHIC!), your living room (i.e., this wicker basket for kids toys/pet toys), your bedroom (please, anything BUT a Rubbermaid bin).
Where it counts less: your junk drawer, your kitchen pantry (IMHO), and your storage closet. Striking this healthy balance will open up new creative channels between you and your stuff. Example: the rubber bands that snugly hug your broccoli and other produce can be repurposed to seal pantry items (forget the chip clips!). Here are some other handy ways to turn your random stuff into organizing treasure:
Dust Bags as Packing Cubes. I find packing cubes annoying and useless. There, I said it. As someone who is highly visual and needs to see everything in order to recall it, tucking away shirts and pants into hermetically sealed packets induces a kind of “stuff blindness”. The only time I advocate for using a packing cube-like thing is for storing dirty clothes and bras/socks/undies. For those items, just grab a couple of roomy dust bags from your collection of millions of dust bags (but seriously, let’s also donate a few or twenty).
iPhone Boxes as Drawer Organizers. I’m all for using bamboo drawer organizers to make sense of messy desk and junk drawers, but if you happen to have three or four iPhone boxes lying around (and surprisingly many people do!), then just repurpose them as organizers. You’d be amazed how much you can fit into these sturdy little rectangles, and they look just fine and dandy in any setting. So what are you waiting for?! The iPhone box is your oyster.
Cleaning Spray Bottles for DIY Cleaning Products. If you’ve been reading my blog for a hot second, you’ll know that I’m a big fan of the DIY. Not DIY in the sense of adding rhinestones and buttons to jean jackets, but DIY in the sense of the DIY Cleaner (dish soap and vinegar as cleaning agents are HIGHLY underrated). And if you don’t want to buy your own bottles for your DIY cleaners, use old empty cleaning bottles instead. Just make sure to rinse them well with soapy water and expel any remaining liquid from the trigger. Use some masking tape and a Sharpie to label your bottle. Easy. Functional. Not chic, but fine.
Shoe Boxes as Organizers. I have organized many a closet with just as many empty shoe boxes as there are shoes. Why?! Empty shoe boxes are just clutter, no matter how nice the label might be. If you’re not using them to store shoes, remove them from the closet ASAP…because they are needed in other places in your home! Examples: to store ribbons, tissue paper, gift cards/your massive greeting card collection; to house old photos, memorabilia, mementos; and to store your (reasonably-sized) collection of cables and cords.
Empty Jars as Mason Jars. Don’t want to buy a whole collection of Mason Jars? Finished with that bottle of Grey Poupon Mustard? Problem solved. Simply scrub away the label with a rough sponge, hot water and dish soap, and there you have it. A little bottle to store salad dressing, dry goods, random leftovers. My only caveat is to go easy on your jar upcycling…it can become weirdly addictive to collect empty jars (RAISES HAND), so only hold onto as much as your cabinet has room for. After all, glass is infinitely recyclable!