8 Budget-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Home

While it is easy to get seduced by fancy organizing products and customized closet systems, some of the best organizing solutions actually don’t require you to invest much money at all. Keep your home neat and organized with the following budget-friendly tools and techniques:

1. Sharpies are indispensable. Use them in the kitchen to write open dates on jars and containers and freeze dates on food going into your freezer. Keep one by the front door to label clothes, bags, and gear as your kids are running to school or to practice. Use a Sharpie to write the value of a gift card on the card itself.

2. Raid your recycle bin #1: An empty tissue box can be used to store plastic grocery bags. You’d be surprised at just how many bags can fit in such a small space.

3. Raid your recycle bin #2: Glass jars with or without lids can be used to store almost any small collection of items, including craft materials, cotton balls, pens and pencils, dried beans, grains, or buttons. (Use warm water and a scouring pad to loosen the glue residue left once labels are removed.)

4. Shoeboxes are an ideal, inexpensive solution for corralling undergarments, socks, and tights inside messy drawers. Place them on a shelf in your linen closet to organize medicines, bathroom supplies, and other personal care items.

5. Find space in your kitchen by discarding mismatched food storage containers. If it doesn’t have a lid or a bottom, recycle it. Use your largest container to store the lids. Stack the remaining containers inside each other.

6. Reduce paper clutter in your home by eliminating the amount of junk mail you receive. Sites like www.OptOutPrescreen.com, www.DMAchoice.org, www.YellowPagesOptOut.com, and www.CatalogChoice.org can help you manage what you receive.

7. Use hooks to keep clothes and bags off the floor. 3M Command Hooks are inexpensive, strong, and can easily be removed without damaging your walls.

8. Make your bed every morning. It only takes about two minutes! The bed is the central focus of your bedroom. When it is made, the whole room will seem more serene.