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Your favorite necklace? It's tangled in your iPod buds. That book you meant to lend a friend? Buried between boots on your closet floor. The super-snuggly winter hat? You won't find it until next summer -- recently escaped from the Bermuda Triangle that is the space below your bed.
But the Container Store is expensive, and you seriously have better things to do than spend Saturday night managing your accessories. So don't waste time -- or money -- and upcycle what you already own toward a more organized you.
Read on to learn how my do-it-yourself advice gives back money-saving dividends worth organizing for.
Get More Organized Tip #1: Upcycle Nails & Wall Space
Wall space is precious real estate when it comes to organization. Capitalize on this fertile white land to hang necklaces, hats, belts, scarves and other loose accessories that can get lost in the clutter unless put on full display.
Put a nail near a mirror for easy access to a quick necklace change. Decorate dead wall space with an artistic display of hats. Hang belts and scarves on multiple nails behind your door.
The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Hat Box, $4.99–$5.99
Necklace Keeper, $19.99
Get More Organized Tip #2: Upcycle Wine Bottles & Candles
In college, a bottle of Jack Daniel's worked for upcycled glassware decoration. Thankfully, you've moved on from Jack & Coke to a more refined taste -- and nothing says sophistication more than organizing your collection of vintage "Sweet Valley Highs" with help from a few upcycled bottles of Two-Buck-Chucks.
Remove corks and soak the bottles in hot water, using a metal sponge or scouring pad to remove the paper wrapper, revealing the soft glow of glass beneath. Add fake flowers into the bottles before sandwiching your books in style (and off the closet floor).
Further the life of an old candle by boiling it in a pot of water to break away dead wax from the glass, and then adding your beads, office supplies or other knick knacks into the remaining jar for decorative storage.
The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Bookends, $12.99
Decorative Glass Bottles, $4.99–$5.49
Get More Organized Tip #3: Upcycle Cans & Jars
When we were kids, upcycling a tin can meant tying a string between two and pretending it was a telephone.
Flash-forward 20 years, and an upcycled can or jar is an easy way to organize your desk free of scattered pens and pencils. Remove the can's wrapper and replace with a magazine page, some remainder wallpaper or even a piece of super-soft cotton cut from an old T-shirt.
Cook soup for a week and create a themed-can collection that doubles for decorative use and display.
The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Pencil Cup, $4.99
Get More Organized Tip #4: Upcycle Jam Jars
Sure, you saw some stunning glass when studying abroad in Amsterdam junior year -- but the real glass winners are in your kitchen, and I'm not talking about bowls here.
Upcycle glass plates and jam jars into decorative displays of jewelry and other scattered knickknacks. Use the etched glass of a jam jar as the centerpiece of a glass plate filled with jewelry.
Low on glass supply? Check your grandparents' cupboards for kitschy dining ware, old bottles of preserves and other glass collectibles.
The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Jam Jars, $2.99–$4.99
Get More Organized Tip #5: Upcycle Cupcake Pans
Earrings are like twin sisters -- you can't imagine seeing them apart, much less wearing one without the other.
Keep accessories organized using the individualized compartments of a cupcake pan, and you'll never have to worry about sifting through distant cousins to reunite sibling crystal studs ever again.
The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Jewelry Box, $59
Get More Organized Tip #6: Upcycle Tupperware
Like the unsolved mystery of the missing sock, we all have a couple of lid-less tupperware containers lying around.
Use tupperware compartments to organize by type of jewelry so that your earrings, bracelets and necklaces are as organized as a main dish and its sides.
The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Jewelry Store, $14.99
Hanging Jewelry Organizer, $9.99
Sammy Davis spends her days doing what any thrift nut loves most: blogging about her totally vintage life on her site, Sammy Davis Vintage, and shooting video that inspires you to pursue your passions on her YouTube channel. Have a question about fashion or just want to say hi? Drop her a line here, and she'll hit you back with some Sammy D Sunshine ASAP.More great stories from TheStir.cafemom.com:
-5 Great Leaf Projects to Bathe Your Home in Autumn
-How To Dress Like Jackie O
-4 New Recipes For Boring Thanksgiving Classics
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Friday 19 November
By Vanessa
I love this! Thanks much.
Reply
Friday 19 November
By gloria
Awesome tips. Going to go home and start work on my new organized life right now.
Reply
Saturday 20 November
By Brooke
I use a small plastic tackle box to organize my jewelry, so it doesn't get tangled. Plus, since it has a snap down lid, I can just toss it in my suitcase when I'm traveling.
Reply
Tuesday 23 November
By Rhiannon
Neat ideas but I think I already got this memo about 5 years ago from my mother.
Reply
Tuesday 23 November
By Koz
Isn't it amazing how the old stuff just keep coming back.
They bring back old TV show (Hawii 5-0) and all the cop show with new title but old formats.
They bring back old movie with new plots and stars.
I was doing this 40 years ago in my work room. Tak it one stel further and nail the cover of the jars to the bottom of the shelve and it is out of your way. You just unscrew the jar and get the nut or what ever out.
Now if we could bring back to old car designers we may something because the crap out there today looks the same to me. You can tell who made it till you see the logo on the side.
Reply
Saturday 27 November
By Cynthia
Instead of cupcake tins... use ice cube trays... they fit easily in your drawers and do not take up as much space....
Reply
Saturday 27 November
By Sally Bradway
I'm sorry, I am not going to put a bunch of holes in my walls or use wine bottles for bookends. These ideas are tacky!
Reply
Saturday 27 November
By Kelly
I totally agree. And how well are empty wine bottles going to hold up books? Nice mess when they fall on the floor and break!
Saturday 27 November
By *-*
Sorry but these are tips for teen girls or students.. none of this looks elegant or classy..not to mention this kind of "organizing" has been around forever.
Reply
Saturday 27 November
By sassy2
Free jewelry organizer! Egg cartons. Or small hardware Or desk drawer(paper clips,staples, tacks) Think outside the box. Magazines? Look around for boxes such as heavy cereal box.Cover it with decorative paper if you want but you can cut down one of the sides at an angle and keep a years worth of magazines on the shelf. (If they are worth the space to you)
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Saturday 27 November
By grandmaH
For necklaces and earrings. Go to Lowes and buy the tie rack that hangs on the back of the closet door. It has 2 rows of about 16 hooks each to hang necklaces and each peg can hold more than one necklace. Then get a piece of plastic needlepoint canvas and use ribbon or wire to hang it under they tie rack so that it below the bottom of the necklaces. Pierced earrings can be poked through it and the backs put on to hold them in place. For clip on earrings cut small slits in the canvas to slip the backs of the earrings through, leaving canvas intact inbetween earrings. Now everything is out of sight on the back of the closet door but easy to get to and makes yourn necklaces tangle-free and your earrings organized.
Reply
Saturday 27 November
By simplilfied organization
I am not impressed by these ideas. To me, simpler is better. Have a jewelry box and simplify life by not having a lot of "stuff" to worry about organizing.
Reply
Saturday 27 November
By JennyJo
What do you do when you have to make cupcakes????
Reply
Monday 13 December
By Rose Reyes
Loveeee this article! Awesome advice.
Reply