Organizing on a Budget

Chances are, if you are reading this you are like me…obsessed with organizing! You probably watch Marie Kondo and The Home Edit on Netflix, maybe you even have some organizing books. And as much as I love the beauty of organizing, it can be very expensive. All those fancy organizers from the Container Store cost a pretty penny. And to fully organize a cohesive looking space you probably need a lot of organizers. So here are some budget friendly ways to get a beautiful looking space without breaking the bank. 

Kitchen

One of the most popular kitchen organizing tips on The Home Edit, is decanting your food. That means putting the food into a clear container and throwing away the packaging. If you are being budget conscious, I don’t recommend doing this for every food item you purchase. Here is my tip; if it comes in a box, leave it in the box. If it comes in a bag, decant it. The reason being, that unstructured containers (bags) tend to look messy and take up more space than they need to, because the contents settle at the bottom. A box will keep its shape. Here are some food items that I decant; rice, flour, sugar, dried fruits, nuts, oats. For the things that you do decide to decant, instead of buying plastic food storage containers that cost $15 to $20 each, use mason jars. You can buy a box of mason jars for just over $1 per jar. Or better yet, use an old pasta sauce jar! All you need to do is remove the label, wash it out, and voilà! You have a perfectly good jar for organizing.

Organize Like a Store

This tip applies to every space in your home. And it won’t cost you a penny! First, make sure to keep similar items together. Whether or not the items are stored in a cabinet or open shelf, line them up in a straight line and keep everything at the front of the shelf. 

For your linens, practice folding everything, that way it looks really pretty on the shelf! There are plenty of instructional videos on how to fold different items (even your fitted sheets). It just takes some practice!

Use What You Have

Instead of purchasing expensive baskets and bins, use things that you already have! You can repurpose cardboard boxes by cutting off the tops. Tiny boxes make great drawer organizers and big boxes are perfect for keeping closet shelves and cabinets tidy. I once turned a cardboard box into a dog bed! I know that cardboard isn’t the prettiest material, but it will look a lot nicer than a messy pile of things scattered everywhere.