Day 14: Reusing to Organize

Remember when I started the series, I said that reusing what you already have is the best way to be green? Well today I'm showing how you can reuse things to organize, and keep said items out of the trash and recycling bins! Best of all, organizing with repurposed items is completely free, and saves you your sanity (well it does mine!).



I also want to take the time to remind you all of the linky party tomorrow (it'll be in the evening). This is the kind of stuff you can link up: basically anything that you've repurposed to make pretty and/or useful!! Doesn't have to be for organizing, it can be for crafts, art, DIY, anything!

Without further ado, here are some repurposed items used for organizing!

Tin Cans

To organize pens, pencils, paintbrushes, etc. I've got a bunch of these, separated all my markers and pencils and scissors in them, but I've yet to add some pretty paper to them, ha!


viaBH&G

Coffee Cans

Use coffee cans in the same way for bigger items like punches and ink pads. You're not limited to scrapbook paper, you can also use twine to make them pretty!


viaSimply Kierste

Cardboard boxes

I save just about every size boxes for organizing. Especially printing paper boxes, cuz they have a lid, so are super useful. Here I've covered one with wrapping paper (not the prettiest one, though...) and I'm keeping big craft supplies in it.



I'm still waiting for that perfect size box to go beside that one on the middle shelf. Or something else.

You can also cover up some cardboard boxes with fabric for even prettier storage:

via iHeart Organizing

Glass Jars (baby food jars, Ball jars etc)

For organizing your pantry (like bulk food which we discussed last week)

viaThe Kitchn

Or your craft supplies:

via Crafty Nest

Yogourt Cups

Here's one of mine: repurposed yogourt cups to organize office supplies!


Egg Cartons


viaBH&G




Plastic Bottles and Containers

Here an old baby lotion bottle is turned into a charging station, so brilliant!!

fromMake It and Love It

Maybe your husband (or yourself) can find this useful in the garage, to organize screws and such:

viaFamily Handyman

Other/Random

And a few more unusual repurposed items, like this tic-tac box for organizing ribbons:

via Instructables

Old CD case to organize acrylic stamps! I have a ton of these I don't know what to do with, but don't wan to throw out!

via Craftaholics Anonymous


There is a lot more you can do with all sorts of containers and materials, you are only limited by your imagination! I'd love to see what you've come up with, please come link up your own repurposed projects at the linky party!!


See all posts in the series:







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Organized Cleaning Supplies: Check!

What's better than organizing? Getting to do it with pretty little baskets, of course! Or is that just me? Haha!

At the beginning of the month, I got these really colourful baskets at Michael's. I'd been eyeing them for a few months but didn't want to dish out 25$ a pop on them, but when they became 70%, I just HAD to get them! And I used a 20% off coupon, so I actually got them for 75% off!! Doesn't get much better than that, right? (Well actually it does, got my laundry shelve baskets for 80% off... But that's not the point.)


This photo was originally posted to Facebook. Want to follow me on Facebook so you never miss little sneak peaks like this? Just go here!

I didn't know quite what I wanted to do with them when I bought them, but after a couple of days of thinking, I decided to put them to work in my big closet to keep my cleaning supplies all neat and tidy and contained.

See, I don't have much storage space, so pretty much everything that needs a home has to fit into this big closet. It's not even a real closet, it's just a big hole in the wall that measures 35"x35", and I have a curtain as a door...


Sorry about the horrible picture, this is the best I could photoshop it.

I know, it's kinda odd, but at least you don't see the organized mess I have going on in there...



Alright, let's zoom into the problem area (for today). It's that bottom shelf with all the cleaning supplies.



I think the fact that almost all my cleaning stuff fits on one shelf is pretty amazing. I must say I wish I had a closet that I could dedicate to cleaning stuff, but as it is, I don't.

So let's get started. First thing's first, I had to make sure I could fit both baskets side by side next to the buckets. Check!



In the first basket, I put my little vacuum (I don't even have a normal size vacuum actually...) and all it's attachments. That way when the boyfriend (or I) wants to use it, he can just pull out the basket take it with him and have everything he needs. And hopefully he'll feel compelled to put it back in its spot (not yet tested).



In the other basket, I wanted to put all my rags, microfiber cloths, shamwows, etc. All neatly folded so you can see everything and not just have them stacked one on top of the other, I really love this way of organizing!



But then that meant all the actually cleaning products didn't have a home. Not that I have much. All bathroom cleaning products are under the bathroom sink, and laundry stuff in my laundry shelving unit. Basically I store stuff where I use them.. I think that's the best organizing advice I can give anyone!

So all I have here is all-purpose cleaner, CLR (which I actually rarely use and was a hand-me-down from our old roommate but I don't have the heart to throw it out just yet) and shoe protector (cuz I didn't know where else to put it). I threw out the Lysol spray(other hand-me down, and I've never in my life used it). The rest is an empty bottle that I'm keeping for homemade stuff. And my mop head.



So I thought out the box, and noticed that there was a lot of space still on top of those rags. With a little rearranging and an other small basket, I had found my solution: a basket within a basket! Genius, right?



I've got all the small rags and microfiber cloths in that smaller basket on top of the bigger towel-rags and shamwows on the bottom, easily accessible by removing the small basket. And the space I freed up is for my cleaning products.



The shelves in this closet are pretty deep, 16 inches deep, so I've got space for backup/bulk supplies behind the baskets.



And just like that, my cleaning supplies are all organized, easily accessible, and in pretty pretty baskets that make my heart dance when I open that curtain and see them.



I think it is safe to take those tags off now, don't you?

Now what to do about those other shelves, especially the one right above the cleaning supplies shelf, I've gotta do something about that!



Have you found some cute baskets at a discount price lately? Or have you gotten your organization on? I hope I gave you a little motivation for that, and some creative ideas to utilize the space you have to its full potential!

And if you'd like to see it in action, check out this post. I can easily fit 30 hangers on there, if there's more which has happened then it takes longer to dry is all. Thanks for reading, until next time!







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Laundry Shelves Organization

It's been a long time coming, but now that I finally have my laundry shelving unit (catch up on part 1: the planning and building of the shelves, and part 2: the shelves and all the details) I can finally get my organization ON! Which is what this post is all about!!



You may not know this, but I LOVE organizing. My mind is constantly trying to organize everything for maximum efficiency. It's been so much on my mind lately that I've even been organizing the lab this week! Being the only girl in the lab at the moment (other 2 girls are on vacation), the guys have been laughing at me, but playing along nonetheless :)

I was having a lot of trouble organizing all my linens and putting away big boxes of seasonal decoration before I got these shelves. It's not like I have a lot of linens, I strongly believe in having only the essentials, especially living in a tiny apartment with barely any storage/closet space. But I really wanted a linen closet/space, and I kept seeing the space over my laundry as wasted space and potential for greatness.



My dad is awesome and agreed to help me build these shelves, all of which was covered in part 1, and part 2

So after I finally finished sanding the surface to remove the rough surface the sealer left behind (last step after installing the shelves), the first thing I put up there were my linens.



These are pretty much my extra linens that I don't use very often. Beach towels and extra towels for guests, as well as extra bed linen. I pretty much only have 1 change of bedding and towels for everyday use, but they are else where (keep reading...) because I needed those to be more accessible.

It might not show, but these shelves are not exactly a breeze for me to get to. Sure a normal height person would have no problem, but I'm too vertically challenged at 5' tall. So it's mostly stuff I don't use every other day that go up there.

And some of those bed linens, ok most, need to be returned to our respectively families; I do not know how they got to be in our possession and we have way too many. Though that lavender floral bed sheet did come in handy a few times to photograph some bigger projects...

Next, I had some big boxes I wanted to vacate from other closets, so up top the unit they went. Look at all these big boxes I managed to fit up there! I didn't realized just how much storage potential there would be up there.



I've got a milk crate with some gardening supplies. I think I will need a bigger box than this once the season is over though... The rest of the boxes there are seasonal decor (2 Christmas boxes on the right, there's more obviously... and the other box is Easter + Valentine's + St-Patties). I'll probably be rearranging this space as time goes by, but for now that is what I have.

Also I'm planning on making a cover for the milk crate (crates if I get more), so I can put them more at the forefront, like next to the big basket I got up there, to hide the stuff behind.




After that I didn't know quite what I wanted to do with the rest of the space. I had the baskets in place but wasn't exactly sure what to put in them.



To be honest, I was quite happy with my other closets at the moment. I didn't think I needed to rearrange much, so I just waited and looked for stuff that needed a home.

That's when I realized I needed some place more accessible for my change of bedding and towels, and they ended up in that basket. I also had my gardening bucket lying around all the time by the door to the balcony, so up on the shelf next to the basket it went! Once the season is over I will be putting it up on the top shelf and will have an empty space there. Some bike knick-knacks are also lying around there...



On the bottom shelf to the right I have my other smallest basket (remember from last post that I got these baskets for 80% off?!) which is still empty, an other even smaller basket I found lying around at my parents contains extra kitchen towels, and a for-now empty vase (that I want to put clothepins in but haven't exactly gotten around to it yet). So yeah, definitely room to grow here.



After the first time I did a load of laundry with these new shelves in place, I quickly realized how useful it would be to have my laundry detergent right there! My parents gave me their leftover liquid laundry detergent when they switched to front load machines, which is why I have 2 different ones up there. I've also got other laundry products (Shout and a homemade mix for washing armpit stains that I'm trying out) beside those.



Finally, that little white basket holds my boyfriend's slingshot stuff (marbles and 3 different slingshots). He can reach it there, but I can't, and it needed a better place than the kitchen table.

All in all, I'm really happy with them. But I thought I would be able to move more stuff from our big closet to here. I tried moving cleaning supplies, but they didn't all fit, and I wanted everything together.



This space is still under construction. I plan on making a curtain for the middle shelf to hide and protect the linen. That's also why I wanted baskets for the bottom shelf. It's still in my kitchen, and my boyfriend LOVES stir frying, but that means flying oil everywhere. So I need to make that curtain pronto! I got all the stuff (fabric and stencil-yup I've caught the stencilling bug!), except the rod to hang it. Will definitely update when that's done!

Ok, a few more things I did to this space so far. I've hung a couple of hooks to hang our helmets and keys. Since it's right next to the rear door where we lock up our bikes, these things always ended up on the laundry machine and then fell when the washing machine was spinning. Also, my boyfriend needed somewhere to hang his keys (I help him find his lost keys WAY too often if you ask me; he's gotten better with these hooks but still not always there).



Also you'll notice there's a big gap between the unit and the dryer. Well I've got an extra drying rack there (one which I still use sometimes for pants), tire pump, and charcoal- again stuff that always accumulates near that rear door that I wanted out of sight.



So that pretty much concludes the tour.



It's really amazing the potential it still gives, and I will definitely be rearranging as I see fit. Expect more Laundry Shelving Unit Saga posts in the future!



Thanks for reading, until next time!


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Oh, What Beautiful Shelves You Have!

This is part 2 of the Laundry Shelving Unit Saga. To read part 1 (planning and building), go here.

On Monday I left you in suspense... I showed you how we were building a shelving unit to go over my laundry machines, and then I left you in the dark as to what they actually looked like. Hopefully you'll forgive me seeing as it was a short wait for once, right?

Let me tell you, it was quite a glorious moment when we installed my laundry shelves! I'd been waiting some time for them, and they were finally here! Check them out:



They are in the corner of my kitchen, so they are a little tricky to photograph as there is not much light coming into my kitchen.

Let me run you through the specifics I mentioned I wanted in the first post.

1. They needed to be free standing. Check! This was for a couple of reasons. One, we have no idea what these walls are made of but they are incredibly hard to screw anything into, they are made of plaster or something that crumbles really easily.

Two, this is a rental after all, so the less screws/holes in the walls, the better!

Here's a view from when you enter the kitchen.



Solid pieces of plywood support the 3 shelves of the unit, each 24" wide (which was 1/2 of the width of a sheet of plywood). At first my dad had planned to just have 4 narrow "legs", 2 on each side, with an empty space in between. I much rather like this idea (why he had to go buy one more plywood sheet that I mentioned in the last post).

I'll be able to decorate the sides of the unit (on the inside) with small frames and such for little notes, calendars, etc. But all in due time.

He did secure the unit to the wall with a few screws, just to prevent it from swaying. There's a few on the side, screwed in the wall next to the window, and a few on the back wall.



Just to be on the safe side, my dad screwed them in at an angle (as in not straight into the wall) so that IF it were to want to fall, it would be WAY harder to pull out the screws when they are like this.

2. We wanted the shelves to be made of wood and stained. Check!

These are made of pine plywood (which was the cheapest at 23$ a sheet, even cheaper than MDF) and have a really nice grain to it. We stained with Minwax English Chestnut. I really love contrast, and as you can see that wall of my kitchen is beige, so I knew I wanted a dark stain. Walnut was too dark, and this one was a little lighter and with tints of red.



3. (Because of 2.) We needed to built some sort of reinforcement to the plywood to give it more strength.

So we built a frame on the underside of each shelf. This shot shows pretty well the frames. And I already talked about the difficulty the shape of the bottom shelf gave us while constructing its frame in the last post.



4. The top shelf had to be longer than the others and have a rod to hang clothes to dry. Check! My favorite feature!



It's not necessarily the prettiest rod, it's just a normal closet rod, but it's very functional!

Here's a close-up of how my dad hung it. He just got L brackets (not entirely sure that's how they are called...), attached it to the closet rod where you would normally screw it into place with nuts and bolts, and screwed it to the underside of the top shelf.



I know it's a bit of an eye sore, but I'm ready to look past it (for the moment until I figure out how to hide it!) because I know it will be so darn useful!! If you've got any ideas what I could do, please don't hesitate to share!!

5. I needed to still be able to open the laundry machine lid, but didn't want a small 8" shelf.

BTW, the 2 lower shelves are 12", the top one is 28".

Of course I didn't just want a plain square cutout of the shelf, that would be too boring! So I got my dad to do the indent at an angle and round off the corners ;) I'm a girl that knows what she wants!! Thanks dad for indulging me :)



Bonus Point! 6. Provide LOTS of extra storage!

In my head, I did not have this much storage potential on top of the unit. I'm usually pretty good at picturing stuff in my head, but I don't think I realized just how tall and big it would be. Either that or how low the ceiling is compared to the height of the unit.



When I planned on building these shelves way back when we moved in, I started looking for baskets to use in this space.

One day I was at Michael's on a weekend trip to see my parents' (as I always do), it was shortly after Christmas and they were having a sale on baskets. I found this set of 3 baskets on super sale!!



It was the only set discounted at that price (even among identical ones...). They were 80% off!! Yeah, crazy right?! So instead of 45$, I paid 9$ for the biggest basket. I was super stoked to have found them. The middle one was 6$ (the bottom is convexed so it wobbles quite a lot, wish I had checked that out in the store first...)and the small 5$.

So I walked out of Michael's with a big smile on my face, 100$ worth of basket in my arms but with a 20$ hole in my wallet :)

When we were building the shelves, I took a moment to measure my baskets to make sure we were building the shelves far enough apart to account for the baskets. Now, here's the headdesk moment. For some reason, I didn't measure the handles in the height of the basket...

So this happened when I tried to put the biggest one on the shelves:



I felt real smart there... haha! Doesn't help that there's also the support frame that removes 2" to the in between space. At least the 2 other ones fit.



My only saving grace is that I don't think the 3 baskets would look very good all on the bottom shelf anyway. Nor would there be space for the 2 biggest ones side by side on the left of the indent, and only the smallest is small enough to fit where the indent is. I could saw off the handles, too, if I really wanted to put the big basket there.

So the big one goes on the very top of the unit. Just picture it up there... Forgot to take a picture of that.



I didn't really start moving stuff into the unit until 2 weeks after it was installed. See, it took us much longer to build and finish than we thought, and we finished sealing everything about an hour before leaving (my parents' house) to go install it at my apartment, so I still had to sand the rough surface left by the sealer. And I didn't have time until 2 weeks later...

Part 3 is now up: click over to see how I've organized my shelves!
And if you'd like to see it in action, check out this post. I can easily fit 30 hangers on there, if there's more which has happened then it takes longer to dry is all.
Thanks for reading, until next time!



Psst: If you enjoyed this project, be sure to visit my Projects page for more! Or check out the popular posts (in the right sidebar----->).




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