Keep Scarves Visible & Organized I love to wear scarves but won't think about it unless they're visible and ready to wear. In a walk-in closet or swinging-door-type closet, glue numerous clothespins to the door (or a wall if a door isn't available). Then clip up your scarves - maybe two or three per clothespin - to the door using only one corner of the scarf. It will be easy to see your scarves and they will stay wrinkle-free. Scarves can really extend a wardrobe because they can create so many different outfits.

 

Don't Throw Away Your Empty Cereal Boxes! When you need to organize your children's books, such as coloring books or paperbacks or you want to clean up your home office from the clutter of magazines and catalogs, magazine holders are a wonderful but expensive way to sort and store them. A cheaper alternative is to take your empty cereal boxes and cut them to form the shape of a magazine holder or simply cut them to a desired height for children's books. Let the children paint them, apply stickers or paste pictures cut out of old magazines you are going to recycle. When finished you will have a decorative way to store all those messy magazines, catalogs, and children's books, as well as a way to entertain the children for a couple hours. Other variations include using large laundry detergent boxes and covering your boxes with fabrics and ribbons.

 

More Shoe Storage Space in the Closet If you're like me one over-the-door shoe rack couldn't possibly store all of your shoes. The fabric/plastic pocket ones can easily be mounted on the back walls of your closet behind your clothes. I nailed picture hangers (the heavy-duty kind that hold 25 pounds or more) the same width as the holes in the shoe organizer (where the metal hanging hooks would go) and hung the shoe organizer on the picture hanger. I now have three hanging behind my clothes, which is just great for storing shoes!

 

Yet Another Use For Wipes Boxes

If you're a crafter don't throw away those used Pampers Wipes boxes. They work great for holding bottles of acrylic paint. The box is the perfect height plus it helps contain any leaks or spills. You can get quite a few bottles in a box too. Just mark the box clearly with a black permanent marker. To be more organized use more than one box, labeling them accordingly--i.e. 'pastels', 'primary'--so you can grab the right one at a glance.

 

Headband Holder

 Headbands can be bulky and difficult to store in a drawer. Also, if left down, they can sometimes get broken. To solve this problem, I bought a small, inexpensive towel rod for about 4 dollars. I mounted it to my closet wall. Now, I just hang my headbands on the rod. It makes for easy storage, plus I don't have to hunt through a drawer to find one right for my outfit--I can easily see all of them at once.

 

Flag Storage Are you one of the thousands of people that put a flag outside for every holiday/season change. I found a way to store them and locate them with ease. Use the empty roll from Christmas wrapping paper. Just roll up your flag, slide it inside the roll, and use a big marker to label the roll for finding it easily. Example: Valentine, Birthday, Football, Halloween, Christmas.

 

Hiding Your Bed Linens

We live in a small home with limited closet space. I gathered all my bed linens and matched up the sheets and pillow cases. I store the fitted flat-sheet, pillow cases and an extra blanket inside the pillow sham. I throw it on the bed and it looks like a pillow! Now when the kids need to change the sheets or get cold they just get into their sham and get what they need. And for the sheets that are not in the shams, I just store them in their matching pillow case. It stores nicely and when you need something, you're grabbing the whole package all at once!

 

Books & Tapes For Employee Library We wanted to start a library at work but it wasn't 'in the budget' and there was no space available for it. Instead we asked employees to bring in their own books/video tapes and audio cassettes that they are willing to share. Each employee keeps their items in their office and developed their own check out system. We have an intranet site where employees can see what is available and who to check it out with - works great and didn't cost a cent!

 

Organizing Sales Receipt

While doing our 1999 income taxes I spent hours looking through a large box that we kept for receipts. Some of the receipts were from previous years making it more difficult to separate out the ones we needed. It was such a hassle that I decided to find a better way to manage my receipts for 2000.  I purchased a letter-sized expanding file from a local office supply store for under five dollars and began to file all my receipts. At the end of December, I emptied the file and stored the year's receipts by each month in regular mailing envelopes. I am now re-using the expandable file for 2001. Now, I can find any receipt quickly and effortlessly.

 

Photograph Organizing

 I began sorting the pictures into piles according to the following categories: each child's birth 1st birthday 2nd birthday, etc. -- Christmas 1981, 1982, etc. -- Vacation 1981, 1982, etc. -- each holiday by year, and finally a 1981 bag, 1982 bag, etc. for all of the odd pictures that weren't by one of my key topics. These were placed into individual zipper storage bags (generic from a discount store!) and labeled with a permanent marker. Now, when I am in the mood to work on my new scrapbook hobby, I choose which Christmas, or child's birthday, etc. and have all pictures at my fingertips. 

 

Another Way to Store Plastic Bags When I 'm through with a roll of paper towels instead of throwing away the cardboard tube I use it to store my plastic grocery bags, newspaper plastic bags, etc. I just keep stuffing bags into the tube until it's full, then start on a new one. All of the tubes can be banded together with rubber bands and placed where you might need the bags. I have found that three tubes banded together fit nicely in drawers and don't take up much room. You could also place the tubes in empty cereal boxes (decorated, if you want) and file away the boxes.

 

Rid the Garage of Messy Bags For Free Are you sick of all the half full bags (fertilizer, potting soil, cat litter, animals food, etc.) in the garage that get wet and soggy or rip leaving a mess in the garage? My solution was to go to my local grocery store and ask the bakery for their empty frosting buckets with lids. They have given me them for free. I bring them home, thoroughly clean them, remove the labels and make new laminated labels or print clearly on the bucket. This has saved me from having to throw out half full bags of ruined fertilizer and dog food. I also use these buckets to store flour and sugar that I buy in bulk when on sale.

 

Shoe Boxes When you purchase a new pair of shoes don't throw the box out. Instead get a Polaroid camera, take a picture of the shoes, then tape the picture to the outside of the box. This prevents shuffling through every box of shoes you have to find the right ones. Stack them neatly on the shelf, and avoid space taking shoe racks.

 

Organization-vacation Instead of spending money going on a vacation that you can't afford-spend time with your family organizing everyone's things. It will surprise you how many things that you have bought twice because you could not find them the first time. At the end of all the organization have a yard sale and spend the money on a day trip and see the local history and enjoy the day knowing you did it as a family.

 

Easy Donations I keep a couple grocery bags or a cardboard box in an unobtrusive spot. I put old clothes, blankets, books, or any other 'stuff' that I run across that I no longer need, use or want in the box. When the box is full, I just wait for the local charity pick-ups to call (we have several in my city), tell them I have some donations, and put the box outside on the morning of the pick-up. No more running around frantically the night before the pick-up scrounging for things to give them. And the day of the pick-up, I start a new box.

 

Jewelry Organized Easily To protect and easily find your precious jewelry take empty small boxes or boxes that jewelry or other small things came in. Open and lay the box and the lid in your dresser drawer. Lay your jewelry in the box bottoms and lids. Now when you open your dresser drawer you can see all your lovely jewels all at once and when you close the drawer it keeps them safe and dust free.

 

Bulk Storage If you need containers for your bulk food like flour or pasta, etc. go to your children's school. Ask the manager of the school cafeteria if they have any or will save some for you. I used to work for school food service and many useful containers are simply thrown away! Some are plastic and some are glass but they both work very well.

 

Home-made Bill Organizer For two years I have been purchasing a 'bill organizer' from a catalog company for about 12 dollars. I decided I could do even better on my own this year: I bought paper pocket folders on sale for 10 cents each and recycled a one inch binder my kids were through with. Each folder is labeled with the month and a computer written list of bills is taped to the inside.

 

Organizing All Those Store Receipts Many of times I have heard from a friend "I just bought this item and it broke and I can't find the receipt to make a return! Oh well, I will have to just throw it out." That's money lost.  Just use the long envelopes from the utility bills and label the different categories on the front. (Grocery store, Visa, Dept stores, etc.) Inside the individual envelopes, group the receipts from the same store with paper clips then just rubberband all the envelopes together and keep in a drawer. Also paper clip credit card statements and keep them in a pocketed (colored) paper folder.  All receipts and statements are kept in one drawer. Always keep your merchandise credit slips in your wallet next to your money, so you don't forget to use them.

 

Use For Single Socks I save the socks that have lost their mates and use them when I need to move or store breakable glassware. Just slip a glass down in the sock and tuck the top of the sock down in the glass. For added protection you can then slip the wrapped glassed in whiskey boxes that already have the dividers.

 

Use E-mail When opening mail after coming home from work I often find something I'd like to call on or respond to. But, by then, the place or business is closed. What helps me to remember to call is emailing myself at work. In the email, type the company and/or the person, phone number, and a short description of what you want to say. The next day at work, when you stop for a break or lunch, just pull up the email, and all of your information is right there in front of you.

 

Labeling Freezer Storage Bags Since I reuse my zip-top freezer storage bags I put a piece of clear tape on the front and write the contents on the tape before freezing. It washes right off and the bag can be re-labeled and reused many times without writing directly on the bag.

 

Organizing Recipes

 Buy student duo-tangs or binders and dividers at the dollar store and plastic sheet protectors. Drop your clippings or copies into the page protectors you can put them back to back for double the capacity and put them in the binders. This way they are protected from fading and if you spill on them while cooking they easily wipe off as well. Dividers help you categorize them if you're that organized and buy a binder to match your kitchen decor.

 

Free Diskette Storage Boxes Get free nickel storage boxes from your bank or get used ones from a grocery/retail store. These are the boxes that $100.00 in nickels come in when a retail customer orders bulk, but anyone can ask for them. The retail stores get a new one each time they order so they will just be tossed out unless you can recycle it. They are an exact fit for your diskettes. These will hold at least 60 diskettes each and since they are a little taller than the diskettes they can be stacked safely. You can just flip through your disks like a file. There are several types. The ones I use have a fold over top (which I cut off). I covered mine with wood grain looking contact paper and they match my computer desk. The bank will give them to you flat and you 'assemble' them by folding them together.

 

Camera Film Labels The company that I send my film to be developed always sends a sheet of labels to use for future orders. I make sure that some of these are placed in my camera case. When I'm finished with a roll of film I place one of the labels on it and put the used roll back in the plastic film container. This also eliminates the confusion if I have a new or used roll of film.

 

Tea Tip If you're like me and love various teas then you probably have a cabinet/drawer filled with all those tea boxes. Well! Cut the label off the box (generally the flap) and put it in a quart-size baggy, then put the tea bags in behind it, and store them all file-like in a little plastic rectangular basket. I freed up a ton of space doing that! Plus, now all I have to do is flip through the baggies instead of scrounging through all the boxes, and I know at-a-glance how much is left of a particular flavor!!

 

Find Earrings Fast Tired of fumbling in a jewelry box for a pair of earrings? Buy some heavy duty screen at a hardware store.(they can cut to order). Frame a piece in a pretty 8x10 or 5x7 picture frame. Place all your earrings and tack pins through the screen and fasten with the earring backs.

 

Square Storage Always store everything that you can in square storage containers. The only things that need to be round are your mixing bowls and pie pans. Our cupboards and refrigerators. are all square in design and round items take up more room. Think about your next purchases and plan ahead.

 

Cleaning Out the Closets If you are like me and can't seem to live without everything in your closet...then put some of the clothes and items you have not worn in a while and store them temporarily in the basement. Then after 6-9 months if you haven't even thought about those items then donate them or designate them for a garage sale. This way you can have the feeling that you didn't just throw stuff away at first. They are just relocated for now. And Voila! Instant closet space!

 

Freezer Inventory I have two refrigerator freezers and an upright freezer each in different rooms. It's hard to know which freezer has what. Shuffling around all that food was aggravating. I lost a lot of food until I came up with this idea to organize it all. I enter all items on a computer word processing program. I have selected each freezer to have a different color of print. Enter food name amount, shelf location and the date it was put in the freezer. Each item is under a heading (black print) meats, veggies, etc. I can access my inventory list from the computer scrren or use a print out. I adjust the inventory as I use items and add new stuff. Now at a glance I can see what I have. No more hassles.

 

Packing For a Trip  You can make a Master List of all the things you always pack-toiletries clothes shoes, tickets .... Then sub categories. Take the list to a store that has a laminating machine. Keep it in your luggage and then when you get ready to pack you just check off what you've packed with a dry erase pen.

Entered on 05/2/2000 by Lisa Conwell, Tx

 

Milk: It Does a Body and Clutter Good! After you finish your half gallon or quart of milk wash it out thoroughly with soap and cut off about 3-4 inches from the bottom. After you have collected a few tape them together so they fit in your drawers. Cover the outside with contact paper or paint if you want it to look pretty. Voila- you have cheap storage compartments that can be used to organize small items. The sizes are great for storing small items such as rubber bands, socks, make-up, hair accessories, etc. I use them in my kitchen, office, and bathroom drawers.

 

Recycle Those Baby Food Jars Many people are always wondering what to do with those Baby Food Jars. They have many uses. You can use them to store any little craft items loose buttons pennies found in the laundry, I often put skinny crayons that you get from restaurants in them, I have a Picture Hanging Kit that has jars of various nails, etc. If you run out of uses you can always donate them to your local schools - they sometimes use them science projects.

 

Tackle That Mess of Mixed up Jewelry Ever been in a hurry to put on your finishing touch by looking for just the right jewelry to accessorize your look only to find that earrings are tangled and mixed up? I found that tackle boxes can be used for neatly storing jewelry. Makes it easy to find and are all sorted by pairs because they come with dividers and many different sizes besides the added plus that they are fairly inexpensive. You might want to pick up a small size to use for traveling. They keep the jewelry from tangling up and getting damaged or lost. They are light weight also. Pick them up at any number of discount stores in the sporting department.

 

Kid-proof Hope Chests I so desperately wanted hope chests for my 2 daughters but it is not exactly a need. So I bought two 33 gallon tote boxes for about 7.00 a piece. They are going to decorate them with fabric paint and jewels. The best part is that as they get older and their tastes change they can scrape off the paint and start over or just purchase another tote box for that part of their life. And if their one-year old brother gets the crayons some day it is easily removed.

 

Keeping Sandwich Size Ziplock Bags I discovered this idea when the boxes that held my sandwich size ziplock or fold type baggies tore up. I took a 20 oz plastic soda bottle cut off the bottom and store them in there. One container holds quite a few and you can keep the ziplock ones separated from the fold over type. I know other people have recommended that you store the plastic grocery bags in the 2-liter size bottles. Same principle

 

Organize by Activity In my coat closet I keep tote bags (one for each organization I belong to) with all the necessary paraphernalia for the next meeting. If I'm in a hurry when it comes time to leave for the meeting all I have to do is grab the right bag and I'm set to go!

 

Easy Filing Space If you need a lamp table (and could use more filing space too) buy a 2-drawer metal filing cabinet and a 30-inch round. Cover with a floor-length round tablecloth and a decorative small square cloth. Add a lamp, and use as a bedside table or a reading table by your favorite chair. No one will ever guess that under your pretty cloths are two filing drawers, to help organize your financial records or just keep private papers at hand.

 

Home Appliance Receipts and Warranties To always know where important papers are I keep a looseleaf binder with clear plastic sleeves and for each appliance I type a tab and then alphabetically file with all data for that appliance in its own plastic sleeve.

Wallet Contents To keep track of contents of your wallet in case of theft take important things out and lay together on copy machine. Make a copy of front and back. This will put the contents on 1 or 2 pages hopefully and you will have important numbers to call etc. in case your wallet is ever stolen.     Makeup Storage Made Easy Plastic silverware trays make great organizers for bathroom drawers, which tend to be narrow. Makeup, cotton balls, Q-tips and other supplies fit neatly in the silverware slots, and the trays can usually be found at garage sales for .25 cents or less.     Plastic Container Lids I keep an old shoe box next to my plastic storage containers to keep the lids in. It seems to be the perfect size for those Tupperware and Rubbermaid container lids. You can pull it out of the cupboard easily and flip through the lids to find the right one.   Out of Season Storage For out of season items (hats, mittens, scarves, etc.) I bought a large plastic garbage can, took off lid, and had my brother cut a piece of wood in a circle large enough to cover it. I then found an old round tablecloth, threw it over the garbage can, and use it as an table in my living room. Just the right height when I'm sitting in my chair, clipping coupons! Handy, too, for drinks, etc. Every season I change the stored items -- no worrying about bugs, water damage, and the space is well used.   Waterproofing Your Fireproof Box When my waterbed broke, I discovered that my fireproof box was not in any way waterproof. Realizing that although my documents may survive a fire, they would most definitely not survive the water from the hoses of a fire department. I now place all of my important papers inside a gallon size Ziplock bag and then place it in the fireproof box. Hopefully tragedy will not strike but at least now my documents have a better chance of survival of the elements.     Never Lose Pictures Again! As we all know, the photo labs sometimes lose your pictures and there is no way to recover valuable lost memories. Put your name and address on a small piece of white paper and tape it to the inside of your lens cap. When you're ready to use your last picture, take a shot of the lens cap so even if your order is lost they can mail your pictures and negatives to you.   Storing Coolers and Drink Jugs When storing a cooler or drinking jugs, wash them out and towel or air dry. Before storing add some wrinkled-up newspaper inside and close or replace the lid. Moisture and odors will not make the cooler smell funny because the paper absorbs the them.   Notebooks Organize Activities List  activities, plus kids' schools, church, etc., in 3-ring binders for everything. One per child for school calendar, weekly newsletter, rosters, curriculum notices, etc. A church notebook of sections for class I teach, Bible studies I take, etc. One for each volunteer group. I go to a meeting; I grab the appropriate notebook. Edit as frequently as needed. Keep blank paper in each for notes. No more searching through piles of paper or carrying loose papers.    Storage for Winter/Summer Clothing We store our winter sweaters and coats in our suitcases. Add a fabric softener sheet to the suitcase and "pack" this clothing away. The moths will not be able to get into the suitcases and we have extra closet space. During the winter we store our summer clothing in the suitcases.   Seasonal Storage When switching your wardrobe from winter to summer and vise versa rather than fold your clothes, roll them. Use empty paper towel rolls and roll your shirts, sweaters, etc. around them. This eliminates wrinkles and rolled clothes do not take up much room. You can then store them in trunks, boxes etc.   Reduce Car Clutter Are your kids toys all over the floorboard and backseat of your car? Make good use of those canvas tote bags you have collected from shopping malls or promotional giveaways. Simply hang the straps around the headrest of your front seat, allowing the bag to hang in the backseat area. Have the kids keep their toys, crayons, coloring books, etc. in these bags. You could also use one for trash.     Food Container Organizer If you have a problem with plastic food containers getting lost in deep cupboards, this tip may help. Get a laundry basket and store the containers in the basket. That way you can just pull out the basket and search through it for just the right container, without having to crawl inside the cupboard!   Untangled Christmas Lights I save the bread bag ties and use them to wrap up my Christmas lights. After they come off the tree, wrap them around your arm as you would an extension cord and then twist the ties around the bundle in at least 4 places. They store very nicely and next year you won't have to untangle them. Glass Jars Instead of throwing away those empty glass mayo and salad dressing jars (among other types of glass jars with screw top lids...), reuse them to store everything from buttons to cotton balls to beads and foreign coins. I reuse small jars with lids in my bathroom to hold my home made tooth-paste and other home made body care products. In the kitchen, old jars can hold wooden spoons, chopsticks, or dry beans. Anything is possible, just use your imagination.   Never Pay a Store's Warranty Filing Fee When purchasing a major appliance or electronics item a thought for future aid is to take the purchase receipt with warranty information and place it in an envelope. Tape the envelope to the rear or underside of the item so as it can be found if needed in the future for service. This will reduce the number of pieces of paper in your "Receipt/Important Papers File" and make it easier to care for your investment under warranty.   Compact Linen Storage Blankets, towels and sheets take up a lot of space when stored. You can store at least twice as much in the same space by putting them in plastic trash bags and sucking the air out with your vacuum cleaner. The stronger your vacuum the more compact the contents will become. A shop vacuum will compress a quilt or stack of towels to about 1/3 of their original size. Put the things in a trash bag, insert the vacuum hose inside an item so it won't suck a hole in the bag, wrap the top around the vacuum cleaner hose and hold it snug, then turn on the vacuum. When the package stops shrinking, quickly pull the hose out of the bag and twist the top tightly closed. Since trash bags are not perfectly sealed, they will eventually reinflate so fill a container or shelf so they will be tightly packed when they reinflate.   Shoebox Sock Organizer Use a shoebox in your dresser drawers to keep socks or hose from spilling over on to other clothes in the drawer. Works great for small baby items too!   Free Packing Material Plastic grocery bags make great FREE packing material. Unlike crumpled newspaper, they don't get newsprint on the items and they are more shock absorbent. I use them to pack Christmas ornaments, good China, etc. They are also perfect for shipping delicate items or breakables and weigh next to nothing so they don't increase the cost to ship.   2-Month Calendar Keep a calendar with 2-months visible at all times. Make from a large picture frame and glass, which can be custom or refurbished cast-off. 5-weeks of calendar lines are on a piece of white poster board behind the glass with space at the top of two sections for month, and a space between months for notes. Dates and to-do/activity items are put on the glass with colored grease pencils. Events can be changed easily; when one month is completed, that is erased and the next month is added, i.e. January and February are current, January ends, March is added in its place.   Organize Your Thoughts! Keep a steno (6" x 9") notebook with you at all times (these are really inexpensive). Most mid-size purses will accommodate the pad. Use to jot down to-do lists, unexpected phone numbers, shopping lists, expenses, and anything else that may come to mind. You can then transfer the info into its proper place when you have the time. When the steno pad is full, date it and file it away for future reference, business and/or tax purposes. No more searching for little scraps of paper for needed info!   Keys to the Shed and to Success A rule of thumb that I like to live by is: If an object has not been used in a year then it is time to throw it out. This allows for a 'clutter-free' lifestyle.   To Do List Squared This form can be made on your computer or hand drawn. Just take an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper, draw lines across and then vertically, making the page full of squares. Write any task you can think of that needs attention, filling up each square. As you complete each task, cross out that square. It eliminates scraps of paper being misplaced or post-it-notes being lost, and is a motivating tool to see how much you've accomplished. I attach my sheet to a clip board and use it at my desk at work.   Bed Sheet Storage Store your sheet sets inside their matching pillow cases. Fold the pillow case around the sheets inside of it for tidy stacking in the linen closet. No more searching for the flat sheet that matches the fitted one you want to use. Everything is neatly tucked inside of it's own "bag".   Storage for Gift Wrap I hoard gift wrap especially after the holidays. Instead of investing in the underbed storage containers that cost around $15, I decided to ask a nearby flower shop for the shipping boxes for long stem roses. The boxes are the perfect length and you are recycling the boxes that usually get broken down.   Keep Tips Where You'll Use Them To organize all those money saving tips you've collected from various sources, try keeping them in a notebook (recycled, of course). Attach small clippings to larger pages -- punch whole pages into the notebook. Use a separate notebook for each area of the house where you'll use the tip. Keep the cooking/kitchen tip notebook in the kitchen near your recipe books -- the laundry tip notebook next to the detergent -- the cleaning tips book under the bathroom cabinet, etc. No more searching through a large pile for the solution to your next problem.   Shoe Boxes Shoe boxes makes great inexpensive storage units. My local Shop-Co, Wal-Mart and K-Mart stores are more than happy to save their shoe boxes for me. My daughter's room is filled with shoe box lined shelves to hold all of her treasures. The boxes can also be easily decorated with cut-outs, stickers, or left over spray paint. They also provide great "under the Bed" storage.   Laundry Space My laundry room is small, and there wasn't enough room to add a clothes rack, so I got a shower curtain rod, and hung it width wise across the room, and now not only do I have someplace to hang my clothes right out of the dryer, but it doesn't take up any floor space.   Organized Coat Closet I purchased an over-the-door shoe bag (the kind with pockets on each side) to hang in my coat closet. I place mittens, gloves, scarves, hats and umbrellas in the pockets. No more crawling around on the closet floor to find a missing glove,   Storage of Extention Cords Instead of tossing your extra extension cords in a box and having a mangled mess, fold in half several times and slide the cardboard roll from a used toilet paper roll around it. If you wanted, you could put contact paper around the cardboard roll to decorate it.   Going Postal Be aware of free services your post office offers. (1) They will hold your mail for up to 30 days (vacation hold). Leave a written note for your mail person in your mailbox with the date you wish them to start holding your mail. (2) You can order stamps online - www.usps.gov or by phone (1-800-stamp24) 24 hours a day, saving a trip to the post office. The stamps will be delivered to your home. You can access postal rate info online for parcels and large flats. Your local post office will also tell you this info over the phone if you know how much your parcel weighs. Outgoing letters can be left in your mailbox to be picked up by your mail person. Get to know your mail person. He/she will pick up your outgoing parcels , too, if you are known as a kind and considerate customer.   Jewelry/Earrings To store jewelry/earrings I wanted a way to separate them to see what I had -- without a big jewelry box --I searched and decided to use foam egg cartons. I tore the top off and they stack in my drawer nice and neat.   Recycle Spaghetti Sauce Jars Don't throw away those jars. Soak them in hot water to get the label off and use them for cabinet storage. Store rice, pasta, oatmeal, any dry food. In your frigde, store any liquid or leftovers.   Filing Cereal boxes are great for filing (when on sale and empty). Cut off top part and discard. Next, cut both sides of narrow side down half-way and bend it into the bottom. This works great for magazines or papers to keep up with them and not buy expensive plastic file boxes. Cover with contact paper to look nice, and for added support.   Sea of plastic? Do you have an ocean of plastic bags taking over a closet or drawer? Try using an old tissue box to store them. Stuff them in and just pull them out when you need one. This will keep them at bay, and you will have more room for other things.   Guest helps I hang an over the door shoe organizer on the back of the door of our guest room. In each of the different clear pockets I may include the following: a map of the local area, sun lotion, soaps and shampoos (usually the free hotel ones or samples), note cards, a good paper back book (with a note saying to take it with them if they haven't finished), candies, a flash light, a variety of medications and personal items, a couple of stamps, postcards from the surrounding area, etc. My guests seem to really appreciate it. And it's amazing how many of these little things are free or very inexpensive.   Dirty Clothes For people with a small income living in a small apartment, space is money. When you don't have closet space for all your dirty clothes, keep them in the washer or dryer until it's time to do laundry.   Great boxes! We buy our milk at Costco, which sells 2 gallons together, packed in a cardboard box with handles. These are GREAT boxes to reuse around the house because they are very strong and have handle holes. We cover them with pretty contact paper and use them for the kids' toys (easy for them to lug around the house), files, magazines, etc.   Taming the Grocery Bags I use a tissue box (the smaller kind) to store my plastic grocery bags. Each box can hold about 20 bags. Simply leave the handles from the previous bag sticking up through the opening; insert the next bag through the handles and push into box. The bags will then pop up. I keep one in the kitchen, one near the cat litter box, and one near the bathroom trash can to use for liners. A good recycling tip.   Avon Boxes Find someone who sells Avon and ask for boxes. I have found use for these sturdy boxes and will not buy ones at the store again.  Here are few things you can do with them: 1 - They are are great to use as a filing cabinet. Cover the box with adhesive paper of your choice. Put in dividers (ones used for notebooks) and file whatever you want. As a teacher these have come in real handy when the budget at school is zero. 2 - Make a special box for your child or children on a trip. Fill with all the books, games, etc., you think they'll like. Write their name on it and let them draw a picture on it. 3 - Cover your Avon box with bright colored adhesive paper and use to store toys in your child's room. They stack up rather well. Because they are sturdy, they hold up pretty well. 4 - Avon boxes hold my Christmas ornaments and keep well in the attic. I just label and store.   Cereal Boxes Don't through away those cereal boxes! They make great dividers for a card file, or a bill paying box, or dividers for file cabinet. Cut down empty boxes. Discard the ends so that you have nice flat pieces to easily store in a manila folder. As needed cut cardboard sheets to size. I am an artist and I am always using them as a disposable paint palette. No clean up. A big piece works well as a quickie dust pan. Make the kids flash cards. Paste pictures on them for stiffer backing. Book covers using 3 rings. Paper dolls etc.etc.   Great Toy Boxes My kids like having all of their toys separated( barbies,babies, dishes, etc.) Instead of buying separate little bins for each group, check with a store in your area for milk crates. Wash them well when you get home and then spray paint them with an enamel paint in any color you chose. They look great, stack well and the kids can see which one they want without emptying the toy box. Saved me from picking them all up every night before bed, the kids actually like to put their toys away.   After-Christmas Sales Since your new calendar or planner comes out about the same time your after-Christmas bargains come home, write yourself a note on the August page reminding yourself of what you purchased (lights, cards, paper, etc.). For more secret items, direct yourself to where your list of surprises is.    If you have a tip that makes your life easier, please share it with us. I will post your tip.   Any tip that does not fit in the above categories will receive  a new category will be listed! Send an email to Cactus Connie.  [ Listening Skills ] [ Easy ways to get some sleep ] [ Kids ] [ 100 Ways To Reduce Stress ] [ Make-up Tips ] [ Housework: Tips for easier housework ] [ organization tips ] [ Skin Care ] [ Easy Pet Care Tips ] [ Jokes and Funny Stories ]   Back to Circle of Christian Women