Get Organized with These 5 Frugal DIYs

Less Debt More Wine is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Keeping with the theme of spring cleaning this month, I thought I’d share with you some easy and frugal DIYs and tips to help organize everything.

Organizing Your Office with Frugal DIYs

If there is one area in my apartment that suffers from severe clutter syndrome it is my office. Likely because it pulls double duty as a home-based employee it is my day job office. It also serves as my office for my blog and other online ventures. So how do I keep it all organized?

Lots and lots of office supplies. Lots of binders, folders, hard drives, and a kick-ass (if I do say so myself) filing cabinet. Now how to get these things without spending a fortune:

Office Supplies

Office supply stores can be so expensive, $6-$13 dollars for a 3″ binder, seriously?! I currently use 3 – 3″ binders and 10- 1″ binders that can run anywhere from $2-$4 each. If I were to go shopping at an office supply store I’d have spent $38-$79 on binders alone, no thank you.

Enter the thrift store, many thrift stores have office supplies in great shape that you can pick up for super cheap. Shopping at places like Goodwill and Salvation Army I spend, $0.25-$0.50 on 1″ binders and maybe $1.50-$3 on 3″ binders bringing my total cost down to $8.50 – $14.

A difference of $29.50 – $65, that is an entire tank of gas if not two or three tanks. Long story short, don’t waste money at office supply stores. Even if you aren’t a big fan of thrift stores and for buying some items I can kind of understand why, but for office supplies that are so easy to clean, there is no excuse.

File Cabinet DIY

Buying a file cabinet new can also be pretty expensive with prices for a small two door file cabinet ranging from $50 to several hundred dollars. Once again enter the thrift store. Find a file cabinet the size you want, make sure the drawers work and then take it home. Don’t concern yourself with how it looks or even how it holds the files, these are all easy things to change.

Cost of Frugal DIY File Cabinet

File Cabinet: $12 1 can of spray paint: $5 Two Frames for decoration (optional): $5 File Folder Frame (since mine didn’t have them): $10

Total: $32, though you may spend as little as $17

Savings: $33-$18 Here is my File Cabinet Transformation (home from the thrift store on the right & fixed up on the left): All I did was clean the cabinet, glue the frames on the front, spray paint the entire thing and finally put in the file folder frames. Total time (not including drying time): 20 minutes

Organizing Your Kitchen

One of the most chaotic places in my kitchen is the drawers, I tend to just throw things in them, I know, bad Liz. But then I saw this quick and easy DIY, so simple. DIY Drawer Dividers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmpq2QaE2Rw

Organizing Your Closet

[spacer[ Closets can be tricky, because some of your organization options may be limited by the size of the closet, but personally I have found these to be most helpful.

Behind the Door Shoe Holder

I put this on my closet door, but if you have a sliding closet door you could put it on your bedroom door. It keeps me from tripping over my shoes constantly and makes it easy to find the pair. I definitely wasted time in the past combing through my pile of shoes (I have 15 pairs in all including slippers, sandals, and boots) holding one shoe and looking for its mate. Total cost: $5-$15.

Handbag Hooks

To keep my bags organized I use various hooks, I have a couple command hooks I use but since they can get pricey I also have a multi-hook I picked up from the IKEA as-is section, for $4, they no longer make them at IKEA but it is similar to this $8 multi-hook. That way all my bags (full disclosure I have 6) are easy to see and easy to grab. I’m not having to detangle a mess of straps to get the bag I want to use. Total Cost: $4-$10.

Organizing Your Accessories

DIY Accessory Holder

I created this out of necessity and not wanting to spend money, but after it worked so well I’ve continued to redecorate it to match my various decor changes throughout the years and various moves.

Items needed:

• 1 Cork board or corkboard/whiteboard: $5-$10 depending if you can find one at a thrift store or buy new.
• 1/2 yard of fabric: cost varies depending on the fabric, but you could easily get 1/2 a yard for $1.50-$2.40 with coupons or $2.50-$4 without
• 12 Wine Corks – save em up after drinking wine, if you don’t have any I guarantee you have a friend who does. If you really can find some for free you can buy wine corks online.
• 12 screws (1.5″) – You likely have some on hand, or you can buy some new for $5-7 or if you live near an IKEA you can fill a bag of odds and ends including screws in the As-Is section for $1
• Glue – whatever glue you have will work fine.

Directions: Cut fabric to size of cork board, glue fabric to the board. Screw wine corks to the front and you’re done. For a bit more space use a thumbtack to poke holes for stud earrings and keep a few on there to hold other earrings. Total Cost:$7.5-$19

Organizing Your Bathroom

Small boxes are your friends. Whether you buy them or just collect them because you know they will be great for organizing. Obviously, one will cost you money, the other will be free. To hide the marketing on the free boxes use some wrapping paper to make it look nice and match all the other boxes. You can get even more organized by nesting the boxes so you have multiple compartments.

Wrapping it Up with a Bow on Top

With a little time and effort, you can get your home in tip-top shape without spending a fortune. A few DIYs can not only help to beautify your home but also to help you stay organized. Whether it is your closet, office, bathroom or accessories, I hope one of these DIYs helps you.

Do you have any other Frugal DIYs you like to use? Let me know in the comments!