Achieve Pinterest-Worthy Organization – Without Breaking the Bank
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I have this love/hate relationship going on with Pinterest. I could spend hours combing through it, liking, pinning, and saving all the amazing ideas for my home. The social media platform is an incredible way to share great ideas from creative people all over the world and it’s especially handy for visually transmitting smart life and home tips.
But the reality is that so many of those pretty pins I absolutely love so much might as well not be a picture of a perfectly organized home. Instead, the image might as well be a pile of money. Too often, I’d have to splurge and spend way outside what my budget allows in order to create that Pinterest-worthy look.
The good news is that you don’t really have to buy every premade organizational tool on the market in order to get a room that looks like it jumped off someone’s Perfect Home board. Here are some Pinterest-worthy home organization ideas that won’t make you break the bank.
Start by cutting the clutter. Let’s be honest. Most of us have way too much stuff. The easiest way to start creating Pinterest-worthy organization in your home is to go through the things you already have, and sort everything into one of three piles: sell, give away or trash. This only costs you a bit of time, and if you come up with a sizeable “sell” pile, you can actually make a few bucks. Next, take the paperless plunge. Besides for the numerous environmental benefits, paper clutter is the biggest organizational killer. Using an app like Manilla completely eliminates the need for bill filing, and what do you know-it is free.
What can you reuse or repurpose? Before you run out to the store and splurge on fancy organizers, consider what you already have in your home that could be reused or repurposed. Hang on to empty glass bottles and jars, clean them thoroughly, and then use them to hold supplies in your office or small, easily-misplaced items like screws and nails in the garage. CD containers make for excellent ribbon storage, and hangers can be reshaped and used in a myriad different ways. If you are the crafty type, fabric and cardboard makes for an excellent combination: you can either use cardboard to help you store fabric, or you can wrap cardboard boxes in fabric to create pretty storage bins. Other potential storage items that you might already have on hand include coffee tins, tissue boxes and shoe boxes.
Be honest about your needs. When you’ve reused everything you can from your home, reevaluate what still needs to be organized. You might be able to keep papers in shoeboxes, but sorting through those boxes to find important pieces that are at the bottom of the stack might not be the most efficient system. You may want to buy an appropriately-sized filing cabinet that suits your needs. Likewise, you might only have a few art supplies that can coexist together in one neatly-kept storage bin. In this case, you probably don’t need to run out to a craft supply store and purchase an expensive, premade organizer. These are just examples, and your individual needs will be unique to you. The key is to be honest with yourself about what you really need – and to skip spending money on the stuff you don’t.
Now keep it organized! Once you’ve cleaned out your clutter and repurposed what you already had, you need to keep yourself organized. When you can see everything and immediately know what you have on hand, you’re more likely to use what you already have instead of heading out to buy more. Arrange your things and supplies in a way that makes sense to you, and then make sure you know exactly what each storage container includes. Create labels so everybody in the household can be on board.
Getting Pinterest-worthy organization for your home is possible, and you don’t have to break the bank to do it! You simply need a bit of creativity, and willingness to clean out your junk before you start, and the ability to repurpose a few things to suit your organizational needs. Going through this process will take time, but it will be worth it when the picture of your smartly-organized home is the next big pin hitting everyone’s boards with the caption, “this is such a good idea – why didn’t I think of that?!”
Carol Pierce is an aspiring entrepreneur with a thing for marketing, personal finance, and coffee. Her single biggest accomplishment to date was graduating from college debt free, and she is now utilizing the internet to pull off more great things. Carol loves people, words, and color coded closets.
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