Worth repeating: Storage solutions hiding in your house

9 December 2024

I wrote this post a couple of years ago and when I stumbled on it today, it made me smile. All the pictures were taken in the house we sold this fall, but looking around my current office, I see that those storage solutions almost are still in place. That’s a real endorsement!

Next time you’re inclined to go to Target or the Container Store to buy some bins or other storage solutions, I encourage you to take a look around your house and see what you might already have on hand that you can use.

I started noticing all the containers I use to organize my things that initially came into my house for another reason. Here are some ideas:

Vases. If you’re like many people, you have a collection have vases that have come into your life over the years. The sheer variety of sizes and shapes make them an excellent first stop if you’re looking store something. Here’s an example from my home: I ordered some pens from Amazon that (to my surprise) came individually packaged. I couldn’t just put them in a jar as is my custom (see below), so I pulled out a vase. It’s working beautifully!

Jars. I love jars so much. (Especially yogurt jars!) I use them for a variety of things (including to hold eyeglasses), but my main use for them is to hold pens. Here’s a snap of one of the shelves in my office that holds pens in jars and drinking glasses.

I also use canning jars to hold paper clips and binder clips.

Pretty boxes that came with other things. Back when I used to buy makeup, I loved these boxes that (if I remember correctly) Bare Minerals sets used to come in. Now I store card-making supplies in them in my office.

Now that I’m a bullet journaler, I go through journals pretty quickly. Some of them come packaged in nice boxes. I used one of them to store overflow Mildliner pens. The two boxes on top in this photo are awaiting their purposes.

Dip bowls. Years ago I bought a bunch of dip bowls from West Elm that I love. I use them for dips, for decoration, and to hold stuff in my medicine cabinet. I also use them to store my Scrabble tiles. I don’t play Scrabble, but I bought a set of tiles to make blog headers. I have divided them into three bowls for easier access, divided into the beginning, middle and end of the alphabet.

The list goes on. These were just repurposed storage solutions I found without leaving my office! Serving bowls, food-storage containers and cups are all possibilities. I encourage you to look in your kitchen cabinets for items you could repurpose. I hope you’ll be inspired!

Tagged with: organizing products, repurposing, worth repeating