Friday, April 9, 2010

organizing and recycling

So I am on a mission to get my whole house organized this month. It is a huge task, but I know I can do it. I function so much better in an organized area so this is really exciting. One problem I have is that I hate throwing things out. I love finding a new use for old things, but I'm not all that creative.

A few months ago there were some very cheap wipes with coupon at Target. I like to make my own wipes, but when I can buy them cheaper I am all over it. So now I have a handful of wipes containers that I knew I could put to use instead of just pitching them.

Here are a few ideas I came up with:

Crayon box. This is great for all those small packs you get at restaurants and all the random crayons I find running around my house. (Maybe that is just here.)
Plastic bag dispenser. I keep this next to the diapers on the changing table for easy diaper bags. (Plus, this is a good way to use up all those plastic grocery bags.)
Puzzle box. We have a few wooden puzzles with no box so wipes boxes work perfect for keeping all the pieces together. 
Take off the lid and these hold my kids CDs perfectly. I can keep this on our school shelf for listening stations. 
Organizing craft supplies. I have drawers and drawers of supplies and they all get thrown everywhere. This is a great way to keep ribbons together. (or beads, or glue sticks, or scissors, or whatever. 
Also, the ziploc containers that sandwich meat comes in can be used for art supplies or drawer organization. 

When I get a few more boxes I'm planning on using them for kids sock drawers. Also, possibly a missing sock system in the laundry room. A bin for each person and as I find socks without a partner they can go in the bin until their match is found. 

Anyone else have any great ideas for recycled containers. What do you do with wipes bins, ziploc containers, or formula canisters?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Plastic bags; what a great idea! I hadn't thought of that one.

I buy raw wheat germ and use it in anything I can put it in; oatmeal, baby food, spaghetti sauce, etc... well it comes in a bag, and I put it in a formula canister and use the formula scoop to measure it out...