Little but Life Changing Home Organization Hacks You’ll Wish You Thought of Sooner

Shannon Quinn - July 15, 2022
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Little but Life Changing Home Organization Hacks You’ll Wish You Thought of Sooner
It’s easy to store an extension cord in a toilet paper roll. Credit: Home Hacks

11. Store Extension Cords in Paper Towel Rolls

During the holidays, you may have a few different extension cords, depending on the color of your artificial tree, or the area where you plan to use it. For example, you may have a green cord to blend in with your Christmas tree, and an outdoor one that would not contrast with the siding of your house. These are all too easy to get lost or tangled. You may also accidently grab one that is too long or short. Instead of pulling your hair out from frustration, there is a really easy solution to the problem: paper towel rolls.

Use a Sharpie to keep track of the inches on each extension cord. Credit: The Family Handyman

Simply put your extension cord inside of a paper towel roll, and cut a slit so that the cord is fastened to the cardboard. You can use a Sharpie to label the cord with its length, and the area of the house where it normally goes. Once you have all of the cords in one place, it would be smart to put them all in a shoe box or a drawer. (via The Family Handyman)

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You can organize magazines inside of a file folder. Credit: Handyman

10. Organize Magazines in a File Folder

“Can you actually find what you’re looking for in your stack of saved magazines? Here’s a great way to archive magazines, a method that one of our editors has been using at work for years. All you need is a bunch of hanging folders and a drawer that’s set up for hanging them. Cut off the bottom of each folder a couple of centimeters below the rod. Drape your magazine over the rod and hang it in the drawer. The spines are easy to read, so you can find what you need quickly.” (via Family Handyman)

Large magazine collections can be difficult to organize. Credit: Shutterstock

There are a lot of other ways to organize your magazines at home, too. You can buy a hanging magazine rack, or find cardboard versions at your local Target. These look great both hanging on the wall and on a bookshelf, if you want to see your collection displayed out in the open on a daily basis.

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Credit: The Family Handyman

9. Use Plastic Bags For Tiny Bits in the Garage

“If you have lots of small hardware on hand, constantly opening drawers or containers to find what you need is a pain. Here’s one solution: Store hardware in small, sturdy zippered craft bags (thicker than sandwich bags and available at hobby stores). Punch a hole in the bag and hang it on pegboard. The clear bags make finding what you need a snap and keep dust, rust, and moisture at bay. If you need to find a matching piece of hardware, just hold it up for a side-by-side comparison.” (via The Family Handyman)

These bags make great storage for excess dry goods. Credit: Shutterstock

Ziploc bags can be used for a lot of things around the house, besides hardware. The great thing about these bags is that they come in all shapes and sizes. Larger bags can be used to organize photographs, while smaller bags can be used for toys, beads, and so much more.

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Put your stuff away immediately, rather than waiting until later. Credit: Shutterstock

8. Do it Now, Rather Than Later

You can read all of the advice in the world about organizing your house, but none of it will actually work if you don’t put it into action. One of the best things you can do to keep your house organized is to act on putting something away now, rather than later. Ask yourself how long it’s going to take for you to get to a task before you push it off until tomorrow. Chances are, it might just take you a minute or two to do the right thing instead of procrastinating.

Your kids will pick up on your habits when it comes to putting things away. Credit: Shutterstock

Procrastination is usually the culprit as to why things begin to pile up around the house over time. Once you get in the habit of putting things away immediately, you’ll notice that your home is a much cleaner place. And if you have kids, they will pick up on your behavior, which makes them more likely to do the same thing. (via But First, Coffee)

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These Dollar Tree shelves work great for vertical storage. Credit: Glue Guns and Roses

7. Use a Dollar Tree Cabinet Shelf For Organization

At Dollar Tree, they sell white metal shelves that are used for creating a new shelf inside of your kitchen cabinets. Normally, this is great for anyone who is renting an apartment, and they can’t renovate the space. But this can easily be re-used for a holiday decor shelving unit.

This rack holds a lot of wrapping paper and supplies. Credit: Glue Guns and Roses

All you need to do is buy the shelf, and bend the legs at an v-shaped angle. Make sure that the angle is facing towards the wall, because you don’t want anything to roll onto the floor. Use hooks to secure this on the wall. Now, it’s possible to use this for several rolls of wrapping paper, bags, shirt boxes, and so much more. (via Glue Guns and Roses)

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There are a lot of stackable storage containers in all shapes and sizes. Credit: The Container Store

6. Use Stackable Storage for Drinks

If you’re on a tight budget and you can only buy one or two organizational bins for your project, I highly recommend focusing on stackable storage for your drinks. For example, a lot of you’ve probably seen those boxes that allow cans to roll forward when you pick one up. This is a huge lifesaver if you drink sparkling water or soda regularly.

The Container Store makes a lot of different fridge containers. Credit: The Container Store

Some companies also make storage containers that you can stack bottles of wine on top of one another. If you don’t like to keep her one in the door of the fridge, this can be a really great option to keep bottles of wine stacked vertically. (via The Container Store)

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You can keep larger delicate ornaments in plastic Starbucks cups. Credit: Good House Keeping

5. Save Your Starbucks Cups For Large Ornaments

We already suggested using egg cartons for your smaller ornaments. But if you collect any large expensive glass ornaments like the ones made by Christopher Radko, you will not be able to fit them into such a small container. Sure, you could just wrap them in tissue paper, but there are certain ornaments that are so expensive and precious, it’s worth taking the extra steps to make sure they won’t break. It’s possible to up-cycle and protect your Christmas investments at the same time.

These cups are given out with cold drinks like Frappuccino’s. Credit: Shutterstock

If you get a lot of Starbucks cups to-go, try to hold onto them instead of putting them in the recycle bin. Hand wash them in the sink, and let them dry. Then, create a stack until January rolls around. Now, you have the perfect containers to fit your larger ornaments. (via Good Housekeeping)

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Label the totes before putting them away in the attic or basement. Credit: Hardly Housewives

4. Limit Your Number of Storage Totes

A great way to stop yourself from going overboard with clutter is to limit the number of totes you have in your storage area. For some people, this is non-negotiable. If you only have a closet or attic in your apartment or condo, you really can’t continue to buy more tote boxes year after year. However, for homeowners, limited space doesn’t stop some people from expanding their collections wherever they can. If you don’t limit yourself, those boxes end up in the garage, attic, basement, and the outdoor shed. It can be ridiculous. (Yes, I know several people like this.)

Limit yourself to the number of storage totes you keep. Credit: Target

Instead of giving yourself carte blanche to have as many items as your heart desires, give yourself a limit with the number of totes. It might also be easier to identify the obvious Christmas items if you buy red and green totes from Walmart or Target. Go through all of your holiday decoration boxes and throw away or donate anything that you no longer use. Extra totes could either be used to store non-holiday items, or you could donate it to your local thrift store. Many thrift stores will appreciate having this free tote, since they need to move and store items on a regular basis. (via The Spruce)

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This rolling cart is great for extra kitchen storage. Credit: Ikea

3. Use Utility Carts to Create Storage in a Small Space

Rolling utility carts are incredibly useful for almost every room in the house. Whether it’s art supplies, bathroom supplies, kitchen utensils/spices, crafting items, or toys, there are opportunities where you can use these to help organize your home in practically every room. The best part about them is that they move! If they are ever in the way, all you have to do is wheel them somewhere else temporarily while you clean or organize around the area where it was once standing.

These carts give tons of additional storage in this bathroom. Credit: Ikea

These carts are affordable- around $30 each. So it’s easy for anyone to buy them, and it’s much cheaper than buying a new piece of furniture. They also come in a lot of different colors. If you want to buy them, they are available at Ikea, but you can also find them at Michael’s Crafts or Hobby Lobby. (via Ikea)

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Double-check the fridge before you buy more. Credit: Shutterstock

2. Check For Items Before You Buy Them

One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they buy something at the store and that they already had at home. How many times have you checked your junk drawer for something, only to realize that you have 3 of the same object already there? (In my house, it’s scissors.) This happens a lot in the kitchen, and is usually more common if your fridge is disorganized. It can also happen if you have multiple people in the household buying groceries too. But if you want to avoid this, it’s as simple as opening your fridge and pantry to see what you have in stock before you go to the grocery store.

Make sure you don’t already have similar items in your closet. Credit: Shutterstock

Even if you are stopping by the grocery store after work, try to make it a habit of calling your family members to ask if they need anything. Also don’t be afraid to ask someone to double-check the fridge while you’re at the store. This can help you save money in the long run, and avoid food waste. When it comes to everything else in the house like clothes, shoes, and objects, do your best to search for those things before you buy them. It may take a good purge of your closet in order to get it done, but it’s truly worth it in the end. (via EPA)

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Labeling each of your cords eliminates any confusion about which one it is. Credit: Shutterstock

1. Label Your Cords and Keep them Organized

Have you ever looked at your surge protector and realized that you have no idea which cord belongs to what electronic? The easy solution to that problem is to label each cord. You can do this with some colorful tape, bread tags, a label maker, and so much more. Once the cords are labeled, you should never have a mess of cords again.

These paperclips help organize cords on the side of a desk. Credit: Shutterstock

Another way to organize your cords is by using paper clips. As you can see in the photo above, these cords can wrap around the clips very easily, and they hold on to the side of the desk. Now you’ll never have to wonder where you put your headphones or your extra phone charger.

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