If your New Year’s resolution this year is to get organized, you’re not alone. While sorting your craft supplies and tools may be a tedious undertaking, the effort will pay off when you know exactly where that pink gingham fabric went and you can tell at a glance if you have enough E600 glue left to finish a large project. Retailers offer a bunch of storage solutions, but what if you don’t have any extra cash to spend on plastic totes and other organizational products? Here are a few ideas for organizing your stash using things that may otherwise end up in the garbage can.
1. Linen bags
Many household linens, including curtains, sheet sets, and tablecloths, typically come packaged in zippered plastic bags. These bags are great for storing fabric, yarn, or other soft supplies. The clear bags make it easy to tell what’s inside at a glance while keeping the contents dust-free. I like to use them to keep all of my skeins of yarn for specific projects packaged together. As an added bonus, it also keeps my kitties from getting at the yarn and making a “project” of their own!
The size of these bags varies greatly, making them perfect for all kinds of applications. Smaller bags, like those from curtain panels or pillowcases, are great for keeping fabric scraps. Large bags from comforters are great for storing fabric yardage or open packages of polyfill and quilt batting. The bags are nice for long-term storage as well, protecting the contents from both dirt and moisture.
2. Spice bottles
A while back, I found a 32-bottle, wall-mounted spice rack at one of my favorite dollar stores. Score! Since then, I’ve been saving empty bottles from herbs and spices as I use them up in the kitchen. The bottles are perfect for holding all kinds of small supplies: buttons, beads, gemstones, googly eyes, and so on. Remove the labels from the empty spice bottles before filling them with craft supplies so that you can easily see the contents.
Other types of containers will fit in spice racks as well. If you have little ones, you already know about the wonders of baby food jars. Supplies that come in appropriately sized bottles, like craft paints and glues, may also fit nicely into a spice rack for easily accessible storage.
3. Plastic food containers
We’re avid recyclers around our house, and anything that is made from #1 or #2 plastic typically goes straight into the recycling bin. However, I prefer to reuse things first if possible, and sometimes I also end up with other types of plastic containers that (despite having a recycling logo on them) are non-recyclable. Some of these food containers, like the kind that many bakery and produce items come in, are ideal for storing all kinds of supplies. (Wash them out first, of course!)
Note that some of these containers, especially ones that come holding fruits and veggies, may have holes in the bottom for drainage, so they may not work well for tiny odds and ends. Use smaller containers to hold things like pom poms and flat glass marbles; larger containers are great for items such as colored pencils or spools of ribbon. Additionally, if you use several of the same size container for storage, they stack nicely together on a shelf or workbench.
What other kinds of recycled storage can you think of for craft supplies?
11 Comments
Tabitha
It’s seriously good to know I’m not the only one saving all of that. The linen bags are perfect for keeping cat hair off of my fabric stash. lol I also save the styrofoam boxes/trays that mushrooms come in to keep small project pieces together when I’m not working on them.
Amy S.
Brilliant! I started using the square-shaped, plastic zip-up bags that my comforters and sheet sets come in and my boyfriend thinks I’m a bit crazy. But they’re awesome because I can see what’s inside of them and my pets don’t destroy my yarn.
I will have to make a trip to the dollar store for spice bottles. I recently had an explosion of googly eyes and wished I had something other than a ziplock bag to keep them in.
Thanks for the great ideas!
WES
I keep my WIP in one of those and put it in my project bag. Or if it is a small project in a clear make up case. I learned to do this the hard way after tossing my project in the bag along with my lunch and leaked balsamic vinegar over pieces of a baby blanket. I didn’t want a repeat so those bags or make up cases are fabulous and saved a few projects from spilled coffee as well.
@Tabitha, egg cartons are good for that as well. And you can use them as sorters for earrings and rings etc.
Lea-Ann
I love the Crystal Light containers for EVERYTHING. And they hot glue together nicely to make storage pyramids!
kc
I use the empty Plastic clear egg cartons for my bead findings. Also plastic coffee cans have dozens of uses. My Youngun used an empty baby wipe carton to put her poly clay in.
Lisa
This isn’t a storage use, but I read on someone’s blog that you can use the plastic salad bar containers that are labeled 6 to make Shrinky Dinks.
I wish I lived in your neighborhood. The dollar store right up the street is the worst one I’ve ever seen. There’s a Dollar Tree on the way home from work, but they don’t seem to have the cool stuff you find in yours. Have you ever shopped at Five Below?
Elizabeth
Clear plastic over-the-door shoe racks/hangers work great for craft supplies! I simply tacked mine up on the wall using small nails right next to my sewing machine, and it holds everything. Scissors, buttons, pins, elastic, zippers, chalk – all of those little things are kept separate but visible, and right in arms reach.
Condo Blues
I like using those plastic zipper pouches to hold all of the materials for a craft I have ‘on deck.’ When I’m in the mood to make something, I flip through the pouches and have a visual To Make List.
pam
Why oh why did I never think of this! I have saved every single zippered bag – simply because I couldn’t imaging tossing out a useful container – and sometimes I will store blankets or throws during the summer. But craft supplies? OMG Sooooo perfect!
Right now I am working on a weaving project that requires many different white yarns. They are in an ugly cardboard box which i have been hating! As soon as I hit “save” I am heading to the closet to retrieve one and fill it full of white yarn!
Thank you so, so much for your inspiring ideas in this post.
Margaret
I have been saving these bags for storage, too. Who can resist thick plastic with a great zipper? I’ll add my two cents’ worth: the packaging from my daughter’s clothes, etc., plastic bags with snaps that held soft shoesa..and the cute lil hangers from her socks, etc, they have clothes pins on a hanger. I will find something to hang from them on the wire grid on the wall of my craft room. =-)