Project Organize :: Upcycled Organizing.

UPCYCLED ORGANIZING by Amberlee Fawson of Giver's Log

Hello Sherbet Blossom readers! I'm so thrilled Hannah asked me to stop by and be part of Project: Organize. Reading and talking about organization makes me positively giddy (Yes, I realize I am a nerd). So to get to talk organization and do it on Sherbet Blossom is about as good as it gets for me.

At my house, we have a list of chores we try to do every day. I call it the Fawson Daily. It includes things like wash the dirtiest window, mop the worst part of the floor, wash and fold one load, you get the idea. Some days it is more wishlist than checklist. But it mostly keeps my house in check. My favorite chore on the Fawson daily, though, is this one: organize one drawer or shelf.

I love the feeling of having one more drawer cleaned, sorted, and inventoried. But there used to be one downside. I used to organize a drawer or shelf and dream of buying a few more rubbermaid boxes or a handful of bins to really spruce it up. I will tell you, my life changed the day I was introduced to these.

The idea originally came from family fun. Just a simple box made from a milk carton. When my friend gave us one she made, it was like sirens went off in my head. I don't have to buy rubbermaid for every drawer, I can upcycle what I have (so sorry, rubbermaid!)

So now my craft drawer is organized with milk gallon bins, both with and without lid (also love this idea seen at CRAFT).

My gift wrap closet and pantry are organized with the nifty plastic containers that spring mix comes in,

and even cereal boxes,

and my tissue paper is stowed away in pizza boxes (also originally and idea from family fun for storing kids artwork).

Here's one more hanging version of the milk carton storage I dreamed up.

I even got really creative and stacked ribbon over old candlesticks.

One of my other favorites is using old burlap zip-closed rice bags for organizing toys. And there are dozens of other ideas out there too (like using an old phonebook, an apron, or rain gutters, how cool is that?)

I'm telling you. Once you get started, it's hard to stop. You find a drawer that needs to be organized and suddenly you are on the lookout for the perfect container. You will probably even find yourself buying groceries every now and then according to what containers they come in. As long as you keep your craft knife handy, you can whip up something to hold almost anything. Good luck, and happy organizing!

Do you have an organization idea/storage solution/time management idea you'd like to share? I'd love to feature you on Sherbet Blossom! Email me at sherbetblossom (at) gmail (dot) com!