In today’s post I’m going to share some of my favourite simple tricks for organizing with thrift store finds. Sometimes you find the best solutions in the most unexpected places!
I love a good organizational solution just about any way I can get it, but the best ones are always the ones where I can use something I already have, or repurpose something that I’ve found secondhand. Often, when you use something from the thrift store, you end up with a solution that’s much more beautiful and interesting than when you use something made out of plastic specifically for that purpose. It just takes a little bit of imagination! 🙂 Here are some of my favourite recent ideas and discoveries for organizing with thrift store finds!
Thrift Store Organizing Ideas
Thrift Store Gift Bag Organizer
An old CD organizer for holding gift bags!
Thrift Store Books Ends
If you need some interesting book ends, look no further than the knick knack section. Find something that you love with a good weight to it, or fill hollow objects with sand before gluing them shut! Something like this ginger jar you can see on the shelf here would work really well! I would probably paint it white as well if I was going to use it in my home after I was done filling it with sand.
Organizing Jewelry With Thrift Store Finds
Reuse decorative objects as hooks for jewelry! This faux antler wasn’t originally meant to hang on a wall, but that didn’t stop me! Now I have a fun and interesting place to hang jewelry and hair accessories.
There are always little hook boards in the wood decor section that would work perfectly for jewelry as well. Just grab one, refinish it, and hang it up!
I’ve also been using this ice cube tray to organize my smaller pieces like earrings and those are easy to find at thrift stores too!
Thrift Store Ribbon Organizer
I was lucky to find this giant Anchor Hocking Heritage Jar in the kitchen section of the thrift store. I already use the slightly smaller version of these to hold things like flour and oats in the kitchen and I love how they look. This one was actually a drink dispenser in a past life so it has a little hole in it. It obviously won’t work for baking supplies now, but it’s perfect for my ribbon collection that has outgrown the drawer I was keeping it in! It’s kind of a display and storage in one!
This little mason jar ribbon organizer is great too for a smaller ribbon collection. 🙂
Thrift Store Water Bottle Organizer
I used to always pass right by the office section, but I’m really starting to learn that there are some great, useful finds on those shelves! There are always a number of really sturdy magazine files in that area and they’re so perfect for organizing your family’s water bottles in your cupboard! Actually, they’re great for organizing a lot of other things too. Maybe that’s an idea for yet another future blog post? 🙂
Organizing With Thrift Store Trays
You really can never have too many trays around the house. They’re great in decor, for serving food and drinks, and for corralling objects together to make them look tidy when they would otherwise just look like clutter. The thrift store often has cute little silver or wicker trays, but I got really lucky with this vintage rattan tray. I don’t have a large enough collection of liquor bottles to need a full bar cart, but this little tray lets me keep everything looking tidy and lets me enjoy the beautiful designs on the bottles without the top of my buffet looking cluttered.
Thrift Store Decorative Boxes
Last but not least, the thrift store is my favourite place to find all kinds of little decorative boxes to hold odds and ends around the house.
This blue and white striped wooden box was definitely calling my name when I saw it in the thrift store a few years ago. These are great for holding office supplies on a desk, keys and chapstick next to the front door, or hair ties and tweezers on the bathroom counter. We use this one in the living room for remotes and random tiny lego pieces that we know we don’t want to lose in the giant lego bins. I love that boxes like these look like they’re just for decoration, but they really help keep things tidy! 🙂
Thrift Store Baskets
If you’ve been around here for any length of time, then you’ve definitely heard me talking about my love of thrift store baskets. I even shared my technique for painting them to update them here: How to Update Thrift Store Baskets With Paint. Thrift store baskets are always my favourite because you can’t beat the price and they’re always so much more interesting than baskets that you buy new.
Do you have any favourite thrift store finds that you’re using for staying organized in your home?
MORE IDEAS LIKE THIS
- Ten Thrift Store Home Decor Finds That You Should Never Pass Up
- How to Clean Thrift Store Furniture
- How to Paint Thrift Store Plates
- What to Buy at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.