There’s nothing like spending a zillion hours at home for seeing all of the things that you’d love to fix up.
Especially if you’re spending any of your free time scrolling through Pinterest and inevitably noticing all the gorgeous organizing makeovers. There are matching canisters in this pantry, coordinating shoe boxes in that closet, and perfectly coiled chargers in that office drawer.
But when you get inspired by The Home Edit and start checking out those matching canisters – and realize that they’re $20 a pop – it can feel super depressing. Is it even possible to get organized if you don’t have a lot of money?
Yes, my friends. It is.
If you’re craving a little less chaos and a little more calm in your home, these budget-friendly organizing products have been so helpful for us. They’re effective at controlling the clutter, and even better? They’re actually affordable. Plus, they’re all available to order online!
Heads up: for any Amazon products, affiliate links are used. If you purchase through a link, I make a few pennies, but it does not raise the cost for you. Thanks for your support in keeping this site running!
Ground Rules for Choosing Budget-Friendly Organizing Products
You get to be the boss.
You don’t have to spend your limited energy to organize your stuff, now or ever. No one is going to report you for being a bad adult if you can’t locate spare chargers in an instant (or don’t even have spare chargers in the first place.) You also should not expect that every space is going to be perfectly organized, all the time.
But if you feel overwhelmed and stressed out whenever you look into your closet, this might be a solution.
Declutter first.
You need to get rid of extra junk first. Then figure out what you have and group similar things together. Decide how you want to arrange the space.
Then, and only then, place an order.
Otherwise you will spend money you don’t need to spend organizing stuff that you don’t actually need. Want more advice on this? Check out this post.
You don’t have to get all matchy-matchy stuff.
Contrary to what some home organizers might have you believe, you do not have to get every single box and container from the same store and the same collection.
Instead, just choose one color for all your organizing products. Buy bins and boxes and canisters only in that color. No matter whether your stuff is from Target or the Dollar Tree or Pottery Barn, things will look cohesive.
Clear and white are my go-to’s, as the color tones are the same across stores. Plus, that combo is unlikely to get discontinued. But by all means, if you love the teal, ignore me. You get to be the boss.
If it’s on display? Spend. If it’s hidden away? Save.
Y’all, I use mismatched shoe boxes to corral swimsuits and underwear in my dresser drawers, and I don’t plan on stopping.
For concealed spaces that are occasionally open, I’ll use the most budget-friendly bins and boxes I can find. For example, the bins in our pantry do coordinate, but they cost just a few dollars.
But the baskets we use on open bookshelves, or in the open sections of our kitchen cart? Those match. And I’m willing to spend a little so they look nice.
Now, on to our favorite budget-friendly organizing products!
Favorite Multi-Use Budget-Friendly Organizing Products
These products are extra helpful because they can be used in more than one area of your home. This is essential if you’re living the apartment life. Moving in a year? You aren’t locked in to one organizing system that might not fit your next place. Instead, you can reuse all of these products in multiple ways.
Over the door shelves
If you live in an apartment with limited storage space and you’re trying to stock up on those pantry staples, these things are amazing. We’ve doubled our pantry space in every apartment we’ve had, just by adding one of these.
FYI, ours is a slightly jankier version of this more expensive system. I still love it, but it does clang a bit. Probably because I suspect you’re supposed to screw this into the door. As we prefer to keep our rental deposit, ours is supported with a little white duct tape so it doesn’t bounce around too much. #classy
Other Posts You Might Enjoy
- Want more organizing tips with no purchases necessary? Check out 9 Quick Tips to Get Organized on a Budget.
- Need a budget-friendly organizing product for your digital life? Check out this post on How to Use Trello.
- Need ideas to keep you occupied during quarantine? Check out 31 Things to Do When You’re Stuck at Home.
Shoe organizer
Yeah, you can use these for shoes. (And I do!) But you can use them for so much more. Some ideas:
- Hang in a tiny bathroom for sectional storage
- Hold cleaning supplies in a linen closet
- Store crafting stuff or spare chargers in an office
- Stash scarves or belts in a closet
- Hang in a coat closet for hats and gloves
Hooks
These are my number one favorite way to keep things accessible but organized. In our current apartment, we’ve got hooks for these things:
- Pans on the kitchen wall
- Baseball caps
- Bike helmets
- Purses
- Necklaces
- Oven mitts
- Plastic bags
Spice racks
Of course these work great for spices, especially if you have limited cabinet space. We’ve also used them in our bathroom for lotions and hair products, and we’ve had them by the door in a number of our apartments to stash mail and keys.
They certainly look adequate as-is, but you could paint or stain them to significantly upgrade the look.
Y-weave baskets
These are one of my very favorite Target products. They look decent, they fit well in tight spaces, and they’re cheap. Win-win-win. Plus, they have straight sides, which is the key to fitting more baskets in a tiny space. The Half Medium size (the two smaller ones in the above photo) are the ones we use most in our tiny apartment closets.
Turntables
Whether you call these turntables or Lazy Susans, they are surprisingly helpful for storing bottles of anything. They eliminate the annoyance when you reach for the olive oil and knock down 6 other jars on the way. I also use them for nail polish in the bathroom. I smile a little every time I use one.
Mason jars
Absolutely, use these for all the things in the kitchen. But these are also the cheapest way I’ve found to divide and conquer craft supplies. I also use them in the bathroom to corral Q-tips, cotton pads, and makeup brushes. The wide-mouth ones are easiest. If you’re into labeling, you can also find jars with smooth sides.
Woven baskets
These are less budget-friendly, but they are my favorite baskets for anything that’s going to be on display. They were definitely worth the splurge!
Other Favorite Budget-Friendly Organizing Products
These essentials have more specific use, but we absolutely recommend them!
For the Bedroom
Bed skirt
This maybe seems more like décor than an organizing tool, but real talk: do you know how much stuff you can stash under a bed if you’ve got a bed skirt hiding it? We got this one that’s streamlined and not frilly, and it makes our bedroom look much more grown up.
Laundry sorter
Neither Adam nor I love sorting laundry. He’s terrified he’ll dry something of mine that shouldn’t be, and I would prefer that laundry didn’t exist. Enter this guy. We use one bag for whites, one for darks, and one for sports stuff and anything else that should not go in the drier. Whenever a bag fills up, we start a load. If we were to buy it again, I would probably get the four-section one so we have a section for sheets and towels.
Clothes drying rack
I used to have damp clothes draped over chairs and dangling from hangers all over our apartment. Until this. For all the stuff that shouldn’t go in the drier, this thing is a lifesaver. It also folds up when we’re not using it.
For the Kitchen
Canisters with scoops
When I was growing up, my mom always had sugar and flour in canisters on the counter. This is the first apartment I’ve lived in with just enough counter space where I can do the same. It saves space in our tiny pantry, and it makes spooning out large quantities of flour (hello, quarantine bread baking) infinitely easier.
We have these in the gallon size because they were the cheapest option I could find. Our current scoops are too big, so we might switch over to something like this.
Tea storage chest
If you drink tea, this is the best way to corral those tea bags. It takes up way less space than all the assorted half-full boxes, and you can quickly see what you have.