Chalkboard Storage Boxes

You may have figured out by now that I am mildly obsessed with turning anything and everything into a chalkboard [here, here, and here].

So what is going to stop me from taking my empty food boxes and turning them into chalkboards?

Absolutely nothing.

I saw this in Family Fun magazine a few months ago, and thought it was a fabulous idea.

All you need:

Small Cardboard Boxes {such as a cereal box, milk carton, cracker box}

Exacto Knife

Chalkboard Spray Paint

Chalk

Cut off the flaps of the boxes with the exacto knife. Or if you use a milk or heavy cream carton, like me, carefully cut off the top.

Make sure to clean your dairy cartons very well. 

Spoiled milk residue is not a lovely smell.Spray the boxes with the chalkboard paint. I stuck a piece of packing paper in the box {with a bit sticking out of the top} to prevent the paint from getting on the inside of the box. I figured this out after I began painting the first one when the paint was spewing little bits on the inside.

Draw pretty designs, or let your little ones draw on them. 

Enjoy your new stylish {and inexpensive} storage solution.

Let's Organize It! - Plastic Bag Storage

A few years ago, I started using an empty kleenex box to store plastic grocery bags {we use reusable shopping bags for the most part, but do end up with plastic sometimes}. We keep it in the laundry room, just because that is were I needed it the most at the time. Recently, I have found that I have needed plastic bags in every room for one reason or another. I'd been in the bedroom, need a bag, and would have to run across the house to the laundry room to get it.... not that our house is that humongous, but it's still kind of inconvenient.

But we don't go through enough kleenex, so I didn't have enough boxes to store the bags in. And, I am not a fan of those grocery bag holders where you can see balls of plastic sticking out all over. I'm sorry to say, I think it is a hot mess. {I'm sorry if you have one of these and this offends you; it's totally just my opinion...they just don't appeal to me. But if you like them, then more power to ya.} Since, I'm all about repurposing, especially so I don't have to spend any extra money, I looked through my bag of containers and jars that I hold onto (yea, I'm kind of a hoarder. I hate throwing something away when I think I will be able to use it in the future), and found old Puffs (the baby snack food, that Bubba still enjoys as a toddler) containers

Loosely tie one handle of two bags together, and stuff into the container. Continue, until the container is full. I got about 11 bags in each. That number will vary depending on the size of your container. I also used an old Emerald Nuts container, and only got about 8 bags in that one.

Then, I used {my favorite thing in the world} chalkboard contact paper, to label each of the containers. I even took a minute and made a cover for one of the kleenex boxes out of construction paper (it was old and kind of ugly looking worn out).

Now we have easily accessible bags in both bathrooms, Bubba's bedroom, the office, the laundry room, and in my car (that's why the label is on the top of the green container - it's stored in the center console of my car).

Let's Organize It! - Bathroom Drawer

Does your bathroom drawer look something like this?

My drawer started out kind of organized. Then, Bubba started taking things out, and moving everything around, until it ended up a big jumbled mess. It actually looked worse than this a week before. 

I was going to purchase some kind of drawer organizer, but I'm kind of cheap. So I went rummaging through my house and I found these plastic containers...which is kind of odd since we use glass containers for storing most things. 

The 4 smallest containers with the jagged edges had a little toy inside, the 1 circle container once contained model magic dough, and the 2 big rectangles I think had deli meat in it - not something we ate, so I'm not really sure where they came from....kinda weird, right? Also, I had 1 medium size circle container that came with some take out one night. 

I removed everything from the drawer, and divided it amongst the containers. And still had enough room for my bigger items. 

Look at how neat that looks. The best part is that I didn't have to spend any extra money on drawer dividers  or other storage materials. Cost effective and organized...

If you are following the January Declutter Calendar, this is Day 19 and 20 (go through one bathroom drawer or cabinet). But, I did this a few weeks ago - before I ever came across the calendar. 

What are some of your DIY storage solutions?