How to Organize Your Room Without Spending a Dollar

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Wondering how to organize your room without spending a ton of money? Forget the bins, baskets, and boxes – you already have everything you need!

Don’t get us wrong, we LOOOOOVE organising our spaces. The feeling of knowing exactly where everything is and the joyous sight of zero exposed clutter is complete bliss.

But, one thing we don’t like quite as much is blowing a ton of money to achieve just that. However, all the bedroom organisation ideas we typically love mean parting ways with your hard-earned cash. 

That’s why we’re about to show you how to organize your room without ever dipping into your wallet! 

 

Step by Step: How to Organize Your Room Without Buying Anything

Step 1: Use the Six-Month Method

First up – a clear out is 100% necessary. The easiest way to declutter for good? Use the six-month method. It goes as follows: if you haven’t used or worn an item in the LAST six months, you can assume you won’t use or wear it during the NEXT six months.

Seriously, this is a huge reality check!

If you’re not brave enough to part ways with it just yet, give yourself some leeway and use the method in reverse: if I haven’t used it in the *next* six months, I likely won’t use it after that.

This handy method alone will mean you spend waaay less time trying to organise your space, as you won’t have nearly as much stuff to cram into storage!

Step 2: Organise by Level of Usage

Next up, it’s time to distinguish which items in your room you use frequently versus infrequently. This is an important aspect to consider when deciphering exactly WHERE to keep your organised goods.

For example, if you wear jeans on the daily, they’re better off in an easy-to-reach drawer. Whereas your beloved ski suit will probably be best stored in your bottom drawer or a spare closet out of sight.

Try to lay everything out flat – e.g., on your bed – so you can get a good overview of everything!

TOP TIP: Do this step one small section at a time, for example, one chest of drawers or cupboard. This will make the entire process so much less overwhelming! 

Step 3: Colour Coordinate Your Closet

This seems like an oddly pernickety or “pointless” organisation tip for your bedroom, but trust us, the level of satisfaction you’ll feel afterwards is completely unmatched.

We wholeheartedly believe getting your space in order is as much about how it makes you feel as it is about how it looks!

Step 4: Repurpose Old Shoe Boxes

We know you’re wondering how to organize your room without investing in a dozen new bins, boxes, and baskets like you see flaunted all over Pinterest.

For smaller items, all you need is a handful of old shoe boxes! These are perfect for storing seasonal decor pieces, shoes (ofc!), or lesser-used items like winter socks and sunglasses.

There’s just one thing to note: make sure you have the lid for each box, as this makes it easier for stacking inside cupboards or closets.

Step 5: Become a Master Folder

Clothing items such as jeans, pyjamas, and tracksuits will all fold in a drawer. But *not* horizontally – the trick for staying insanely organised AND maximising space is embracing vertical folding (rolling works perfectly, too!).

Nope, we haven’t gone crazy. This genius clothes storage method means you’re not messing up your drawers every time you need to grab an item from the bottom! Clever, right?

Step 6: Put Your DIY Skills to Good Use

We’ve all seen those nifty little drawer dividers, haven’t we? But we know these insanely simple mechanisms come at an eye-watering price for what they are.

So, why not make your own? All you need is some spare cardboard, a tape measure, and a pair of scissors. 

Start by cutting cardboard pieces to the same measurements as the height x width, and height x length of your drawers. Then, to create the sections, simply cut a line halfway down each piece and slot them into one another!

TOP TIP: Add a lick of paint if the “undone” look isn’t your kinda thing!

Step 7: Create “Dust Bags” From Old Pillowcases

This one will take a little explaining – but hear us out. Everybody has an entire drawer or airing cupboard full to bursting with bedding, blankets, and throws, right? 

How frustrating is it when you just cannot find the right colour fitted sheet to match the duvet? Or when your matching pillowcase gets lost in the abyss of (waaaay too much) bedding? 

Keeping your new, clean bedding bundled up in “dust bags” made from old pillowcases keeps everything neat and compact. 

TOP TIP: You can also use old pillowcases to store shoes. This keeps them protected and prevents any dirt from transferring onto other clothing items!

Step 8: Store Smaller Items in Tins, Jars & Pots

There are still so many cute ways to organize your room *without* spending a penny. For example, if you have a workspace or vanity in your bedroom, you likely have lots of teeny-tiny items, such as paper clips, pens, or hair ties and Q-tips.

Recycling used tins, jars, and pots is one of the cheapest and most planet-friendly ways to keep everything in one place and avoid an unsightly mess!

Step 9: Get Savvy with Coat Hangers

If you’re anything like us, you have an insanely unnecessary collection of coat hangers. So, let’s put them to good use, shall we?

Embracing multifunctional items is one of our most-loved recommendations for how to organize your room. Which is why we often use our coat hangers to hold more than just our clothing – here are some genius ideas:

• Hanging blankets – use the clips of pant hangers
• Layering multiple jackets / tops on one hanger
• Hooking sunglass arms over the pant bar of a suit hanger

This post was all about how to organize your room without splashing the cash!