Frugal Living at The Dollar Stretcher


Dollar Store Storage Solutions

by Marlene Alexander

September is more than just back-to-school time. It's also unofficial Stow-It Month, as department stores everywhere tout a wide range of organizing supplies and North Americans try to cram too many belongings into too little space. If you're one of a growing number of people that are weeding out, giving away, selling off and otherwise de-cluttering, rock on! But, unless you've taken a vow of poverty, you'll want to keep a good many of your possessions, and if you're looking for ways to organize and store them, the dollar store can help.

Why not keep all things related to footwear readily available and close to where they will be needed the most? We sorted through drawers for usable shoelaces and those handy shoe shiners and gathered the shoe polishes from kitchen cupboards and the laundry room then put them all together in this plastic caddy along with the spray protectors. Then we put it on the shelf in the front closet. Now everything related to the care of shoes is all in one place. No more hunting through the junk drawer for shoelaces!

sectioned caddy, $1
package of nine pairs various size shoelaces, $1

Here's an idea to help make more space in a small front closet. Use plastic-coated screw-in hooks around the inside to hold tote bags, caps and umbrellas. Here, we've used two hooks in the back and one on each side of the closet wall, in front of the rod. These hooks came in a package of six for a dollar. This suggestion might work for you in other closets, as well.

Need more hangers? Whether your preference is for wire, thick plastic or wooden, dollar stores have got them. The thin wire ones are plastic coated and come in different colors. A set of six is a dollar. The thick plastic or wooden hangers come two for a dollar. (Wooden hangers are pictured.)

Here's a versatile tote that can be used to corral everything from knitting to small toys and it only cost a dollar. My Jack Russell Terrier, Christie, knows exactly where to go to find her playthings. Now, if I could only teach her to put them away again.







Marlene Alexander is a writer living in Ontario, Canada. For more on dollar store shopping, visit her website at DollarStoreStyle.com.

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