Happy Earth Day!

If you have kids around the house, chances are your drawers are full of odds and ends, craft supplies, and little toys. Now that we spend our days doing tons of sensory and fine motor skill activities, we're accumulating this stuff at an alarming rate.  

I'm just about as cheap as they get, and one thing I absolutely hate paying for are storage containers.  So in honor of Earth Day, I'm posting some ideas of how to recycle other household objects to clean up the clutter.

* Do you have old puzzles that are missing a few pieces?  Don't throw out the boxes!  Re-use them in drawers (I painted this one pink for my daughter's dresser) to hold erasers, crayon pieces, and stickers. See the little clear plastic container?  That's an old apple sauce cup! :-)   Old sippy cups with lost lids (on the right) are perfect for doing water coloring.

* Old oatmeal or potato flake containers are GREAT for storage.  This particular one has another use, though.  I left a bit of the stale oatmeal in it, glued it shut, decorated it, and now my kids use it as a music shaker!

* Have you ever bought sheets or curtains that come in those clear bags with zippers at the top?  These things have endless uses!  I've used them to collect acrylic paint bottles, sea shells, and extra plastic utensils left over from parties.

* This old shoe box was pretty cool because the lid lifts from the side (instead of coming all the way off).  We use this as a craft box.


Empty sour cream or cottage cheese containers are also great for stacking art supplies in the closet.

* Cat litter containers are big and awkward to throw away.   Put one by the front door for umbrellas, one in the backyard for sand toys, and keep a few in the garage for yard care or gardening tools.  (If you're using one in the house, you can paint it or re-cover it with contact paper.) 

* Empty baby food jars can be put up on high shelves (away from the kids) for collecting buttons, beads, or stray screws and nails.


Every once in a while I'm tempted by all those super-cute containers and bins at Target, but using things we already have around the house is so much better for our budget and the environment.  Make it your family Earth Day and Spring Cleaning project to organize your junk with things you already have around the house!