It’s all about recycling really… (Cheap & Alternative Storage Ideas)

Member Name: loulou6

Product:	Cheap & Alternative Storage Ideas
Date:	02/06/01 (1147 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap as chickens, no, I don't have a reason for that advantage

Disadvantages: it CAN look quite tacky

After leaving home at the ripe old age of 18, straight into unemployment and with only a mattress and television to call my own I had to learn to live quite frugally. The problem is that I find it quite hard to kick the habit (but having an Ikea in Bristol helps!). Over the years I have used bricks under railway sleepers to make a television stand, I’ve used wooden pallets as a base for my bed and saved as many jam-jars as humanly possible.

I hope the following suggestions are helpful and if you add any new ones to the comment section I’ll update once in a while to keep it the ultimate guide!

Keep all of those small ‘wet-wipe’ type boxes, the label can be removed and you can cover with pretty wrapping paper to keep your jewellery nice and safe.

Keep your jam-jars and use them in the garage, glue the top of the lids to the underside of a shelf and you’ll be able to keep all those spare nuts and bolts that come from the flat pack items you make but never use all of. Jam-jars are also great as penholders (decorated with either twine or pretty corrugated paper) and cotton ball holders in the bathroom.

If you have a large front room (one that goes from the front to the back of the house) using a decorative screen is a popular way to redefine a room without building another wall. Don’t forget though, you can add fabric pockets to either side to pop in your magazines, unopened mail, dried flowers or even that needlework project you’ve been promising to finish!

Don’t break up your old wooden ladder, cut it down (so you have about 5 rungs left) and carry it into your bathroom, so you can keep your towels all nice and neat. You can also add canvas pockets to each rung and use it as a magazine rack in the front room (or living room if you’re being posh).

For a bulletin board or picture frame, find one of those old cork tiles that everyone has (or buy a pack from B&Q
for a couple of quid) and glue to a piece of plywood so that it’s still light.

Instead of using a bedside cabinet, try using a window box….. There will be enough room for all those nick-knacks and will free up space underneath for other things.

To make an extremely cheap ‘walk in wardrobe’, buy two matching armoire-type cabinets and place them in either corner. Add a floorboard along the top to secure both cabinets and run a closet rod between them. Add a length of curtain wire along the top (attaching a hook in the middle to keep it there) and buy some cheap cotton saris as curtains – bingo!

Right then chaps, your turn!

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