Release Yourself From the Guilt of Not Buying in Bulk

On a recent day in my house, I happened to realize how ubiquitous plastic wipes containers are in my organization system (and I use the term organization lightly). They primarily end up holding craft/art supplies or small homeless objects but I decided to look around a bit to see exactly where I had them and I realized they are my go-to storage container. How did I live without them before children? What will I do when my youngest is potty-trained? So not chic, but free!

But I have also used them for a few things other than storage so I thought I would throw those in the list. So for those of you who look at those wipes containers and think, jeez, I feel like I could use this to hold something something, here are 20 ways I do (and have in the past).

1. To hold my daughter’s hair clips/ponytail holders.


2. To hold Barbie clothes.


3. As a self-assembled first aid kit for my trunk.


4. As a container for puzzles whose boxes have collapsed. Tip: cut two small pieces of the original box and tape one to the top and one to the front so it’s identifiable.


5. As a home for boxless crayons. (This container lives in my road trip/restaurant/overnight bag so we can color whenever we want to.)


6. As a makeshift piggy bank. (Tip: If you take off the top lid, that inner lid acts just like the money slot on a piggy bank. When first implementing an allowance system, you can create spend/save/donate containers. )


7. As a container for paint when painting the trim in my house.


8. To hold nail polish bottles and mani/pedi supplies so they all stay in one place.


9. In the craft closet – for embroidery thread, for acrylic paint, for beading supplies,
   for wooden beads that I bought for a project and never used them, for glue sticks,
   for barrettes waiting for ribbon to be attached, for random tools I needed but have
   no place to keep.


10. As a container for countless types of screws/nails/tools.


11. To hold the “fourth C batteries” we never need.


12. To hold batteries waiting to be recycled.


13. To hold seasonal utensils – corn on the cob holders and seafood crackers.


14. As a container for decks of cards.


15. As a container for homeless sidewalk chalk (does anyone else go to parties where they give a couple of pieces of chalk in the goody bag?)


16. As a coupon holder (this happens every New Year when I make a resolution to cut coupons.)


17. To hold cookie cutters


18. As a container for vegetable/flower seeds we didn’t use.


19. As a way to pack food for a road trip. It makes a great way to hold lunches with cold drinks and snacks! (Obviously everything should be self-contained within the wipes box). It keeps things from getting soggy and squished, and they stack nicely in a cooler.


20. To hold plastic utensils leftover from various parties.

Does anyone else have these all over their house?

-- Crafty Mom