I love finding great organizing tips. How about you?
Today I’ve got a simple, quick and fun organizing project for you. Hopefully you will gain an idea and a tip or two to help with organizing in your home.
I’ve been picking one small organizing project each month this year. This project is part of my tidying up a cabinet in our living room that holds our games, movies and puzzles. Organizing it has made a small improvement around our house and has helped get one area of our house more well-organized.
I started with organizing the games and moved on to the movies. This month, I wanted to tackle the last thing that was behind the doors of the cabinets. Our puzzles.
Despite the fact that we don’t do puzzles very often, I couldn’t talk anyone into getting rid of the puzzles. So, it was time to figure out how to save space and keep things organized.
I had all kinds of ideas, but they were all going to get too expensive for what I wanted to spend on this project. I ended up with a cute basket I found on clearance at Target along with some zipper bags and packing tape. You will also need scissors or a paper trimmer.
I totally don’t like using zipper bags because I really dislike using plastic disposable things, but I caved on this one and went with what was quick and fit my budget. If I had the budget, I probably would have bought a storage bin for each puzzle, but that would have really added up fast, even though we don’t have that many puzzles.
As with any organization project, collect all of the things you are trying to organize. Purge things that are no longer used or are broken. Only keep the things you love.
We managed to get rid of one or two puzzles. Surprisingly, this project has renewed an interest in puzzles at my house. We have one going on the kitchen table right now. Fun!
If you plan to store your puzzles in zipper bags, you will still want a picture of the puzzle to reference when putting the puzzle together.
Use scissors or a paper trimmer to remove the sides of the box. Only keep the top of the box.
I have a large rotary paper trimmer
(affiliate link). I found it easiest and fastest to cut the sides of the box off. I first cut the four corners with my scissors to flatten the lid. Then I could easily cut the 4 sides off the box. The added benefit of using the paper trimmer is that no one will know if you cut like a kindergartner like I do. 😉
Use clear packing tape to adhere the picture of the puzzle to the zipper bag.
The lid is now attached to the zipper bag. Just place all the puzzle pieces in the bag and move on to the next puzzle.
By the way, I decided to go for the zipper bags that have the actual zipper or pull on it. I thought it would be easier for little and big hands to make sure the bag got closed. You may want to do the same at your home.
Arrange the bags in the basket. You are already done! Quick and easy organizing project!
This basket goes in the cabinet that holds our games and movies. I’ve shown you those areas as I organized them. I just couldn’t show you the basket in there today because my living room is a wreck with my latest DIY project. (The chair rail removal I showed you). I can get the basket into the cabinet, but there would be no way to take blog worthy photos. Anyway, the new basket full of puzzles works well for us…well it will when I get the living room done and put back together.
What kinds of quick and easy organizing projects have you completed? I’d love to hear about them. Maybe I could get a new idea or two.
More Organizing Fun For You:
Your puzzles look great! We are still in the wooden puzzle stage. I got some mesh lingerie bags from the dollar section at target. Each wooden puzzle fits in perfectly, board and all. I am currently storing them all in a plastic tub but your basket is much cuter!
Thanks for the tips!
That sounds like a fantastic idea! I bet they will work when you move out of the wooden puzzle phase as well. Thanks for sharing your idea.
I usually lurk, but I just had to share that we recently did this with our puzzles and I also hated the idea of using the disposable plastic baggies. We lucked out and our store was having a sale on back-to-school supplies at the same time. I snagged about 25-30 of the zippered canvas pencil bags that have a clear plastic insert in it, for $0.59 each. While it cost us a little more up front, they will definitely last my kidlets much longer than plastic baggies would. We also cut out the picture of each puzzle and slid in behind the plastic window. We also used one of these bags for each of our games in our game cupboard. By using this system, we were able to condense all of our games from an entire cupboard into one storage ottoman. 🙂
So glad you left a comment! I LOVE your solution! Wish I had thought of it. You are right, it is more up front cost but in the end it helps the earth and your budget because the will last longer. Great idea! I hope others read the comments and see this. Don’t you just love when you can save so much space like that! I’m loving all the space I saved between organizing the puzzles and doing something similar with our games. Enjoy your new-found empty space!
i am desperate to become organised I have two adult daughters at home one is uber organised I also have grandsons x2
Not living with us I organised their jigsaws at their home into strong zippered document size bags A4
It means tray jigsaws stay together
I am on this journey to declutter
It sounds like you are well on your way to organize and declutter. I bet doing the puzzles really helped. I know we like ours as well. It works and helps minimize lost pieces as well. Perfection!
I love to organize. This post made me smile. As a kindergarten teacher, t always organized my puzzles exactly like you shared. I wish I would have thought about that tip when my own children were small. One additional tip…code the backs of each puzzle piece. This way putting away those stray pieces that are found after clean up will be a breeze.
Great tip, Kathy! Thank you for sharing. I thought about doing this with our puzzles, but I’m a little impatient for the process. I know it would totally be helpful, but alas, I lack the patience.