Before you spend buckets of money on organizing products, look critically and creatively at the things in your home. The best organizing products are the ones you already have. You may be surprised how an old baby food jar can help you get organized. Here are a few ideas:

Let’s start with a toilet paper roll. Besides the obvious and helpful roll it plays in your life (pun intended), it also makes a wonderful toddler toy. But wait, free toddler toys make you and your tot happy but they don’t really help you get organized. Toilet paper rolls are perfect electric chord holders/organizers. Just fold the chord and tuck it in. Use this trick for loose chords or chords attached to appliances.

If you have a tangle of chords, tuck them into separate rolls and label them. If you have chords in a visible place (and can’t stand having a toilet paper roll on your kitchen countertop) disguise it with paint or wrapping paper. Now, this should go without saying, but remember that toilet paper rolls are flammable so do not use this trick with curling irons, clothes irons, or hot griddles that don’t have detachable chords.

Other ideas: Use shower curtain rings hooked together to organize belts or ties in your closet. Use decorative toothbrush holders to hold pens or makeup brushes. You know that shower caddy you have that never gets used? Hang it from a hook in your teenage daughter’s room and put all her hair supplies or jewelry in it. Use see-through pill boxes to hold jewelry, small craft supplies, or nails.

Put towel racks on the back of the door in everyone’s room. You can keep towels from cluttering the bathroom or you can use the racks to hang belts, ties, hats, or shoes. Put spring-bar curtain rods in small children’s closets so they can reach their clothes and you can move up the bar as the child gets taller.

Attach empty baby food jars to a shelf. Screw or nail the lid into the bottom of the shelf. Then simply twist the glass jar on and off when you need it. You can use this idea in your pantry and fill the jars with spices or use it in the garage to store nails and screws.

Use an old book (one you never want to read again) to make a bookshelf. Attach brackets to the book and the wall and then stack books horizontally to cover the brackets. It will give you a floating bookshelf and add a decorative flair to your room.

Think about it. You already know how to do this. Your treadmill already doubles as a laundry sorter - right? The lid of your dishwasher has probably been a finger-painting canvas. Your kitchen table is used for many things besides meals. Your couch and bed make great trampolines (according to your kids). If you simply think outside the toilet paper roll, you can have fun organizing without spending any money at all.