Magazine Boxes Are the Best Budget-Friendly Storage Hack

Growing up, I saw my mom using magazine boxes to store all kinds of non-magazine things around our home. It was a smart, cost-effective way to keep everything in order. But when I got older and started organizing and managing my own place, I was taken in by all of the pricier and often flashier options on the market. Imagine my surprise, then, when I started noticing magazine holders popping up as a storage hack all over TikTok and Pinterest. As usual, my mother was ahead of the curve and I should have listened to her.

It’s never too late to save some major money while still keeping your home in perfect order, though. Here’s how to use these versatile containers to organize your stuff.

Why use magazine holders to organize?

First of all, I know I say it all the time, but you need to be using the Organizational Triangle principles to manage your possessions. Basically, this set of rules calls on you to store similar items together and make sure they all have a designated storage space. The Organizational Triangle and other organizing techniques, like Core 4, work best when you’re using storage containers for these purposes. Containers keep your categories separate, give everything that designated spot that it needs, and also serve as a reminder of how much space you really have. Once a container is full, you know you don’t have room to keep adding to it, so you have to stop getting new things in that category or pare down what you have. Storage containers work to store everything, from your physical organizing to your budget, in check. It’s why I talk about them so much.

In addition to being pretty inexpensive—especially when compared to spendier options like plastic boxes—magazine holders are especially useful because they’re so accessible. They’re slim and stand upright, meaning you can take advantage of vertical space on your shelves and flat surfaces instead of piling items on top of one another. Plus, they’re open in the front, making it easy to grab what you need. The ease of using a magazine container over lidded, stacked boxes is obvious. And, again, they’re not even a lot of money. Look at this set of 12 for under $20:

How to use magazine holders around your home

Now comes the fun part: Thinking of ways to use these bad boys to organize your stuff. Like I said, my mom has always been ahead of the curve, so she had a work-from-home job in the 1990s. She used magazine holders for everything in her office, from documents (obviously) to tools like tape, staples, and pens—all the things she needed quick access to while she was working—but these have uses in practically every room. Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

• Use magazine holders to contain pot and pan lids within cupboards

• Designate one for cling wrap and tinfoil, too

• Some are big enough to hold and dispense canned goods or spices

• Use them to keep water bottles arranged in a neat line and/or keep their lids in order. (No more accidental games of dominos when you reach for a bottle in the back.)

• Store coffee pods for Keurigs or Nespressos, which can slide right next to the machine on the counter

• Roll and stack dish towels and rags in magazine holders in the kitchen or…

• …use them for washcloths in the bathroom

• Store other bathroom essentials in them, too, and assign one per family member to hold their toothpaste, face wash, etc.

• Use magazine holders to store toilet paper compactly behind the toilet

• They’re also helpful for keeping corded beauty tools, like curling irons or straighteners, in order

• Keep tech devices like iPads, eReaders, and phones stored safely

• Store socks, undies, and basic grab-and-go clothing items in magazine holders in the closet

• Lay one on its back to store bottles of wine or other drinks vertically in the fridge

Tupperware lids, crafting supplies, bills, documents, cleaning solutions—you can store all manner of items in these and still maintain easy access to them. The above are just a few ideas, but you can use magazine holders for whatever unique needs your household has.

Plus, there are cute options out there. Most dollar stores have a few of these in stock and you can find wire mesh ones, colorful ones, and even collapsible and expandable ones out there, depending on what you want yours to look like.