40 brilliant home organising hacks you’ll wish you knew sooner

Does your family have a lot of clothes that cannot be put in the dryer? Even those collapsible drying racks with several bars for draping wet clothes still aren’t enough for big laundry days. And if you hang wet clothes on top of wet clothes, it lengthens the dry time significantly and can even leave your clothes smelling a little musty.

To fix your air-drying space shortage, grab a 30 x 60cm board from your scrap stash in the garage and trim it to fit across a few joists overhead in your basement laundry room. Tack it in place with a heavy-duty nail in each joist. Then you can air-dry several more pieces of clothing using hangers!

Using a 182cm cardboard cement form cut in half, I created two wrapping paper storage containers. I cut the cylinder in half and cut pieces of heavy cardboard for the base of each, attaching them with duct tape. Then I spray painted them to look presentable. — Peter Turner

The storage possibilities for concrete forms are vast. Think outside the home as well. They can be used to corral wood scraps in the workshop, long-handle yard tools in the shed and more.

I attach a magnet to the top of all of my ladders to hold nuts, bolts, nails, screws and other metal fasteners while I work. It’s like having an extra hand!

It’s best to use a round base magnet or one that is made with a hole in the centre for easy attachment to your ladder. Then all you need to do is drill a hole and use a bolt and nut to hold the magnet securely in place. These magnets are also strong enough to hold small metal tools such as a handheld screwdriver. — Mark Ammons

Check out 12 home improvement projects that practically pay for themselves. 

I always have trouble keeping my hair ties together. Somehow they are always missing when I want them but are all over the place when I don’t. The solution to this mess was to attach them to a carabiner. It keeps them all in one place, provided I remember to use it! — Rachel Douglas

One roll of wrapping paper can usually last a long time. Many people just stick a piece of tape on the loose edge to keep it from unwinding while it’s stowed away. But when you try to remove the tape the next time you need to wrap a present, the paper rips and you have to cut a new clean edge.

Cut an empty toilet paper tube lengthwise and wrap it around the roll of wrapping paper. Cinch up the tube as tight as possible and secure it in place with a piece of tape. Then when you need to use the wrapping paper again, just remove the toilet paper tube. You may rip the tube, but your wrapping paper will remain intact!

Why pay for a fancy compartment-style shoe storage container when you can just pick one up for free at almost any store that sells wine? Designed to protect fragile glass bottles, a wine box is perfect for storing footwear because it comes equipped with cardboard dividers – a place for each shoe! In addition, the exterior cardboard is very sturdy, again to keep wine bottles from breaking, but also great for protecting your shoes in storage!

You could get fancy, too, and paint or cover the exterior of the wine box with decorative wrapping paper if you plan to keep it in your closet or entryway.

In today’s high-tech homes, keeping track of small cords can be challenging. Almost every electronic device has a cord that goes with it: cameras, smartphones, computers and the list goes on. Rather than tossing them in various drawers throughout your house, where they can get tangled or forgotten, try this simple and inexpensive solution.

Find a small box (a shoe box works perfectly) and fill it with as many empty toilet paper rolls that will fit vertically. Then place a single cord in each toilet paper roll. Next time you need one of your small cords, you’ll know where to find it, and it’ll be free of tangles!

When it comes time to move, this tip is especially useful for packing – and unpacking – your closet!

There’s no need to take your clothes off hangers, fold them and stack them in boxes. Just grab a handful of your hanging clothes and wrap the tops of the hangers together using bendable electrical wire or a zip tie. Drape a garbage bag over the clothes, pulling the tops of the hangers through a hole in the bottom of the bag. Then cinch up the garbage bag handles and tie them together.

I have several padlocked sheds on my property. To keep track of which key goes with which lock, I bought two identical sets of key ID rings, the kind that stretch around the edge of the key head.

I put a ring on the key and the matching ring on the padlock that goes with it. Now I don’t have to test all of my keys in each padlock before finding the one that fits! — Michal Jacot

Rather than take up space in a drawer or cabinet for storing rolls of tape, mount an old paper towel dispenser to your wall or pegboard. It can hold several rolls of duct tape, painter’s tape, etc., within easy reach. And unlike stashing tape in a dark cabinet or cramped drawer, the paper towel holder makes it really easy to find the specific tape needed for different jobs.