I’ve been thinking about starting a new series this year called:
Cheap {Organizing} Tricks
So here goes. This first one isn’t so much a trick, as a duh.
My definition of “duh” is: Something that is so quick or easy that it makes me wonder why I didn’t do it sooner.
Yes. I was in Junior High in the 80s. Why do you ask?
I will attribute this idea to Normal Friend. She claims that she gets the majority of her organizing stuff at the Dollar Tree. When she saw that I “might” have Towel Placement Issues, she said that I could get Towel Hanging Doo-lollies there.
Honestly, I was only half listening because the other half of me was thinking of excuses for why whatever she was talking about wouldn’t work.
Here’s the thing. I used to love to shop for organizing stuff. Partly because I just loved stuff. Mostly, though, because I thought/hoped that I would someday find the perfect thing that would solve all my slob problems. Because this delusion only caused me to end up with more stuff that I couldn’t keep organized, I’ve kind of swung my pendulum to the other extreme.
Like, I assume that NO organizing stuff will ever work for me. So why buy anything?
Even at Dollar Tree.
But, when I was in Dollar Tree letting my daughter buy a soon-t0-be-legless-not-a-Barbie, I saw what Normal Friend was talking about. And I decided to waste two dollars.
Really, I assumed they would break. As a chronic over-loader, I’ve never had much luck with hooks and such.
But . . . I was wrong. I’m admitting it here for the entire world to read. These things work. They attach tightly to the top of the door (no hardware needed) and are plenty strong for one towel. And they’re a dollar each.
Duh.
Thanks once again for you wonderful words of awesomeness!! I’m still in that delusional state where I think I’ll find the perfect thing, the perfect system, the perfect [whatever] and suddenly be magically cured of my slob behavior…….you are way closer to reality than I am lol.
I think you might live in my head! Now, we have an older house with quirky doors, can your doors open and close easily with those on there?
Since I can’t tell you the last time I was in a dollar store, do you know if they have any that hang further down the door? I am only 4’10” and all the doors in this house are 6.5 foot doors – I can’t reach up that high.
You could use an over-the-door wreath hanger. They are most likely quite cheap now. Just a thought. You might even find one at a thrift store.
I do use a wreath hanger. And the material at the top is thin enough that the door closes normally as well. PS the hanger is brass.
The generic Command hooks work great for kids towels.
We have a tiny bathroom with a bi-fold louver door, so no hooks over that! 🙂 We did command hooks on the wall just outside the bath, in our master bedroom, and they are holding the towels quite well – in fact, most times there are two or three towels on each hook…
Love the blog, Nony! 🙂 Keep up the good work for us slobs!
Thank you for this!! It never crossed my mind to buy something like this! I’ve been waiting on hubby to install some in the door, but this was instant and awesome! Plus when I was there I found they carried those collapsible boxes like ikea uses for the cubby shelves. I was able to clear up my craft/sewing shelves with those neat boxes. Yesterday was a huge gain in the organization department for me. 🙂
My close very frugal friend has opened my eyes to dollar stores, consignment stores and Goodwill stores, We could really use two towel holders and now I know where to find them, Thanks, Nony!
Betsy C.
I have taken those over-the-door hooks with us on vacation. It is amazing how many hotels don’t think to install hooks for those used-but-still-clean towels.
That is genius!
Thanks to this post, and the comments… I just put command hooks on the back of our bathroom door.
And how do you get the towels from the kids to the hook? I’ve had every kind of hook, in every color, in every room. They still throw them on the floor
I read this blog post back when it first was published. Our bathroom was too small. But we hung a hook up in bedrooms for each person. This helped cut down on towels on the floor and laundry. We have since moved and have bigger bathrooms but we still have towel hooks in the bedroom.
We put a towel rail behind the door in each child’s room, it works perfectly as the towel is flat and dries even when it is humid and each child knows where their towel is, they also know to bring their towel to the bathroom prior to getting undressed. It also helps me as I freak out with the thought of various people drying their hands on the kids towels in the bathroom and I have no idea what good a job they did washing their hands first. This way I keep only hand towels in the bathrooms itself. You don’t see the towels as they are behind the door when open. In our guest room which has an en suite and it is tiny we put the towel rail inside the bathroom but on the door. When the door is shut you can reach your towel from the shower.