The Dollar Tree Shoe Organizer You Need For Genius Seasonal Decor Storage

Holiday decor is fun to curate until it's time to find a place to store it. Whether you're storing your holiday garlands or styrofoam pumpkins made for Thanksgiving centerpieces, these are items you can't simply throw into a cardboard box and call it a day. They can break or become dented, making them unusable for next year's festivities. But as anyone who has looked for padded ornament boxes will know, those containers can become quite expensive, especially if you need several. Luckily, Dollar Tree has a great alternative that won't break the bank. All you need to do is repurpose the popular dollar store's Under-the-Bed Fabric Shoe Organizer to create a soft storage box for $1.25. 

This is a great hack to try because it is low-risk and attainable. It doesn't require you to spend more than $2 to try, and most people have a Dollar Tree within driving distance of their house. It's a budget-friendly way to bring some order to seasonal messes, helping you corral your items in an organized, easy-to-find way. Here is how to transform shoe organizers into useful holiday storage.

To pull off this hack, look for either the Under-the-Bed Fabric Shoe Organizers, which are a little over 22 inches long, or the Collapsible Square Underbed Storage Bags, which are 11x11 inches. The shoe organizer comes with handy separators that normally allow you to fit six pairs of shoes. But rather than using them to store your summer sandals, you can use those dividers to help separate different categories of decor, such as different kinds of gourds for fall holidays or your assortment of bows for winter festivities. The collapsible square storage bags don't come with separators, but they are big enough to corral like-items together, like seasonal faux flowers or holiday linens. 

There are, however, caveats to this hack. Since they are from the dollar store, these storage boxes aren't as sturdy or lined as their more expensive counterparts. Because of that, you will likely find the dividers flimsy and the boxes themselves unpadded. Keeping that in mind, they might not be the safest storage option for breakable or heavy decor, such as Christmas villages. However, people love using them for holiday storage because they zip closed — containing a lot of difficult-to-store items — and because they have a clear top panel, making it easy to see what's inside. You can then pack several of these boxes together in a larger storage bin, allowing you to sift through the options in a more organized way.

If the majority of your holiday decor is delicate or breakable, there is still a way to make this Dollar Tree storage DIY work for you. All you will need is a few modifications in the form of padding. To make the boxes sturdier, consider buying foam poster board from Dollar Tree and cutting out pieces to fit the base and sides of the boxes or slats. This will create a stiffer silhouette, allowing you to stack the boxes more efficiently and ensure the dividers stay in place and don't allow the items to touch. To secure the foam board, simply use hot glue to adhere it in place. 

If you're handy with a needle and thread, another way you can add structure to fabric boxes is with the help of boning tape, which you can get at craft stores like Joann for $3.99 a yard. This tape contains a plastic wire covered in poly-cotton casing, which will add some rigidness when sewn into fabric. In this case, you can sew it to the sides of the box to help it retain its shape better. Whichever upgrade you choose, this is an easy way to capture your holiday decor in one place without breaking the bank.