12 Ways To Repurpose A File Holder In Your Home

Whether you call them file holders, file racks, or document holders, there are multiple clever ways to reuse these office supplies in your home. While they're meant to organize your paperwork and files, their versatility lets you find a way to reuse them in your kitchen, bathroom, and even in the bedroom closet. You can often find file holders in the aisles of your local thrift shop or on a deep discount after back-to-school sales. No matter the size of your house, there's probably an undiscovered use for a file holder that can tidy up some area of your home, as they can be used to organize bed sheets, kitchen items, bathroom cabinets, and even gift wrap. Therefore, don't overlook these items the next time you find one at a garage sale.

While you could invest in pricey organizers to handle all of your clutter, you don't need to, because a file organizer is a perfect choice for many common clutter-causing items in the home. Furthermore, you can find file holders made of plastic, metal, acrylic, and other materials, so look for the specific kind you desire. Sometimes they feature multiple vertical compartments, while others have just one large compartment. Check out the ideas we've rounded up for you to discover how to make this item an essential organization tool for any space in your home.

Countertop space is sometimes a luxury in small kitchens. Finding hacks to secretly add more storage to your kitchen is the solution, especially if you love to cook and bake. With all of the appliances, utensil cups, spices, and other items you need to store, you should carefully look at every inch of your kitchen's layout to expand storage. One great DIY storage hack that will add more counter space for cookbooks or spices is to use adhesive tape to secure a file holder underneath your upper cabinets. Turn the holder on its side, attach it with the adhesive tape, and fill it with any items that will fit.

Cluttered cabinets often need a sense of order, especially if you frequently use reusable food containers. The containers' lids may be scattered throughout your cabinets or just thrown into a pile until you have the need to dig one out for leftover casserole. A better way to organize your lids is to slot them in a file holder. Thanks to the file holder's wide space, you can accommodate lids of varying sizes, ready for quick retrieval when needed. Who knows, you might actually be able to fit a lid to its container with ease after trying this trick.

The bathroom can be another area of the home where storage is limited. Towels and hair care products may overwhelm your cabinets. When looking for cabinet storage hack and organization ideas, don't sleep on the office supply section, especially for the bathroom. Grab some file holders that fit in your cabinet, then sort everything in its own compartment. Stack gel, hair spray, styling tools, and other necessary items in each individual slot, and you should find it much easier to get ready in the morning when looking for what you need.

Gift bags are the ultimate choice for when you want to wrap presents, as they're often easier to reuse than wrapping paper. Do you save gift bags? If you do, keep them organized and tidy with file holders. Depending on the amount and size of your bags, you could use several holders or one with multiple compartments to keep them organized. Label each holder with a tag that indicates the related occasion to keep yourself from grabbing a Christmas bag when you're looking for a birthday gift. You could also organize foldable boxes as well.

You might have the best way to organize all kinds of clothing, but sometimes, socks and underwear are the outliers. It seems that these pieces of clothing exist in either neat balls of fabric or chaos, depending on your organizing style. If you have a hanging organizer in your closet, a file holder set on one of the shelves is perfect for storing all of these easily lost accessories. If you don't have one of these organizers, then you can also place the file holder on your closet shelves or upside down in a drawer.

The perfect makeup routine starts with an organized area. Therefore, if you have a stack of clunky palettes, you probably think it's best to have them all within reach so you can get the perfect look in minutes. However, because these palettes can come in many different sizes and thicknesses, they can be hard to organize. Fortunately, you can just slide them into the slots of a desk stand-up file rack, one meant to hold horizontal papers. You can neatly "file" one or two palettes in each slot, then keep them on your vanity or dresser.

The best kitchen safety practice is to use separate cutting boards for different food preparation. An example is one board specifically designated for raw meat, poultry, and seafood, while the other is meant for bread and produce. Because of this, you'll need to have at least two cutting boards, though most people have more. Keeping your cutting boards organized and where you can easily retrieve them is a snap with a file holder. Storing them in a file rack on your countertop or on a shelf lets you organize the boards — and you could even label the separate sections according to use as well.

Toilet paper is a necessity in all households, but some people might want to hide their extra stash from their guests. Grandma's crocheted toilet paper covers have largely fallen out of style, so you might be looking for a better option. An easy bathroom storage hack is to use a tall file holder to discreetly hide your toilet paper. Depending on the thickness, you might be able to store three to five rolls at a time. If a fancy toilet paper holder isn't in the budget, your local thrift store or office supply store has what you need.

Keeping up with the laundry can be exhausting enough, but if you have a household with three different bed sizes (twin, queen, and king), it's sometimes worse. Luckily, file holders can help streamline your organization, especially if you have multiple sheet sets in the same color. Sort each sheet set into their respective sizes and then organize them into file holders. Use the file holders' label area to mark what size is in each holder. Then, when you need to change out the bedding, you won't waste time grabbing the wrong sheet size for the bed. 

Is your cleaning arsenal basically a hodgepodge of cleaners, stain-fighters, and various sprays shoved together? Instead of having a cluster of cleaning products spread throughout your cabinets, make the most of your available storage by using file holders to separate them out by type. Group each product by their use, like multi-surface, floor, and stain removers, which will make your cleaners much easier to locate in a hurry. As a bonus, the slim, tall size of file holders also makes it easier to organize items around the bulky pipes that are often present underneath kitchen or bathroom sinks.

If you're a fashion lover who likes to have a different accessory for every occasion, how do you keep up with all of your clutches and small bags? An ideal solution is to repurpose a file rack with multiple slots. You can spray paint it for a more glam touch if it looks a little utilitarian, and then you might be able to display it on a bookcase or shelf as functional decor. With this method, your smaller bags will be right when you can see and retrieve them as you make last-minute outfit changes.

Tote bags are a popular souvenir, whether you get them from a theme park, as a free giveaway at a sports match, or as swag from your company events. They're very handy, especially for trips to the library or grocery store, but hanging a bunch of them on a coat rack or hall tree might look a little too cluttered for your liking. Instead, after rolling each tote bag up neatly, insert them into a file holder. Then, when you're heading out to the store, you can simply reach in and grab one.