DIY Desk Organizer From Recycled Boxes

Since both of my girls are unexpectedly home from college for the next few months and are sharing a small room, we needed to organize their desk area (including notebooks, office supplies and art supplies) ASAP! So I created a fun AND functional desk caddy from recycled cardboard items!

Save up your cardboard boxes and toilet paper and/or paper towel tubes. Large cereal boxes are a good size because they are wide enough to hold paper and folders. Wide boxes, like 12-pack soda boxes, tissue or pasta boxes are good to create the pencil holders, because they easily hold multiple toilet paper tubes.

As a professional organizer, I organize home offices often. And an inexpensive way to make useful paper storage is make your own file boxes. To create a file box, cut a triangle off the front and back of one of your cereal boxes. Leave the tall side intact though.

Then just fold the tall piece down into the box (and tape it ) to create a stronger box.

Figure out how you want your desk caddy to look. Cut down the box that holds the toilet paper tubes to the same height as the tubes.

I wrapped each box with a different pattern of wrapping paper to match the girls' decor. You can also use contact paper or duct tape to decorate them.

After they were wrapped, I used an awl to punch holes in the boxes and secured them together with (aff. link) paper fasteners. Then I used packing tape across the bottoms of the boxes to hold them securely. If you don't have an awl, a sharp knitting needle or screwdriver would work, too.

Here is the completed desk caddy.

And here it is filled with my daughters' office and art supplies! There is room for folders, notebooks, composition books, pencils and pens, scissors, tape, and more.

You can see the full tutorial with more instructional photos on my website here: DIY desk organizer from recycled boxes.