DIY drawer organizer from a freebie magnet and mason jar lids

How to create a quick and easy DIY drawer organizer…

Organizing can be an expensive endeavor. Ever walk into a Container Store, or look at California Closets? If I spent that much money on organizational stuff, I’d be super organized.

Mostly because I would have had to hock everything else I owned in order to pay for my plastic containers of every size and solid gold clothing hangers.

Personally, I’d rather spend my $$ on vacations. And fun shoes. And ice cream. LOTS of ice cream.

But my love of ice cream doesn’t necessarily mean I want to live amongst disorganized chaos. So this month, I’ll be sharing some simple, inexpensive organizing items you can make at home from things that I’m guessing you already own.

Today, we’ll make a super quick, super cheap DIY drawer organizer. Why? Because if you’ve got drawers anything like THIS…

then this simple DIY project will bring a smile to your face. Kind of like ice cream, sans the calories.

It’s not a big DIY drawer organizer, so it doesn’t store a ton of stuff, but I needed something to stick in my junk drawer that would keep things like paper clips, and safety pins, or push pins in their place.

And this little guy did the job. And it’s cute, too…that’s bonus points, in my book.

Here’s what you’ll need to assemble some of your own mason jar lid drawer organizers…

1. Trace and cut out cardboard circle.

Trace your mason jar lid and cut out a circle that will fit inside. Make it LARGER than the hole on the top of the lid since we will be sitting the cardboard inside the lid and don’t want it falling through.

In lieu of a cardboard circle, you could also easily use the metal top that sits inside the mason jar screw top, if you have those on hand.

2. Cut magnet to size.

I used a bunch of “freebie” magnets to create my DIY drawer organizer. You know, the ones that you get in the mail all year as promotional items from realtors, etc.

Typically, these are not the strongest, most high-quality magnets, so if you want to make sure that your DIY drawer organizer is more strongly magnetized, purchase some magnets, or use other, stronger magnets you may already have on hand.

The flatter the magnet, the better as well since these little mason jar lids are small and we don’t have a ton of room to throw away.

Cut the magnet, if necessary, to fit on top of your cardboard circle that was cut in step 1.

3. Hot glue magnet onto cardboard circle.

In the video, you’ll see I used a glue stick for this step, and although that works fine, as well, you’ll be needing your hot glue gun for the next step, anyhow.

4. Cut a fabric scrap to size.

Grab a pretty scrap of fabric you have on hand. The thinner the fabric, the better, as we want the magnet to work through the fabric. Cut the fabric so that it’s about 1/2″ bigger than the cardboard circle all the way around.

5. Hot glue fabric to cardboard.

Glue the fabric to the cardboard circle. You want the magnetized side of the cardboard circle to be the one that is completely fabric-covered. The side of the cardboard without the magnet is where you’ll be gluing the ends of the fabric.

6. Place inside the mason jar lids.

Take your finished magnetized, fabric-covered circle and place it inside the mason jar lid. You want the lid to be sitting upside-down so that your little “bowl” has some depth in which to place your junk drawer odds and ends.

As you can see, I used mine for safety pins and binder clips. And I made a third for straight pins.

And now…at least for today, my junk drawer is looking way less junky. Even without fancy “designer” organizational tools. Which is perfect. This gal needs all the $$ for ice cream I can get ?. Happy organizing, all!