My Favorite Organization Tip: Hair Ties!

If you have daughters, you probably use those tiny little hair ties. I have three little girls so we use a LOT of hair ties.

And if you happen to also have an 18 month old, or you've ever accidentally dropped them, or you've ever bumped them into the sink, you've probably ended up with a pile of hair ties that get strewn all over the house. When Noelle was a baby, she just loved climbing up onto our bathroom sink and getting out the hair ties, just to dump them all over the bathroom. Sure, they package them in that pretty little box that seems like a great idea until you realize it is made of cheap plastic that doesn't really stay closed and pops open at the slightest jostle. I tried keeping them in plastic baggies, but that didn't work either. Little fingers could get those open and dump out the hair ties, too. I got so tired of picking them up that I searched for a solution. One day, as I was cleaning up their toys, I got a flash of inspiration that literally has changed my life.

I quickly went from this

to this.

All you need is your box of hair ties and a plastic shower curtain ring. I find my hair ties at Walmart and get 500 of the little devils for just $2.50. Can't beat that. (If you can, tell me where!)

Normally, I don't dump them all out, since it is much easier to keep them all organized if you pull them straight from the box, since they package them in semi-rows. But because I needed a picture of a pile of them, mine got dumped out. Just start sliding a bunch at a time onto the narrow part of the opening in your curtain ring. Keep going until the ring is all filled up and snap it shut.

My 5 year old can open it, but my 3 year old still struggles with it and my 19 month old definitely can't wreak havoc on this!

Getting the color you want is really easy! When you're ready to use them, just slide the hair ties around until the color you want is on that narrow part of the opening again. Snap it open, pull off that hair tie, snap it shut, and you're done! **To clarify, you do NOT remove all the hair ties to get to the one you want. You just slide all the hair ties around until the one you want is on the narrow opening. Just make sure it is snapped shut first! I hope that makes sense!**

As for me, I really enjoy having one less thing to clean up after.