You've got the fashion sense of a lady with a closet as organized as Cher's from "Clueless" -- except your room really looks like something straight out of "Hoarders."

Your favorite necklace? It's tangled in your iPod buds. That book you meant to lend a friend? Buried between boots on your closet floor. The super-snuggly winter hat? You won't find it until next summer -- recently escaped from the Bermuda Triangle that is the space below your bed.

But the Container Store is expensive, and you seriously have better things to do than spend Saturday night managing your accessories. So don't waste time -- or money -- and upcycle what you already own toward a more organized you.

Read on to learn how my do-it-yourself advice gives back money-saving dividends worth organizing for.

Get More Organized Tip #1: Upcycle Nails & Wall Space


Wall space is precious real estate when it comes to organization. Capitalize on this fertile white land to hang necklaces, hats, belts, scarves and other loose accessories that can get lost in the clutter unless put on full display.

Put a nail near a mirror for easy access to a quick necklace change. Decorate dead wall space with an artistic display of hats. Hang belts and scarves on multiple nails behind your door.

The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Hat Box, $4.99–$5.99
Necklace Keeper, $19.99


Get More Organized Tip #2: Upcycle Wine Bottles & Candles



In college, a bottle of Jack Daniel's worked for upcycled glassware decoration. Thankfully, you've moved on from Jack & Coke to a more refined taste -- and nothing says sophistication more than organizing your collection of vintage "Sweet Valley Highs" with help from a few upcycled bottles of Two-Buck-Chucks.

Remove corks and soak the bottles in hot water, using a metal sponge or scouring pad to remove the paper wrapper, revealing the soft glow of glass beneath. Add fake flowers into the bottles before sandwiching your books in style (and off the closet floor).

Further the life of an old candle by boiling it in a pot of water to break away dead wax from the glass, and then adding your beads, office supplies or other knick knacks into the remaining jar for decorative storage.

The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Bookends, $12.99
Decorative Glass Bottles, $4.99–$5.49


Get More Organized Tip #3: Upcycle Cans & Jars



When we were kids, upcycling a tin can meant tying a string between two and pretending it was a telephone.

Flash-forward 20 years, and an upcycled can or jar is an easy way to organize your desk free of scattered pens and pencils. Remove the can's wrapper and replace with a magazine page, some remainder wallpaper or even a piece of super-soft cotton cut from an old T-shirt.

Cook soup for a week and create a themed-can collection that doubles for decorative use and display.

The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Pencil Cup, $4.99


Get More Organized Tip #4: Upcycle Jam Jars



Sure, you saw some stunning glass when studying abroad in Amsterdam junior year -- but the real glass winners are in your kitchen, and I'm not talking about bowls here.

Upcycle glass plates and jam jars into decorative displays of jewelry and other scattered knickknacks. Use the etched glass of a jam jar as the centerpiece of a glass plate filled with jewelry.

Low on glass supply? Check your grandparents' cupboards for kitschy dining ware, old bottles of preserves and other glass collectibles.

The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Jam Jars, $2.99–$4.99


Get More Organized Tip #5: Upcycle Cupcake Pans



Earrings are like twin sisters -- you can't imagine seeing them apart, much less wearing one without the other.

Keep accessories organized using the individualized compartments of a cupcake pan, and you'll never have to worry about sifting through distant cousins to reunite sibling crystal studs ever again.

The Container Store Cash Comparison:
Jewelry Box, $59


Get More Organized Tip #6: Upcycle Tupperware



Like the unsolved mystery of the missing sock, we all have a couple of lid-less tupperware containers lying around.

Use tupperware compartments to organize by type of jewelry so that your earrings, bracelets and necklaces are as organized as a main dish and its sides.

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