Written by Catherine Amos, Kayla Anderson, Lila Bolze, Lucy Conrey and Giselle Taylor
The acronym DIY, which means “do it yourself,” may spur images of colorful crafts and sad Pinterest fails, but a modern wave of the DIY initiative is influencing bloggers and social media. Modern DIYers coined the name “Makers” to describe themselves and anyone who enjoys applying their creative powers to design. We can each save time, money and resources by being Makers today! In this column we will provide examples of two handy DIY projects. The first is designed to organize the chaos of tangled power cords and the second creates an affordable, reusable calendar for your dorm.
One DIY project that will help you stay organized by reusing materials you probably already have is the bread clip organizer life hack. Keep your work desk or your TV set organized by labeling each bread clip with the name of a power cord and stringing them onto the cords. The picture at the top of our article is an excellent example of this fun and helpful DIY activity. If you want your bread clips to look extra spunky, try coloring them with washi tape, nail polish or marker!
Having a calendar is an easy way to keep your life simple and organized. A great DIY project that utilizes free everyday materials is the paint chip calendar. Paint chip calendars are extremely helpful for dorm rooms because they are size- and cost-friendly. All you need to make a paint chip calendar are paint chip samples (you can pick these up for free at department stores like Walmart, Target or Lowes), and a picture frame of a desired size. Once you have all of your materials, all you need to do is place the chips of your color preference into the frame and label the calendar on the glass of the frame with a dry-erase marker. It is super simple while adding fun color to any dorm room!
If you want to simplify your expenditures and shopping routine while also improving your organization, try repurposing old materials through DIY instead of purchasing new products.
Our consumer culture promotes buying new products even if you have the materials at your own home (or dorm). You’ll save money to help with college loans in addition to finding joy in giving materials new life and committing to a creative task. DIY can be used to simplify your home organization, decorating, Christmas shopping and so much more!
If you try one of the DIY projects in this column, we would like to know! If you have a favorite DIY project, please share it with us! Check out the sidebar for inspiration for your DIY journey. Take a picture and tweet your imaginative creation with the hashtag #EtownSimplified. Check back next week to learn about simple gift-giving for the holidays!
