An Empty Cereal Box Will Solve One of the Most Annoying Kitchen Messes

Hopefully you’re already recycling your cereal boxes. Don’t be so fast to toss your next empty box into the bin, though. Turns out, you can use it to solve one of the most annoying storage problems in your kitchen. That’s right — with a cereal box and a pair of scissors (or an X-ACTO knife), you can easily create a place to stash the lids to all your food storage containers! Not only will your drawers, cupboards, or pantry be less cluttered, but you’ll also be able to grab the lid you need in a pinch, because they will all be visible.

Getting the most out of a used cereal box — and, just as importantly, to keep kitchen clutter at bay — won’t take much time or many supplies. Just remove the empty-ish, crumb-filled bag from the cereal box (ideally, a larger box so that you can store more), then grab a pair of scissors or an X-ACTO knife. Next, cut the box diagonally from the top. You’ll want to leave at least a couple of inches on the bottom — the goal is to mimic the design of a magazine holder. For a different spin on the same function, you can also cut the top of the box off, followed by the sides, leaving a few inches on the bottom on each side.

Want to make the box a bit sturdier, or just feel like flexing your DIY skills? Add some self-adhesive paper to the outside of the box or paint it! In addition to holding container lids, you can also use this box hack to hold your meal planning notebooks, mail, important papers, and more.

Now you’ve done a favor for the environment and you have a simple (and cute!) method for organizing all the storage lids adding unnecessary clutter to your kitchen!