by Meredith Swinehart - May 11, 2022

Aha! Hack: Pine Storage Crate as File Cabinet

While caught in an organizational flurry in my home office a few years back, I chucked everything I didn’t immediately need well out of my way. I tossed paper clips into a giant seagrass basket (not smart), books in precarious stacks (acceptable), and overflow file folders into a pine storage crate on the floor (genius!).

As it turns out, standard-issue pine storage crates are sized for paper, meaning letter-sized hanging file folders fit perfectly. So I shredded most of the contents of my former file cabinet and tucked only what I needed inside a pine storage crate—and I’ve never looked back.

Photography by Meredith Swinehart.

Pine Storage Crate as File Cabinet by Remodelista's The Organized Home — Above: A simple pine storage crate makes for a compact, portable filing cabinet.

Pine Storage Crate as File Cabinet by Remodelista's The Organized Home — Above: The solution saves space. I keep mine on a shelf in my bookcase, within easy reach.

Pine Storage Crate as File Cabinet by Remodelista's The Organized Home — Above: One huge perk to the system is that you can’t fit as much paper as you can in a file cabinet—stay with me—so you might be forced to trim your paper load. (For tips, see Happier at Home: 8 Tips on How to Go Paperless.)

Pine Storage Crate as File Cabinet by Remodelista's The Organized Home — Above: Other storage favorites pictured here include storage drawers from Muji, now discontinued (for something similar, try these drawers, also from Muji)), a Six-Inch Strongbox (mine is in matte black from Best Made Co., $34.95), and a Vittsjö shelving unit from Ikea ($99.99).

The Muji drawers, along with the pine storage crates, were my picks for our roundup of Editors’ Picks: Our 10 Favorite Organizational Tools.

A Wood Crate in Medium is 13.5 inches long and the requisite 12.5 inches wide; 4 for $72.49 at The Home Depot. — Above: A Wood Crate in Medium is 13.5 inches long and the requisite 12.5 inches wide; 4 for $72.49 at The Home Depot.

A Wood Crate in Large is also 12.5 inches wide but is 18 inches long; $14.98 at The Home Depot. — Above: A Wood Crate in Large is also 12.5 inches wide but is 18 inches long; $14.98 at The Home Depot.

Letter-sized Pendaflex Recycled Hanging Folders in black are $19.69 for a box of 25 at Amazon. — Above: Letter-sized Pendaflex Recycled Hanging Folders in black are $19.69 for a box of 25 at Amazon.

Browse more Aha! Hacks on The Organized Home:

N.B.: This post has been updated with new links and prices; it was first published October 2020.

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