If you're like many of us, you may have set a New Year's resolution to better organize some area of your life. It's not easy though, creating a successful organizational system can be difficult when so many great organizing tools cost so much to purchase. The good news is that you can gain control over household clutter and keep your spending to a minimum.

Take a moment to look around your house. There is a good chance you already have some incredibly useful storage and organization tools. By checking what you already own for potential organizers, you streamline your organizational shopping trips and save money.

Wait! Before you embark on an epic shopping trip, first assess your organizational storage requirements. For example, let's say your office is incredibly disorganized and the work-related clutter is beginning to spill over into the rest of your life.

Start with the basics. A small investment in a filing cabinet or even portable file boxes can be the beginning of a whole new way of working. All you need is a box of hanging file folders to develop a workable filing system.

If you really want to organize on the cheap, you can even transform some (clean) unused coffee cups for pen and pencil storage. Any little baskets or boxes that fit inside your desk drawer can control your loose paper clips, push pins or rubber bands.

Is your closet so disorganized that it can no longer contain your clothes? A cheap fix is to install a second closet rod or even a stackable organizer for shoes or sweaters. Doing simple things like these actually reduces the amount of space that items occupy. But at the same time, creating a better organizational system makes everything you own more accessible. Nothing will ever be lost or out of reach.

Most neighborhood discount stores have a decently sized selection of storage bins and other organizational containers like drawers, baskets, boxes, and bags. You can find most organizational containers for cheap. Really, this stuff is affordable!

So what's the difference between free, cheap, and way too expensive? Durability. As prices for storage products go up, the products themselves tend to be of higher quality. But that doesn't mean you should spend a ton of cash to get organized. Most people can make their inexpensive storage products (or even freebies) last for years. You can always replace your inexpensive system in a couple years with higher quality storage products.

Make a commitment to maintaining and improving your organized areas on a continual basis. Proper organization creates additional free time, which is always a good thing for anybody.