12 Ways To Repurpose Common Office Supplies You Can Find At Your Local Thrift Store

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Let's be honest, thrift store office supply aisles are usually a weird catch-all area that you mostly likely skip during your shopping trips. They're a graveyard of beige filing organizers, half-used binders, and those mesh pencil cups that everyone seemed to own in 2005. But if you look past the fluorescent-lit despair, you'll see that these overlooked basics are actually goldmines for DIY home decor. With a little vision — and maybe a can of spray paint — you can transform corporate cast-offs into high-end home accents that serve serious style and function. 

That's why we've rounded up 12 genius ways to rescue thrifted office gear and give it a chic new life in your home. Whether you're all-in for creative repurposing or just need an easy solution to make your life feel a little more organized, these simple upcycles show that you don't need to blow your budget on expensive, new supplies. Plus, who doesn't love another reason to head to the thrift store?

Magazine files are the unsung heroes of vertical storage, often overlooked in favor of baskets or bins. By turning them on their side or placing them upright, they become perfect slots for organizing your chaotic cookbook collection, preventing floppy paperbacks from toppling over. These DIY versions demonstrate how easily you can customize plain cardboard files with contact paper or washi tape to perfectly match your kitchen's decor scheme. It's a smart, budget-friendly solution that keeps your favorite recipes accessible and tidy without cluttering your precious counter space.

Ditch the expensive, heavy frames and grab a stack of plain clipboards from the thrift store instead. This gallery wall idea is brilliant because it allows you to swap out art or family photos in seconds with absolutely no tools required. The bare metal clips add a cool, industrial and minimalist texture that contrasts nicely with the warm brown of the hardboard. Overall, it creates a modern, relaxed vibe and turns a boring wall into a dynamic, ever-changing display of your favorite memories all thanks to DIY thrift store wall art.

A clipboard can double as a functional command center with just a few simple, creative tweaks. This project repurposes an old clipboard and transforms it with a cheerful ribbon bow, and adds a notepad and mini chalkboard labels for quick, visible reminders. Plus, you can add a few X-bet Hyper-Sticky Round Flexible Magnets to the back and stick it on your fridge. That way, you've got a prime place for shopping lists or "can't forget" reminder notes.

This is one of those life hacks that is almost too simple to be true, but it's incredibly effective. By clamping large binder clips to a desk edge, the metal loops act as perfect guides for your various charging cables. It prevents that annoying moment when a cord slides off the tabletop and into the abyss behind your desk. You can even spray paint them or add washi tape to color code for specific cables. It's functional, practically free, and keeps your workspace looking tidy and professional without buying expensive cable management systems.

You'd never guess this cute, fabric-covered organizer started its life as a bulky, battered 3-ring binder. By cutting down the cardboard covers and reinforcing them into a box shape, you can create custom drawer dividers or desktop storage that perfectly fits your specific needs. It's a brilliant way to upcycle those old vinyl binders that usually end up in the trash, turning them into something genuinely useful that can also declutter your junk drawer and store all your supplies in one place. You can even add a ribbon or elastic headband around it to keep it secure and transportable.

The classic binder is still the undisputed king of flexible, expandable organization. Using Amazon Basics Sheet Protectors for 3 Ring Binders turns a standard binder into a wipe-clean recipe album that can handle messy kitchen spills without ruining your pages. It allows you to easily add printed recipes from the internet or handwritten cards from grandma, gathering everything in one searchable, splatter-proof spot. It's practical, durable, and keeps your precious family recipes safe from the inevitable marinara accident while you're cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

It's incredible how something as mundane as a brass thumbtack can look so luxurious when multiplied. This project transforms a plain white pillar candle into a high-end decor piece simply by pushing gold thumbtacks into the wax around the base. The overlapping heads create a textured, metallic "scale" effect that looks like expensive hammered metal. It takes about 10 minutes to do, costs pennies, and instantly elevates a boring candle into a statement piece that looks like it came from a boutique home store.

If you have blank canvases and found a box of thumbtacks at the thrift store, you have everything you need for custom typography art. The three-dimensional texture of the tacks catches the light beautifully, giving the art a depth you just can't get with paint or markers. As a tip, you may want to sketch out the letter first using a pencil. These would make fantastic and personalized wall decor for a nursery, office, or entryway without needing any actual artistic skills.

We've all dealt with the frustration of a garbage bag slipping down inside the can. Luckily, the solution is hiding in those mixed bags of office supplies at the thrift store. If you find one with those big, black binder clips, grab it and use them to clamp your liner to the rim of the bin. It keeps the bag taut and tidy, ensuring you never have to go fishing through trash to retrieve the edge again (gross). It's a zero-waste hack and smart way to repurpose binder clips, saving them from the landfill.

Why buy specialized hardware when a thrifted pink or white eraser does the exact same job? You can often find bags of these unused school supplies for practically nothing. This DIYer glued magnets to both the erasers and their door frame creating an instant, silent buffer. This hack prevents the door from slamming shut or rattling in the frame, protecting your woodwork. It's the ultimate budget-friendly, upcycled fix for noisy doors that puts forgotten school supplies back to work in a surprisingly practical way.

Thrift stores are always overflowing with bags of random rubber bands, and this is the perfect way to use them. Instead of buying expensive velvet or quirky specialty hangers, just wrap a thick rubber band around each end of your existing plastic ones. The rubber creates a high-friction grip that holds slippery fabrics like silk and rayon firmly in place, turning your standard hangers into premium non-slip versions using nothing but the contents of a $0.50 bag of junk drawer supplies.

Those magazine files are a staple on thrift store shelves, usually sitting dusty and ignored. If you need to free up drawer space, but only want budget-friendly ways to organize your kitchen, then grab a magazine holder and lie it on its side in your pantry to create an instant "dispenser" for your aluminum foil and parchment paper. Metal or plastic holders are preferable, but if you only find cardboard ones, that's okay — just keep it in a dry cabinet or cover them with waterproof contact paper.