• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • ABOUT
    • About Me
    • Policies
      • PRIVACY POLICY
      • DISCLAIMER & TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
      • DISCLOSURE POLICY
      • COPYRIGHT POLICY
  • CONTACT
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ORGANIZATION
    • Organizing Projects
    • Organizing Process
    • Organizing Products & Tools
    • Habits & Routines
    • Productivity
    • Paper
    • Photos
    • Information
    • Kids and Families
    • Holidays
    • Preparedness
  • HOME DECOR
    • Decorating Project Gallery
    • Home Staging
    • Tips & Tricks
    • Home Improvement
    • Tools & Inspiration
    • Shopping Guides
  • DECLUTTERING
    • Decluttering Tips
    • Turn Clutter into Cash
  • CHALLENGES
    • The 40 Bags In 40 Days Declutter Challenge
    • The Organize and Refine Your Home Challenge
    • The 10-Week Digital Photo Organizing Challenge
    • The One Pile at a Time Paper Declutter Challenge
    • The Organize Your Holiday Challenge
  • SHOP
  • PRINTABLES VAULT
    • Become a VIP
    • PRINTABLE VAULT ACCESS
Refined Rooms logo.

Refined Rooms

Organize | Design | Inspire

Home | Organize | Organizing Project Gallery | ORGANIZING SWIM RIBBONS: A QUICK & EASY DIY SOLUTION

ORGANIZING SWIM RIBBONS: A QUICK & EASY DIY SOLUTION

DIY Projects, Kids and Families, Organize, Organizing Project Gallery

Drowning in a collection of swim ribbon clutter? I was too! Today I’m sharing my easy DIY solution for organizing swim ribbons so you can enjoy them.

Last week, you heard the tale of a young boy whose swimming talent yielded volumes of awards. You learned how The Boy’s professional organizer Mom created a DIY solution for swim medal clutter. Although the swim medal clutter was a challenge, those medals were no match for the volume of swim ribbons that came into their home each week during the swim season.

 

Drowning in a collection of swim ribbon clutter? I was too! Check out this quick & easy DIY solution for organizing swim ribbons! #RefinedRooms #organizinghack #DIYOrganizingsolution #swimribbonstorage #swimribbondisplay #swim ribbon #awardribbonstorage #awardribbondisplay #

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more)! Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

When The Boy first began earning ribbons, they were prominently displayed on his bulletin board. But very quickly, the board was overtaken by ribbons, and the new ribbons that came in simply sat in a pile on The Boy’s desk. The Mom was not a fan of desktop clutter, so in an effort to free up her son’s desktop, she gathered the ribbons for each season together with standard binder clips and tucked them away in a bedroom drawer.

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

The Boy frequently looked through his ribbon collection. In doing so, he would remove the clips in order to view the information (event, time, place) contained on the stickers affixed to the back of each ribbon. This activity would lead to ribbon chaos, as loose ribbons from various seasons would become intermixed.

The Mom decided once again that this form of Swim Swag required an organizing intervention, so she decided to come up with an easy DIY swim ribbon organizing solution.

DIY SOLUTION FOR ORGANIZING SWIM RIBBONS: STEP-BY-STEP TUTORIAL

The first step in the intervention was to use a hole punch to create a hole in the top center area of each ribbon (some ribbons come with a hole, while others do not). Next, The Mom used binder rings to gather a season’s worth of swim ribbons together (she used a variety of sizes, depending upon the number of ribbons within a given swim season).

 

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

 

Next, she designed a cute tag template using PicMonkey that would be used to identify the swim season associated with each set of awards ribbons.

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

She duplicated this tag template image several times within a Word document, using a text box within Word to insert the various swim seasons within the blank space in the center of the template. She printed this Word document, ran it through her trusty Scotch Thermal Laminator Machine, then cut out the individual tags and hole-punched each one.

 

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

 

She then used a series of Command Wire Hooks to create a wall display for the groups of ribbons.

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

 

The Boy was ecstatic that his awards were now prominently displayed in his room, instead of tucked in a drawer. Now, it was easy for him to flip through the contents of each binder ring while keeping the ribbons sorted in the way he liked (by Place).

 

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

 

Did I mention that The Boy has a sister who is also a fast swimmer? The Mom repeated the process with her ribbons, letting her sort her collection the way that she preferred (by Date).

 

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

 

By having their collection of swim ribbons displayed in an organized fashion, both children are regularly reminded of their awesome achievements. The life lesson of “hard work in the practice pool paying off in the competition pool” is reinforced each time they glance at their wall display.

 

Organizing Swim Award Ribbons @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com

 

The Mom was happy to have created a storage solution that honored her children’s achievements without creating clutter in their home.

What sport or activity is generating award ribbon clutter in YOUR household?

Need more home organizing help? Check out my library of organizing projects below:

Check out this cool collection of 150+ organizing projects, tips, and ideas at the Refined Rooms blog

Ready to get epically organized?

Get access to 100+ printable pages to help you organize your home and life!

Welcome, Insider!! Look for a welcome email that includes the password for my free resource library full of organizational printables created just for my subscribers!! ** If you don't see it initially, please check your SPAM folder **

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

14 Comments

Previous Post: « ORGANIZING PAPER MEMORABILIA {PAPER DECLUTTER CHALLENGE WEEK 6}
Next Post: ORGANIZING PRODUCT MANUALS {PAPER DECLUTTER CHALLENGE WEEK 7} »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Comments

  1. Marc says

    January 11, 2019 at 11:24 pm

    You may want to search: Swimming Ribbon Pages on eBay or Amazon

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      January 12, 2019 at 8:45 am

      Hey Marc, Yep, I’ve seen those but they can be pricey. I was looking for a more inexpensive solution 🙂

      Reply
  2. Sherry Nappa says

    June 9, 2016 at 9:20 am

    Your tutorial for organizing swim swag ribbons is featured at Funtastic Friday #78. The party opens tonight at 9 PM EST.

    Reply
  3. Olive Wagar says

    February 11, 2016 at 3:42 pm

    Very clever & creative!! It is so nice when the special awards can actually be out, yet organized!! Thanks for sharing this on P.O.B.C.!!

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      February 11, 2016 at 4:45 pm

      Thanks Olive! Now to go over to your post and check it out!

      Reply
  4. Hilda Rodgers says

    February 10, 2016 at 10:46 am

    I love this idea! Creative, practical, and much less cluttered.

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      February 10, 2016 at 10:58 am

      Thanks Hilda…it definitely is a system that works for us and for several of the other families on our swim team!

      Reply
  5. Nancy Haworth says

    February 10, 2016 at 10:40 am

    This is a wonderful way to display so many ribbons! Thanks for the ideas. I will pass this idea along to my organizing clients. I have one client with a child with so many gymnastics ribbons that this system will work very well for her!

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      February 10, 2016 at 10:59 am

      Definitely Nancy! I know there are lots of other sports (and kid activities) that generate oodles of award ribbon clutter. Hope your client can benefit from the idea.

      Reply
  6. Janet Barclay says

    February 7, 2016 at 10:45 am

    I’ve never had competitive swimmers in my family, but this is a great solution. I especially like that it’s customizable to the child’s preferences!

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      February 7, 2016 at 7:59 pm

      Thanks Janet! I imagine there are several other sports that generate awards ribbon clutter in addition to swimming. Swim families deal with medal clutter too!

      Reply
  7. Margaret says

    September 1, 2015 at 7:06 pm

    Thank you for the inspiration! 2 kids with 3 years of swim ribbon ‘clutter’ is now organized & just waiting on labels! The kids (and mom ?) love it!!!!

    Reply
    • Natalie Gallagher says

      September 1, 2015 at 7:46 pm

      Hi Margaret,

      I’m so excited that you too have been able to wrangle in your swim ribbon clutter with this method! Thanks for stopping by the blog!

      Reply

Primary Sidebar

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

Headshot and About description Natalie Gallagher and Refined Rooms.

BECOME A VIP

GET ACCESS TO MY ORGANIZING PRINTABLES VAULT

PRIVACY POLICY
By opting in, you agree to receive my newsletter and ongoing resources. Unsubscribe at any time.

SEARCH BY CATEGORY

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Footer

DISCLOSURE

This site contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more). Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

COPYRIGHT

I love it when you share my tips, ideas and inspiration! Please keep in mind that all images and text on this site are the property of Refined Rooms, unless otherwise stated (regardless of whether photos are watermarked or not). Feel free to use one image, provided that a link back to my original post is included. Please do not remove any watermarks, crop, or edit any of my images without first obtaining written permission from me. All free printables are for personal use only. Pinning is always welcome and appreciated! Thank you!

Privacy Policy