I Can’t Get Over This Dollar Tree Coffee-Station Organization Hack (It’s Brilliant!)

Isabel Petrou
Isabel Petrou
Isabel is an incoming sophomore at the University of Vermont. She is studying public communication. She grew up in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where she frequented the beach often during the summer. Even though her heart belongs to the ocean, the mountains are becoming a close…read more
published May 23, 2025
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college dorm coffee station
Credit: Photo: Alex Lepe; Prop Styling: Vicky Wasik & Maya Borrero

Like just about everything else, coffee prices seem to have gotten so high lately. I don’t know about you, but I can’t be spending $7 on a coffee! This means bulking up on coffee pods is a MUST for me. But this is when storage gets complicated. I have always struggled to find a good way to keep coffee pods organized and displayed nicely — particularly when working with a tiny dorm food area or college kitchen. 

Luckily content creator Emma Villaneda (@thecraftedstudioco) has got our backs on this dilemma. The TikToker DIYed an ingenious coffee pod organizer using surprising household items from Dollar Tree. The best part? This hack is extremely affordable. 

All you’ll need to make your own version of Villaneda’s coffee pod organizer is a wire paper towel holder, four wire napkin holders, and a batch of zip ties. (These items all cost $1.25 each at Dollar Tree, but unfortunately only come in bulk on the Dollar Tree website — so it’s probably best to just buy the materials in person.)

Here are the steps you’ll need to follow to create your contraption, according to Villaneda.

  1. Grab two of the napkin holders and secure them vertically on either side of the lower half of the paper towel holder. Their bottoms should meet on the paper towel holder.
  2. Zip tie each of the napkin holders to the paper towel holder at both the top and bottom of the napkin holder. 
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with two more napkin holders — this time at the top of the paper towel holder. 
  4. Clip off the excess ends of the zip ties.
  5. Slide coffee pods on both sides of your new organizer.

And that’s it! “It actually holds up to 32 coffee pods,” Villaneda explains in the video. 

This is a perfect hack for saving space in a dorm or a kitchen in general. You can add it to the kitchen counter, above a mini fridge, or on a coffee cart. Plus, it basically acts as its own decor piece due to its cool shape. 

This post was a collaboration between Dorm Therapy and Apartment Therapy and originally appeared on Apartment Therapy. See it there: I Can’t Get Over This Dollar Tree Kitchen Organization Hack (It’s Brilliant!)

Isabel Petrou

Contributor

Isabel is an incoming sophomore at the University of Vermont. She is studying public communication. She grew up in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, where she frequented the beach often during the summer. Even though her heart belongs to the ocean, the mountains are becoming a close contender. Her favorite part of living in Burlington, Vermont, for college is its unique coffee shops. Her perfect day would consist of going to a cute café in the morning, then spending the day at the beach swimming and reading, then ending the day by shopping and getting dressed up for a nice dinner downtown. Through Dorm Therapy, Isabel is excited to be a voice for young adults embarking on their college journeys and she hopes to make this big transition of life more comfortable for others in the same place as her.

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SchoolUniversity of Vermont '26
MajorPublic Communication
FavesShopping, the beach, TV/movies, walks, reading, Taylor Swift
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