One Great Organizing Tip for Yarn and Ribbons

Sometime ago around the beginning of spring, I took a long afternoon and spread all of my considerable yarn stash out on the floor and proceeded to organize it. Yes, dear readers, when it's about making up new projects, I can get things in order - paying bills and doing taxes, though, is a different matter, ha ha.
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At that time, I bagged my various skeins of yarn together in what looked like suitable groupings for projects - baby blankets, afghans, flower scarves, washcloths, etc. And now, six months later, I've nearly completed all of those things! Which means I need more projects - so a few days ago I did another big yarn sort.
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The previous sort worked well for me, except for one thing: the loose ends of yarn got horribly tangled, and in some cases I even had to cut out the snarls and throw them away. Horrors - no dedicated crocheter/crafter ever throws anything away! So, this time I went one step better: I picked up a package of colorful ponytail holders for cheap (150 holders for $2!) at a discount store, and used them to secure the ends of the yarn balls:
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Voila - No more tangles! I like the ponytail holders for this purpose better than rubber bands, because the pony-holders came in several sizes, are softer and stretchier, and the bright colors are just more fun. They also work great for ribbon spools, as you can see in the picture, and they'll even secure loose ends on rolls of wrapping paper!
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There's just one problem: I keep thinking of more uses for these handy items, and I need more! A finite number is not endless, so it's off to the store for another sack of goodies :)