I know it’s cliche, but this time of year I always try to improve a bit on our organization in the house. With 3 adults living here, it’s hard to keep everything in it’s place and pretty soon most of the kitchen cabinets look like this:

In any case, it looks like a bomb went off under there. The truth is that I really only use about 4 products on a regular basis, and we didn’t even have good access to those with all the clutter. So off I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and picked up a handy under cabinet shelving unit. This one is made with modular mesh shelves to fit around drain pipes. I cleared out everything but the most commonly used products and ended up with a much improved version.

There’s still a lot of action because of all the plumbing and electrical, but at least I’ve got a clear view of everything now!

After my small under-the-sink victory, I was feeling pretty good about myself, so I tackled another project…my measuring cups and spoons. We somehow accumulated multiple sets, but none of them are really complete. To say that they took up a lot of space in a drawer was an understatement. So I picked up some lightweight (0.5 lb) Command hooks at Home Depot and added them to the back of a corner cabinet door.

They fit perfectly, and the hooks are just deep enough that nothing goes flying even with a heavy slam of the door…not that I do that regularly, but I had to give it a good test. This $5 improvement added tons of space back to my drawers (actually, it just made them function without catching on something, but you get the idea), and it allows easy access when I need it.

You can see on the left hand side a little peek of some shelving units, so let me back out a bit and show you what else I added.

I bought 2 plain wire shelves (marked as “large” and ran about $6.99/ea) and two baking sheet organizers (about $4.99/ea) to help us fit all of our cookware without stacking. My brother is in culinary school, so we basically have two sets of everything that we have to store! The new additions are working out great so far, and it’s encouraging us to keep the kitchen clean and organized.

I pretty much have a “go big or go home” attitude when it comes to most things (wreaths, specifically), so I went back out to Home Depot and BB&B to see what other organizational products I could try. I picked up this over-the-door hanging pantry for the back of the basement door (right off the kitchen).

 It’s still in progress, I’m just trying to figure out what shelving configuration works the best. You’ll notice a lot of the clutter from under the sink has made this its new home. I am pretty much planning on using everything up, but not really replacing it. I can get by with some Mrs. Meyers, baking soda, vinegar, and Windex.

Heading on down the stairs, we finally put up a rack to hang things like brooms, mops, etc.

It is right next to the ironing board “holster”, so keeping everything on one side of the stairwell maximizes the space. I LOVE it so far because we used to hang the mop and broom on the back of the door (where the hanging pantry is now) and they would fall off and down the stairs. For years. Seriously. I mean talk about delayed reaction…

And that’s pretty much where I left off with my quest, aside from what I’m still working on in the basement in my craft corner. What about you guys? Are you January organizers?

7 Responses

  2. Kassi @ Truly Lovely

    Looking good! I really need some of those cabinet shelf things… I tend to tackle organizing in January too!!! This month so far I did a deep clean in the house now onto really purging!

    Reply
  5. Kathe

    I seriously read the part about your measuring spoons and immediately jumped up, grabbed a command hook and strip and mine are now hanging inside the cupboard door by my glass measuring cups! What a genius idea! I love it and YOU!! Wait…too far? Anywho, thanks for the idea! You Rock!

    Reply
  6. Amanda

    It’s amazing what a little organization can do for you!! Our kitchen sink looks exactly like yours did right now. I could use a couple shelves for sure.

    Last year we added one of those door shelf units to our pantry for extra storage – great decision! We also just turned the fake under-the-sink panels into functional drawers. Those types of little projects are easy but make a big difference! Looks like you’re off to a good start this year!

    Reply

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