New Year – Same Organization

What I’ve learned about organizing my home is that it takes time to find a system that works. It isn’t just about buying the baskets and containers, but really considering how you use the items in your home. My linen closet has been a pain point for a long time and is next on my list to tackle. But our kitchen storage, I worked on a few years ago and, has been something that is easy to maintain. Even when it gets messy, especially after the holidays, it only takes a few minutes to tidy up because I have a method that works for me.

Our kitchen was renovated by the previous owners — so I’m not working with options I chose. Had I designed this kitchen, I would have included more drawer space and less cabinets. Drawers are so much easier in my opinion because you can easily see everything. But for now and the foreseeable future, I’m making the best out of what we have.

I added these drawer pull outs to three of my cabinets and they have been a total game changer. We use them for our kid’s plates and cups, pots and pans, and school lunch necessities. These are the items we use every day and having easy access to them is necessary. The drawer pull-outs come in different sizes and are super easy to install. Each one took me about 10 minutes to put in. Well worth it!

Two years ago I moved all the occasional dishes from the cabinet next to my stove and swapped in my most used pantry items. It has been a complete game changer. The serve ware is now stored in the cabinet above the fridge that no one ever knows what to put in there and it’s fine enough for the few times a year we use them.

Three things I keep in mind for storage – clear so you can see when items need to be refilled, glass or BPA free plastic, properly sealing lids. These are the items I use for our pantry essentials and spices and I an attest to their durability and quality. I’ve had them in this way now for almost three years and they’re easy to maintain and work great. The baskets on the top shelf are used to hold the overflow of spices and other items that will refill the containers below. I used command hooks to put my oven mitts in an accessible place and I couldn’t be happier with how it looks and functions.