Want an easy way to feel a sense of accomplishment this weekend, without spending a fortune or knocking down a wall? Here are a couple of quick organizing ideas for your home that are budget-friendly and time-friendly.
You’re welcome. 🙂
Kitchen Utensil Drawer
We have a tiny kitchen. I mean, seriously small. Rather than having my kitchen utensils on the counter taking up valuable space, I use a deep drawer next to the oven. However, it wasn’t exactly efficient.
See what I mean? I couldn’t find what I needed when I needed it. Trying to cook and stir and dig out a spatula wasn’t working for me. I couldn’t take it anymore!
The first thing I did was PURGE! I laid out every utensil and tried to group by type, then got rid of extras, broken utensils, or anything we just rarely or never use.
You can get an idea of my lack of space in the picture above. I have that one square of counter space on either side of my oven. Did I mention my kitchen is tiny???
Anyway, to fix the problem, I went to my favorite store ever in the history of the world (Target) and bought two extra long divided trays, sorted my utensils, then stacked the trays in the drawer – most frequently used items on top.
Lovely. 🙂 Oh, I hung the huge grill utensils in our pantry, by the way. They barely fit in the drawer in the first place. I just stuck push pins in the wall then used the little rings on the handles and hung them up. It works perfectly!
Medicine Cabinet
You would think that I would have gone through our medicine cabinet before we packed up and moved this summer. But no…I just threw it all in a box and brought it all to the new house. All of our medicine, sunscreen, nail clippers and things like that live in our linen closet.
It had become a pretty scary place.
With cold and flu season fast approaching, I knew it was time to take action. Plus, I wanted to move the summer items out – we won’t be needing aloe lotion and sunscreen any time soon.
The first thing I did (can you guess?) was PURGE! Yep. I pulled everything out of that closet and sat in the middle of my bathroom floor – trash can on one side, storage bin on the other.
It’s a little embarrassing how much expired medicine we had. (Ahem…expiration date: 2005. Yea.)
So, after purging, I sorted into groups (just like the kitchen utensils!). I went back to my absolute favorite store in the history of the world (Target) and bought 6 bins with lids for $0.97 each. Score! I pulled out my handy-dandy label maker and ended up with something so utterly fantastic that I stood and stared at it for a solid 5 minutes.
My husband thinks I’m weird because of how giddy and excited I get over stuff like this. I made him step away from his Michigan Wolverines football game to come see my work and stare in awe with me at the amazing-ness of it all. I kept saying to him, “Isn’t is fantastic! Look! It’s all sorted and easy to find and pretty and…and…where are you going?? You haven’t seen the kitchen utensils yet!!!“
Well, it makes me happy, and that’s all that matters, right?
Happy weekend, folks. Do something amazing!
2 Responses
Bwahahahaha… At least your hubby stepped away for a moment. That’s true love, right there. ^-^
I love your ideas here! The guy who built your kitchen must’ve been in cahoots with the guy who built mine… @_@ Our utensil drawers had an identical problem. Ugh. I hate, HATE having almost no storage space. Ugh.
As soon as I get paid, I’m going to the most awesome store there ever was & getting me some tubs & divided trays. And then the purging will begin! =D
XOXO
LOL! Glad these ideas work for you! Small kitchens suck, no storage space sucks. Go purge – you rock it girl! 🙂