A Place for Everything and Everything in its Place

Lately, I have been struggling to keep the house tidy and organized and I know the reason why: right now, there isn’t a place for everything, so everything is not in its place. This morning, I knew I had to take on at least one of the projects I’ve been putting off because they are those make-things-messier-to-become-more-organized type of projects. With a one-and-a-half year old running around, it is tempting to just shove the junk in the junk drawer, the clutter in the closets, various toys all lumped into one toy box just to get them out of the center of the living room floor. I want to re-organize my dishes and my kitchen cabinets and my bedroom closet and Danny’s closet but… I JUST FINISHED STUFFING EVERYTHING IN THERE TO SEE MY FLOOR. Why in God’s name would I want to take it all out and sift through it during nap time when my tazmanian devil will come tearing back through it at any moment?

But the household will keep running in this vicious cycle until I take a deep breath and get to it, so this morning that is exactly what I did. I looked around at our neat bedroom and emptied the chaos of our closet onto the floor, on the bed, on the chair – everywhere. I felt overwhelmed but I gave myself a pep talk and dove in. I threw out so much junk I had no idea was in there and immediately felt less burdened by clutter and chaos lurking behind the closet door.

I wouldn’t dare take a before and after picture because that’s how bad the before is. No, seriously. It was that bad. But finally there’s a place for my maternity clothes, greeting cards, outgrown baby clothes, keepsakes, winter hats & accessories… a place for everything, and everything in its place.

The next project to tackle is the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Here are some Pinterest ideas that I think I might try out to help get our kitchen under control! We don’t have a pantry but we do have ample cabinet space that could be utilized far better than it is currently.

I love this idea because I find that I waste a lot of vertical space in my kitchen cabinets. I like the idea of keeping kitchen towels and oven mitts corralled together in an easily accessible location.

Using containers for food storage is a great idea because it ensures that everything stays fresh, things fit uniformly, and if you buy clear ones you can see how much flour, sugar, rice, or other ingredients you have left easily before you take a trip to the grocery store.

I store my cleaning supplies under the sink and I have to admit: it does not look like this at all. There is a lot of wasted space under the sink that could definitely be used better.

I need dividers like these to help keep off our cookie sheets and muffin tins organized and neat. Mine are constantly falling over and making loud noises as I look for what I need, much to Daniel Jr’s chagrin. ;)

Use baskets to keep cooking oils and commonly used seasonings together. I need to buy baskets and luckily it is summertime so that means yard sales are in full swing and that type of find should be easy! If not, Savers always has them.

And last but not least, my personal favorite, simply using wire shelving dividers for pans. Brilliant! My lower kitchen cabinets have a built in shelf that actually will probably make this idea impractical, but maybe when we buy our own home one day I will implement this idea!

What’s your all-time-favorite organization tip!? I’d love to hear!