Simple Pantry Organization

You may have picked up on the fact that I enjoy organization. I mean, really, who doesn't? Saying you like to be organized is a little like telling a Realtor you want to find a house with a nice kitchen. Really? As opposed to a house with a crappy kitchen? Aren't you the trend-setter. Point is, I'm pretty sure most normal people at least appreciate organization, even if they don't always enjoy implementing it themselves. As a mom on a serious budget in a small home with odd quirks, I am always on the lookout for cheap and easy ways to organize the small space I have to work with. 

During a recent postpartum nesting phase (I swear it's a thing), I went on a mad purge of expired and useless food items in my kitchen. Now, I don't have a real pantry, just some crappy old cabinets, so all my pots, pans, utensils, and food have to play nicely wherever I can find space for them. I also have very limited counter space (and don't like things sitting out anyway), so having neatly organized cabinets is really the only option besides insanity. To organize my "pantry" cabinet, I employed my own advice on how to successfully organize any space:

Step 1
Take everything out. Eh.Vry.Thang.

Step 2
Separate Eh.Vry.Thang into three piles: Keep, Toss, Donate. (In some cases, you can add a fourth pile for items you intend to Sell, or make that your third pile with the intention that whatever doesn't Sell is then Donated. The danger with a Sell pile is that unless you find a buyer or have a garage sale very soon, you're still holding on to a pile of stuff you're not using, and it's just taking up space indefinitely. So be wary of that.)

Step 3
Once you've sorted all your items and removed the Toss and Donate piles from your space, organize what's left in the Keep pile. If it's clothes, that might mean grouping items by sleeve length or season. If it's food, ya probably want to consider grouping similar types of food together. Example, put all the rice together. It just makes good sense, people.

Step 4
Put it back. Organized this time. Use boxes or bins or jars or whatever makes sense for your budget, time, and items/space you're organizing.

After I took everything out of my "pantry" cabinet, tossed what was expired, gave to my neighbors what I knew I wouldn't use, and prepared to put everything else back, I was faced with the task of corralling the remaining items into like categories. Some items were already somewhat organized, like my spices all on a lazy susan (not actually my ideal choice for spice organization, but I don't feel like spending cash on a door-mounted spice rack at the moment, thanks), and coffee and filters in a little rush basket. Aside from that, the three biggest sub-piles within my Keep pile were pasta, cereal, and rice. I shoved them all on the top shelf because, let's face it, I use them a lot and know I'll take them down. Small items like spices or canned food on the top shelf might as well not exist in my house, because I won't see them, which means I'll forget about them, which means they'll never get used. In order to make it easier to get these oft-used items off that pesky top shelf, however, I needed to put them in containers. Ikea pulled through for me again, this time with the versatile SAMLA box. 

Trader Joe's and Ikea meet again.

I brought home three of these babies and discovered they fit my groceries, and my needs, perfectly. I'm not gonna lie, I'd be stoked to have some super trendy and oh-so-cute chicken wire baskets with chic petite chalkboard labels, but those things ain't cheap. These little plastic boxes are less than $1.50 a pop. They're also clear so I can see the contents without bothering with labels, sturdy enough to hold heavy bags of rice, and perfectly washable in case I ever need to hose 'em down. Simple, cheap, works for me. I also like how uniform this shelf looks now (I had previously considered using my old standby - shoeboxes - which would have been free but not as presentable). This was a small investment that makes my daily life a little easier.

What's your favorite cheap 'n' easy organization tool? Where and how do you use it? Have you ever used the SAMLA box for organization? How have you used it?

And now, a word about cup hooks.

When you were growing up, did your grandmother have her tea cups or mugs neatly hung from little hooks on the inside of a kitchen cabinet? Mine neither, she wasn't that organized, but I saw other kids' grandmothers' kitchens, and they had cups hanging from cup hooks. I'm pretty sure that's how I developed the opinion that cup hooks are for old ladies, and people who have tea cups. Imagine my surprise when a little light bulb illuminated in my brain (doesn't happen often these days!) and I realized cup hooks aren't just for cups. Or grandmothers, for that matter.

I was searching for ways to organize the top of my kitchen sink. Between a few different scrub brushes and sponges for various kitchen cleaning tasks, the sink area was getting crowded. I'm not a fan of storing wet sponges under the sink (because mold, ew), so I started looking at what other sink items I could stash. That sad, lonely, hardly used (read: often dry) drain stopper caught my eye, and after a little musing I realized adhesive cup hooks on the inside of the sink cabinet would hold it up nicely. Observe Figure 1:

Fig. 1: Assembled cup hook drain cover storage.

 

Now I'm not the most patient person in the world, which means I don't typically have the patience for measuring and stuff. So to get this little system attached, I simply slid the cup hooks onto the drain cover, held the whole arrangement where I wanted it to make sure it would fit, and then removed the backing from the adhesive cup hooks and pressed both into place while they held the drain cover. I wasn't sure it would work, honestly, but it did so WOOT! Here is what the attached cup hooks look like when they're not holding the drain cover:


I got so excited by The Great Cup Hook Success that I started trying to find other ways to use these handy little guys. I had been keeping a rubber lid opener on a shelf above the kitchen sink to remove the expertly attached lid from my husband's coffee mug when he brings it back after a day at work (seriously, if the mug was used to store Kryptonite, Superman could carry it around without care after my husband put the lid on). I never liked having the grippy thingy on a shelf, but it was better than fishing around in a drawer for it after my hands were already wet from washing dishes. Cup hook to the rescue! Observe Figure 2:

Fig. 2: Ugly-but-useful rubber lid opener ON A CUP HOOK!

I just used a regular hole-punch to add a hole to hang the lid opener from the hook. Not the most beautiful solution, but very effective. Someday I might get a cuter lid opener, but for now this works!

And to the left you will see the adhesive cup hooks I used (or what's left of them).

Once upon a time I used screw-in white coated metal cup hooks to add storage for keys to a large letter sorter (which has since been repurposed as a wall-mounted library in the nursery). I plan to use those prettier cup hooks for other projects, like hanging my measuring cups and spoons inside my baking cabinet, and hanging my dish brush and bottle brush above the sink. Those projects will have to wait until I can find that box of remaining cup hooks. I know it exists somewhere in my garage, and I refuse to buy new cup hooks just because I can't figure out where the hell my husband put the ones we already have.

Have you used cup hooks to organize your home? How so? Do you prefer adhesive or screw-in? Share your stories in the comments!