Hello Little One Blog

Spring is almost here, I know it’s hard to believe for those of us in the Northeast but it really is right around the corner. There are lots of things I love about this particular change of seasons – short sleeves, bright nails, colorful flowers and on the less glamorous side, cleaning out the cobwebs of winter. I never really got the allure of Spring cleaning until I owned my own house but now I’m starting to see why my mom had us all assigned to a different corner of the house every March (and speaking of that, thanks for giving me the task of scrubbing the linoleum floor with SOS pads, Mom. I’m sure it did absolutely nothing to contribute to my future hatred of cleaning or middle child complex whatsoever. No, seriously, that was awesome.)

Anyway, back to getting organized. Over the next several weeks we are going to be tackling each and every area of the house and helping to provide some great ideas for how to better organize your spaces. This week, we’re starting with the most used room, the heart of any house, the kitchen. Check out our list of ways to maximize your space while making it easier to navigate the many drawers, cabinets and cubby holes in your kitchen.

Organize Your: Drawers

Try adding small rectangular baskets to your drawers to keep like items together.

Utilize one drawer to hold all of your spices. Laying them down on their sides with labels facing out is the easiest way to get a clear view of what you have, and to be able to grab what a recipe calls for in an instant.

Try adjustable organizers in your flatware drawer.

Organize Your: Cookware

Install an adjustable, pull-out cookware organizer like this one from Rev-a-Shelf.

Custom pull-out organizers seem out of your budget? Well, give these $16 organizers from Walmart a try. They work wonders in a short amount of time and with a very small budget.

Here’s another great low-budget solution – use tension rods vertically in your cabinets to make dividers for your cutting boards, trays and baking sheets.

Organize Your: Pantry

Let’s start with the dream pantry system, the freedomRail from Schulte Storage and move backwards to some quicker, more budget-friendly fixes. Would I love to do this? Sure. Can I? Nope. But it’s certainly in my someday file!

From the labeled bins, to the individually wrapped, snack-size portioned bags to the over the door organizer to hold larger items, there’s nothing I don’t love about this approach to pantry organization.

Here’s something we do in our pantry to help make things easier to find, and easier on the eye. Utilize clear storage bins (I love these ones from Oxo) as a place to keep your dry, bulk items. Cut out the labels and preparation instructions and use clear tape to affix them to the front of the container so you always know what you have, and how to cook it.

Add some color and vinyl decals to make your newly organized pantry pop. I love this look here – organized and gorgeous, can’t beat that!

Get your pantry really organized with these free printable storage labels. They look cute and are super functional, and they fit perfectly on the clear storage containers mentioned above.

We love finding great alternate uses for items, and over the door shoe racks seem to have lots of them (remember how great they are for organizing art supplies?). Try repurposing them once again in your pantry – they are perfect for small items that come in big boxes that would otherwise take up lots of unnecessary cabinet space.

Don’t have a pantry but really wish you did? Easy enough! Just find an old armoire or linen cabinet and repaint it to match your kitchen decor. It’s the perfect small space solution to hold lots of your kitchen items.

Organize Your: Refrigerator and Freezer

Sure, organizing the fridge may not be the sexiest job in the kitchen, but the payoff can certainly be big. No more losing food to the back of the fridge abyss, no more forgetting what’s in your drawers until the expiration date has long since passed. Try using these handled bins to keep things ultra-organized and easy to sort. Added bonus, keep the healthy foods up front for an instant willpower boost!

Utilize the same bin storage ideas that were used in the pantry to easily maintain an organized freezer. Group like items together to make things easy to find, and difficult to lose.

Organize Your: Kitchen Tools & Essentials

Make the most of your space with this over-the-door wire hanger. Use it inside the under-the-sink cabinet to keep cleaning supplies within easy reach.

Magnetic paint plus spice tins to maximize your cabinet space and make the right spice easy to grab? Totally brilliant!

Organize your cookie cutter collection and keep them from getting lost at the bottom of drawers by repurposing a paper towel holder.

Another super inventive use for the inside of a cabinet – use hooks to hold all of your measuring cups and spoons. Looking to add something more too? Try these vinyl stickers to include a handy conversion chart above your hooks.

Create a message center inside a pantry or cabinet door to keep all of your everyday office supplies handy, and to give you a centralized place for your grocery list and notes.

So now we’ve got the cleaning out and organizing part down, all we need now is the arrival of actual Spring! C’mon March 21st!