Organizing Isn't Limited To My Craftroom

I have been needing to re-organize my kitchen cabinets for awhile now and I have dreaded it so I haven't done it. Yesterday morning I went to make myself a cup of coffee and decided to fill up my smaller creamer container and somehow that lead to 9 hours of re-organizing all my cabinets. I think there must have been a squirrel the size of Godzilla running around in the kitchen while I was making that cup of coffee!

I went through each cabinet, except for my dishes and glasses since they stay pretty organized, and took out things I never use or didn't want anymore and boxed the stuff up. I also ended up moving quite a few things to other areas.

This is above the fridge, a hard spot for me to reach so my least used items went up here. I get the tins in the picture at school since they send the food in them for the kids. Usually there are always ones that aren't very dirty so one of the teachers that works there washes them up and keeps them and we take what we want since the school jut says throw them out. The pink containers use to house my Cricut Cartridges but now store cookie cutters and cake decorating supplies.

This cabinet is above my wall oven and while it isn't as hard to reach as above the fridge I try to keep things I use more often toward the front. I have my Borne Mandolin Slicer, mixer and Ninja blender in easy reach. If you don't have a Borne Mondolin Slicer I highly recommend it! I got mine off eBay a few years back and love it! I also recommend the Ninja blender as it can mix up a margarita, daiquiri or smoothie like a professional!

This was the cabinet that started it all! I have had the FoodSaver canisters (bottom right hand corner) for a few years, found a great buy on them at the bargain store, and had them at the top of cabinet laying horizontal but when I would shut the cabinet door the little button on some of them would get pushed and it would let the contents spill out. I am glad I have adjustable shelves in most of my cabinets so I can store them better. The middle shelf is short in space but I still found items that were a perfect fit. The top shelf is for lesser used items such as extra glasses, quart jars and melamine dishes that I can't seem to part with since they were Shiane's ever since she was little.

I had went through this cabinet a few months back and got rid of out of date things but I did find a few more out of date products and tidied it up a bit more. I have some extra room at the top now in case I do decide to buy some groceries. Actually it might come in handy for when I get ready for the Christmas party.

My spice cabinet was totally terrible! I found some spices back from the late 90's...and I am not kidding! I won't even talk about the trash bag I filled up from throwing not only old spices but other items away! Now all the spices that are in there are safe to use. I am considering getting one of those sliding spice things I saw on TV. They had some at the bargain store last time I was in there.

This is one of those cabinets that you are never sure what to do with. When I first moved in this house I use to keep the salt and pepper on the lower shelf so Shiane could reach it easily, that's not much of an issue now so I did a bit of changing things up. The top shelf holds stuff that I use to make firestarters, some ingredients for stamp cleaner and extra light bulbs. The middle shelf are prescription pills and the bottom shelf is every day OTC medications.

I gathered glassware from Salvation Army and garage sales for a few years, well along with my Aunt Betty and Aunt Mary adding to the collection as they would find things. I use to have friends over quite a bit and did entertaining and felt that clear glassware was the best to use since it fit any occasion. Now I usually just use it for my Christmas party but occasionally I have the need to use it for other occasions. I did get rid of some pieces that I don't use anymore. Shiane made sure I didn't get rid of any from our aunts...like I could do that! LOL

I have always liked my pots and pans stacked neatly so I could grab what I wanted quickly. That kinda changed after the kids moved in because they never put things back. I showed them this after I got it done and told them to put things back where they got them. I did get rid of some old skillets that I never use and I think a mismatched pot or two. After doing that I had plenty of room for my newer Crockpot and the handy dandy carrying case that Linda gave me. That case will come in handy when I make something that has to travel!

My plastic ware is another thing I generally kept nice and organized but changed after the kids moved in. I did get rid of a bunch of items that were pushed way back in the left hand side of the cabinet. That area is hard to get to so I am storing any Corning Ware dishes, electric skillet and glass jars in that area. The glass jars actually need to go to Aunt Betty so they can be filled with pickled corn when she makes some!

I use to having CorningWare and pie plates in this area as well as one of those knock off George Foreman grills that I never use anymore. I know have my bowls and my FoodSaver supplies in this cabinet. I need to get a new vacuum sealer since mine isn't working right anymore. I have to hit the seal button manually and it allows some air to get in the packaging during that process. And yes, a FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer is another product I highly recommend! I got my first one back in January of 2002 and have never regretted it having one!







This area is under my wall oven and I have always stored baking pans here. I didn't notice until today that there were nails sticking out and I was able to find a good use for them! I got rid of some flimsy baking pans I had for whatever reason. Since I don't make pies or cakes often I put all those pans toward the back and left the more frequently used items toward the front. I can now grab any pan easily!

My kitchen counter use to be cluttered with a few of the FoodSaver canisters, my mandolin slicer, spaghetti noodle jar and some other things. After making more room in the cabinets I was able to store all those things away and now my counter is nice and neat.

Here is a picture of the boxes of different items that I decided to get rid of. There is everything from glassware to plastic ware to bottle totes to waffle maker, etc. in those boxes. The kids are going to haul them to Goodwill later today.

I also organized some drawers but forgot to take some pictures of those so you will just have to take my word on it. I was on the phone with Carmen while I was doing most of this and when I said I was doing the utensil drawer she said she can't wait to see what I did since that is something she has problems with as well. Carmen likes to cook so her utensil drawer probably is more difficult to organize. I just have basic utensils in mine. My most used utensils are in a jar on the counter top by the stove which you can see in the picture of my counter top. I have stored cooking utensils that way ever since I got my my first place to live and my Aunt Betty gave me such a thing for Christmas.

Even though it took 9 hours to get all of that done and it is something that no one will see I feel good about finally getting it done and purging my kitchen cabinets from years of unused stuff.