January Organization Challenge: The Kitchen

Happy Sunday!
Whew! It has been quite the week of running around, school essays, long working days, and organizing the third of our four spaces... the kitchen! It was no easy feat getting things in order and how I wanted them to be, but I am excited to say that we did it! One more organized space to check off of our list before we hit our final location next week in the master bedroom! I'm so excited about this, we will get right to it...

This will be a somewhat-straightforward and somewhat-detailed post all at once, as we have had a few updates with the progress to certain sections of the kitchen throughout the week. The first update we made was to the coffee and tea cabinet, which previously held my dinner plates and random items that didn't belong.

This cabinet is still my favorite and brings me tons of joy every time I open it up in the early morning hours. While it is my favorite, it didn't start out needing the most work. That award went hands down to under the kitchen sink...

I've been so thrilled to actually find things under here! No more scattered grocery bags. No more empty candle jars. Just neat and tidy drawers and a little cleaning love.

Shortly after that disaster of a sink area, I graciously set out to do something about my seriously lacking fridge. It had little oomph, little pizazz, and little comfort as I opened it on a daily basis. And now I am a happy little camper putting in my weekly groceries into their neatly nestled homes!

Continuing on with my love of food, I am more than a little bit excited to show you what today's project was... my pantry! It started out as a less than stellar area, like everything else I seem to be showing you...

No semblance of happiness whatsoever, am I right?! First thing as always was to clear the pantry completely out and see what we are working with. Instead of a free and clean space, I found stained a disgusting contact paper lining.

I was a little more than disturbed about this, mostly because those stains aren't mine! Who knows how long the lining has been in there and how many tenants have been using it prior to my move in. Needless to say... it needed to go. I replaced it with my recently favorite navy blue wrapping paper.

I apologize for the poor lighting... I was working with low light levels and did the best I could with what I had on hand.

I spent a lot of time this week looking for acrylic containers for my beloved pantry. Between a few home goods stores (have you checked out your local Ross stores?! TJ Max also works but I have found them to be a bit more expensive) and my local Target, I was able to come up with the perfect amount of bins in the perfect sizes!

They matched perfectly from my plastic containers purchased at Walmart a few years back, which now hold my random goodies like my pancake mix, oatmeal, protein powder, and smoothie greens!

 

I quickly threw on a pack of chalkboard labels I had on hand, and went to town creating a perfect little nook for each section of my pantry. Snacks, Granola Bars, Chips, Pretzels and Crackers, Bread, Condiments, Grains, and Sweet Treats.... Yum!

The second shelf up hold all of my canned goods and sauces. Yes... I have a lot of refried beans. I bought them in bulk a while back at Costco. It is what it is.... bean and cheese burritos for days!

The bottom and final shelf holds my baking supplies, which is opposite of a stackable wire basket that perfectly holds my produce that doesn't get refrigerated. I'm in love!

Taking a quick peak back at what we had makes me even happier with today's work...

The final places to tackle were simple to end the week of kitchen pride. My corner cabinet had too become a dumping ground...

I showed it some love by adding in two lazy susans and removing all of the un-needed junk,

The everyday dishes were moved to the cabinet next to the microwave, as were my daily cups. On the top shelf I moved my less used item... the toaster. I don't like a lot of counter clutter, so this was the perfect solution.

When all was said and done, the counters got a quick wipe down and I sat back and enjoyed my beautiful, new and improved kitchen.

Are you still with me?! Did you make it through all of that?! That was a lot! Thanks for hanging in there friends. I am going to sleep with a happy little heart. What was your favorite update to the kitchen? It;s so hard to pick just one!

See you soon for our fourth and final organization challenge space... THE BEDROOM! It's going to be tough work for sure...

Organizing the Fridge

This week we are in full force and almost through our January 4 in 4 challenge... I cannot believe it! I have been so overjoyed with starting this year by getting my life together and organized. Trust me, there are many aspects that have needed it. This week's featured space is none other than my cozy little kitchen, and it definitely needs some organizational help. We're going to start this week's space challenge with organizing the place I visit the most often... my refrigerator and freezer!

I am a fatty. No, I am not obese in nature, but I am quite the heffer in figurative terms rather than literal. When people ask me who my best friend is, my typical answer is it is a tie between my two favorites.... sleep and food. Quite the makings of someone trying to live a proactive lifestyle, right?! What can I say... I am a foodie. The problem is, if you looked in my fridge a week ago you would never have known. Instead, you would think that I am a poor college girl that's living off of Taco Bell and Snack Packs.

And I bet you thought I was over exaggerating before you saw that picture. I'm dead serious. Now this isn't to say that this is an accurate depiction of how my daily meals go. Most often things come out of my freezer meals for dinner and the leftovers are placed in a small container to take to work the next day. Everything else is supplemented through my pantry with granola bars, oatmeal, and pretzels and peanut butter. Ugh.... this isn't making it sound any better, is it? Let's just get straight to the organizing then, shall we? I started with giving it a good ol' cleaning and wipe down.

I like to plan ahead to save myself time and aggravation in the mornings and throughout the week. While my 30 freezer meals did come in quite handy, I am taking a break these few weeks and cutting it down to a grocery shopping trip on Sundays. I've determined that I'd rather go once a week to get the best and freshest produce and start my week off right. So with that in mind, I strategically labeled and placed my containers accordingly.

I added labels to my bins using my lovely Epson label maker. It added the perfect touch to keep things properly sorted and where they belong.

Because I wanted the uniform look to transfer over to every aspect of this organized project, I went to my local Container Store and bought 2 half gallon glass pitchers to house my beverages. I also took everything out of the door and threw out my old items, put my condiments in their new bin, and transferred the alcoholic beverages to the bottom row.

Next to the medium bins that are labeled to hold my everyday items, I put 3 sets of 4 mason jars. These sets are for my Monday-Thursday grab and go food for work. One set is my overnight oats which I have for breakfast. Another set is for my fruit jars which I have for a late morning snack. And the final set is for my salad jars for my lunch/afternoon snacks. I love that I can grab these babies and throw them in my lunch bag on the way out the door!

Ta-Da! That was pretty much it! The most painful part of this process had to have been just deciding what I wanted the labels to say on each of the bins, so overall it wasn't that bad! And the before and after effect makes my heart melt!

What do you think? Are any of you up for the challenge of tackling that black hole of a fridge we like to rummage through every day? I'd love to see your fridge organization and layout! Happy eating, friends!

Under the Kitchen Sink

Hallelujah and a Happy Friday! Knowing that my happy little booty can-but-probably-wont sleep in tomorrow brings me tons of excitement and joy! Instead, I'm sure I'll still end up getting up early and starting on the next project on the Kitchen Organization Challenge... the fridge and freezer, but at least I go to bed knowing I have to option! But before we get ahead of ourselves, I present to you today's project... under the kitchen sink!

You know how I am always writing about how I have been feeling wonderful about my recent organizing, but there is still much of my life that needs some help? Well... this is one of those places. I present to you the cabinet under the sink... pre-organization.

Yeah.... I don't even know. She obviously hasn't seen any love since the move in. That cardboard box was there when I moved in, filled with random odds and ends. I have been stuffing it with my grocery bags the last couple months. Don't even ask... I don't have a good excuse.

Yes, those are my "cut to be frugal" sponges. Just laying there all lonely like. Right next to my wax warmer. Because that's obviously the best place for it, right?!

My cheapo toolbox, nestled comfortably by my mini broom and dustpan that should be at home in my giant cleaning closet that I have also yet to tackle. One last look before we move in the direction of production... and finally yes, that is an empty candle jar down there.

Yikes, right?! First thing is first... EVERYTHING MUST GO.

Like most areas I've been gutting around the home lately, I realized that this cabinet too was not in the best shape. Enter in the mindset of trying to update a rental without making any real modifications. The struggle is real people! I lined the bottom of the cabinet with the same paper I used in my linen closet organization, and got to work. I was so happy when I received my over the door hanging organizer after work last night! Now my sink can remain decluttered and my soap dispenser and sponge have a new home.

Time for some storage! I got these lovely stacking shoe bins at my local Container Store. They now hold those extra sponges, my dish washing gloves, and the bottom one is the new home of my wall flower scent refills. Joy! Sorry friends... I tried to find the drawers on the website and didn't have much luck...

I love the acrylic look so I can see through to that pretty paper on the bottom. I topped the bins with my box of Vanilla scented trash bags.

I put my cleaning caddy on the opposite side for an easy grab and go to do my quick nightly cleaning. 

There was only one more problem to solve... those pesky grocery bags! What to do what to do.... insert genius idea... I saved a cookie box from over the holidays because I knew it would come in handy. Alas... it did!

Hooray! I now had everything I needed under here! Let's cringe together at the thought of what it looked like before we started....

and now....

Feast your eyes on the glory! Anyone else struggling with a sink area that looks more like a yard sale? Any ideas you can use in your own kitchen? I'd love to hear about it! I hope you enjoyed this little kitchen area, friends!