Operation Kitchen Reorganization

Finally all my oils, vinegars, syrups in 1 cupbaord!

     This week has been challenging. Trying to quit smoking, organizing my kitchen, etc. But I survived!!! That's the important part.  My "new" kitchen looks great. I was able to save so much space! When I open my cupboards now they almost look empty. Me being a couponer, I had stockpiles of everything! Now it's all condensed down into containers. No more stuff falling over in my cupboards. I even put my cookbooks into categories (breakfast, dinners, desserts, etc) so no more searching for the right book! This took 8 days, but you have to understand how detailed I got with my kitchen, I also have a 3 year old who tried to help me, plus one day the Seattle Seahawks played (I had to stop and watch the game)!

 All these containers were part of my starting point. I'm sorry I forgot to take good pics before I started but I did post pics of all my ideas, & cupboards along the way. You can kind of see the tops of my cupboards as you look through the pics. Before I started this the tops of my cupboards were FULL of stockpiles from couponing. I had no more room on top of my cupboards.

Here are all my containers. I purchased them from Walmart.com because I could buy them in 4pack or 6 packs. (PS look
at the top of my cupboard at all that JUNK! )

BEFORE

AFTER

This entire project took me 8 days. It was VERY detailed

Day 1- I went through cupboards and took inventory of what I had, and what would fit into containers. I found that MOST of my stuff would fit and stack better in containers. So I worked clockwise around my kitchen (so I didn't miss any cupboard or drawer). As I was doing inventory I would measure my cupboards & shelves (so I could purchase the containers to fit my cupboards). I also adjusted a few of my cupboards to fit my needs. I also found stuff in back of cupboards, who knows how long some of it had been opened so in the garbage it went! I found I had multiple spices open, 3 black pepper, 2 salts, 2 garlic powders, etc. So I combined them into 1.

Day 2- I went through and double checked my measurements, researched containers and moving stuff. I this was the day I started having piles of stuff on my counters & table. You may notice the orange post-its on the top cupboards, my notes of measurements, how many containers needed, & what is going in those containers.

This is what my kitchen started looking like about day 3-4.... :)

Day 3- I went through ALL of my cookbooks. I was so tired of searching for the right book. So they all got organized my category- breakfast, lunch, snack, desserts, etc. They all got a good dusting and set aside. Then I found all those pieces of paper with recipes on them. So I found a spiral notebook, labeled the front and wrote or stapled recipes in them.

I chose to have all the books a different color so I could "grab & go" by color.

Day 3-4- When I found all those recipes I chose the ones I know I would cook, and tossed the rest! So I spent the rest of day 3 and most of day 4 writing/ stapling into my own cookbooks. By the end of day 4 my containers had come in.

Day 5- As I was pulling EVERYTHING out of my cupboards I found 2 wine bottle holders. We don't drink wine so who knows why I had them. But I got creative! I bought those decorative pebbles (cheap at the dollar store, $1 a bag, used 2 per wine bottle holder) this gives it weight to hold up my cookbooks!

                    

Also as I finished day 5, I noticed that my kitchen doesn't make sense. I had oatmeal & poptarts in cupboard, but cereal on top of fridge. I had pudding in one cupboard but other lunch snacks in other cupboards. So EVERY cupboard in my kitchen now holds a "category" of food. I chose what fits ME! Be creative with your cupboards and make them fit YOU!

Beans, canned veggies

Dinner boxes, rice, salad toppings. The other cupboard is spices.
Like my beautiful display of my cookbooks on top of my cupboards?
No more junk on top

Seasoning packets, broth packs.

You guys get the idea. I organized  according to what fit ME.  

Now ALL breakfast in on top of fridge.  5 boxes of oatmeal fit in a large container. 2 containers of cereal, 1 healthy & 1 for

kids. 1 container of the breakfast shakes, my protein powder, 1 box poptarts. All the "extra" boxes of cereal now fit stacked toward back of fridge

Look at all that empty space! It was COVERED
in all my stockpiles. Now the only thing up there
is what goes in the cupboards below it. So proud.

  

In large container is ALL 7 packs of puddings/fruit cups.  In the smaller red lined is the  cracker packs,  green lined is granola bars. Drinks to the right. In the back of cupboard on shelf is all the snack/lunch bags of chips. So when I make lunches every morning, EVERYTHING that goes in them is in this cupboard. The kids also know this is for LUNCHES ONLY. The "home" snacks are in a different cupboard!

Day 5-6- Washing/dusting everything and putting the stuff in its new home! I did have 1 box that went into the garage. It was full of stuff I only use once a year during the holidays such as my Christmas serving platters & trays, deviled egg holders, Christmas baskets, holiday cookie cutters, why keep all this stuff in your kitchen if you don't use it on a regular basis. I understand some people may not have that ability to do this, but I do so I am taking advantage of it!

Day 6-7 Putting away more stuff. So all food now has a proper cupboard to go into. I have made a Baking cupboard & drawer. All my mixers & bread maker, special cake pans fit into 1 cupboard. In the drawer was all my measuring cups/spoons, cupcake holders, cake decorating kit, candy thermometers, spatulas, etc.

I have all my "frying" stuff together, my Deep Fat Fryer, griddle, George Foreman grill in a cupboard together!

Day 7-8 getting the table cleared off, the poor table, it was the "catch all" for the entire process. The box packed properly and taped and put in garage. Sweeping & mopping.

I'm glad I did it! I was able to go start to finish. The whole project cost me about $150. So to me that's not bad. Especially for all the space I now have in my cupboards! I really feel like I need to go grocery shopping, after having stockpiles/boxes of stuff all over my kitchen for the last couple years and to look at my kitchen now with all the extra/open space (even though I only took 1 box of holiday stuff to garage) feels weird!

HAPPY ORGANIZING!!!!

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