Organizing Baking Supplies - Creating Storage with the Strangest Things

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I love when I can find 5 to10 minutes in a day to reorganize a cabinet or create a new organizing system.  On Monday I found a few minutes to grab all the loose cupcake tins in my pantry and store them in a cute Ball jar with a covered fabric lid (read about that here).  Yesterday I was able to reorganize my baking supplies.  It took about 10 minutes and my daughter got into the action, too!  As I unloaded the contents of the shelf, she put them on the counter.  After a quick wipe with a hot, soapy rag, the cupboard was ready to be refilled.

I had a lot of loose cupcake/cookie decorations that were constantly falling over and taking up too much space!  I thought about picking up a storage container to stash them in, but remembered I was holding onto this plastic bag that contained a baking set my daughter had received for Christmas.  (I didn't want to throw it out - I just felt it would be wasteful).  I decided to store all the loose cupcake/cookie decorations in the bag and it worked out perfectly!  They fit in nicely and I was able to stand it up in the cupboard.  I can not tell you how much room it freed up!

One of the tough things about my kitchen pantry is the shelves are super deep.  Since I don't use the baking supplies on a daily basis, I put them on the top shelf in the back.  I put all of our breakfast goodies (oatmeal supplies, tea, and cereal) in the front of the cabinet for quick access.

And that was it.  All done.  It only took a few minutes to straighten the shelf up and best of all - I came up with a quick, FREE way to organize my cupcake/cookie decorations.


What have you organized lately?  Have you found a way to repurpose something?

PS  You can find this over at the Delightful Order Inspiring Thursday Link Party!

Re-Purposing A Soap Pump

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I have wanted to buy a cute soap bottle for the kitchen.  Something simple but pretty that I can store dish soap in on my kitchen counter.  We don’t have a dishwasher so I find that I constantly use the dish soap in the kitchen for quick clean-up.  That means the big, bulky soap bottle always finds its way onto my kitchen counter.  It’s kind of an eye sore!  

I have been looking for a bottle to put the soap in but just couldn’t bring myself to buy one.  Then I had an idea to re-purpose a pre-filled hand soap pump that I had purchased a few months back for the bathroom.  It was clear and much smaller than the bottle I was currently using.  Over the last week, I have been washing/soaking it to get out any remnants of the hand soap.  I had a few minutes today to finish cleaning it up – removing the old label – and fill it with dish soap.  I put the bulky container back under the sink and my new sleek container on the counter.  Much better!  It’s discrete, cleaner, and re-purposed!  I couldn’t be happier.

What have you re-purposed lately?  What do you do to quell the urge to buy something new that you don't necessarily need?  Please share! 

Why My Pantry Will NEVER Look Like A Pantry on Pinterest

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I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest.  I love that it inspires me to be creative and tackle new projects.  I hate that it gives me this “stressed out, I have to do everything I see on Pinterest” feeling.  I guess you can chalk it up to my type-A personality!

I wasn’t loving Pinterest so much on Saturday. We did our monthly grocery shopping and when I was putting the groceries away I decided to reorganize the pantry.  In my mind, all I could visualize were these super organized pantries you see on Pinterest.  As hard as I tried, I was finding myself getting frustrated that I couldn’t make my pantry look like those I have pinned.  You know what I’m talking about – the beautifully organized, over-labeled pantries that people post with comments like “I wish my pantry looked like this” or “so inspiring.”  As I was standing in my kitchen looking at this mess (see the picture below) and wondering how in the heck I was going to get it into the pantry, I realized that I was driving myself insane.  And that’s when I realized that my pantry will never look like those you see on Pinterest. 

This had to somehow find its organized way into my pantry.

Here are five reasons why my pantry will never be a Pinterest pantry:

1. I actually own food.  Silly huh?  But really, the pantries I see on Pinterest do not have a whole lot of food in them.  They also lack in a variety of foods.
2. I have two kids.  They like to eat and my daughter has taken to complaining when I don’t have the cabinet stocked with her favorite snacks.
3. I have a husband and he doesn’t always put things back in the “right” place.
4. I have only one place to store food.  What you see is what you get.  The pantry is the only place I have to store non-perishable food.  And that means I have to get a lot in a little space!
5. My pantry is deep.  I unfortunately have to stuff things in the back.  Even with the simple white roller baskets I installed when I was in my "pregnant nesting phase" with my daughter, things still get hidden in the back of the cabinet.  I have not figured out a way around this (yet!).

It's a work in progress.

Even though it doesn’t look like it, I am actually organized.  Everything has a place and I reorganize and reevaluate the space every time I go grocery shopping.  There is a shelf that is a constant work in progress (my oils/spices - see "hot mess" above) and I may have a solution, but that’s for another day (when my husband can watch the kids so I can tackle and finish it at the same time). Until then, my pantry is what it is and I think it looks pretty good.

After everything was put back in the pantry.

Do you have an organization project that is challenging or constantly evolving?  I would love to hear about it!

Our New Kitchen “Office”

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When our second child was born, we converted our home office into a nursery. Mostly nursery with some office - we honestly have nowhere else in the house to store office supplies.  My husband built some awesome vertical storage on a wall in the nursery for us to store a few minimal office supplies and equipment (plus toys).  The space was working okay but not great.  Whenever our son was asleep, we could not access any office supplies for fear of waking him up.  The problem is our house is so small, we really have no place for a traditional office!

Then, a few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a great home organizing blog called IHeart Organizing.  They were highlighting a reader space where the reader created a home “office” in a kitchen cabinet.  I was completely inspired.  We had a cabinet that I was currently using to store cookbooks, a few pens, and miscellaneous kitchen items.  It was a space that could definitely be used more efficiently.   I couldn’t cram a printer into it, but I could store our highly used office supplies there. 

Here is the kitchen cabinet before (yea...it was a mess).

I paired down our cookbooks to a few of my favorites and stored them in this cute chalkboard storage box I found on clearance at Target.  Pens and paper are easily accessible next to the cookbooks.

I put checkbooks, staplers, tape, a few miscellaneous items into these storage boxes that I also found on clearance at Target.  Coupons are stored on this shelf as well.

Envelopes, stamps, and bills are filed in a metal rack that I already had.  These are stored alongside a box of cards that I use for birthdays and other occasions.  I used old re-purposed Crystal Lite containers to store chargers that we use on a regular basis.

Our medicine is stored on the top shelf in our medicine safe along with new recipes that I would like to try but haven’t gotten around to yet.

As I have used the new {and can I say amazing} space, I realized that I did need to label the storage boxes.  I also covered and labeled the Crystal Lite containers and added a few more items (umm…like my label maker and a few awesome Martha Stewart products!).  When all was said and done, I spent about $20 on our new “office.”

Here is the completed space!  I absolutely adore it.  It is clean, neat, and practical. 

Has something on the internet recently inspired you to reorganize a space in your home?  I would love to hear your story.

Organizing Nirvana: Martha Stewart!

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I purchased two fabric storage boxes on clearance at Target for a new kitchen “office” space I have been creating in my kitchen.  The only problem was I could not come up with a cute way to label the boxes without writing on or punching holes into them.  Enter Martha Stewart!  I ran across an add today for a new line of Martha Stewart products at Staples.  I had a few minutes after dinner to run over to our local Staples to check out the new products.  I was so excited to find small metal bookplates with adhesive on the back.   They would just stick right onto the box.  Super easy.  I also found a few other great products that would add to the functionality of my new “office” space.  The pantry pockets will work great to store my monthly meal plan, grocery list, and birthday invitations. I also discovered some great elastic ties that will help organize our loose power cords.  The greatest thing was, Staples is offering a $3.00 coupon if you spend $10. 

Have you recently stumbled upon a new organizing you can't live without?  I'd love to hear about it!