A Little Inspiration.....

Most of you have probably heard of or watched the new series on Netflix called "Tidying Up with Marie Kondo." I think it's a great show and I hope many of you are drawing inspiration from it. While I plan to share my thoughts on that series in a later post, for now I wanted to share a little inspiration of my own....

This client wanted a kitchen update and I was happy to help! While her kitchen was by no means in total disarray, she was a busy working mom (with four kids!) who moved into her house in a hurry, placing things randomly in cabinets, and was finally ready to organize it in a more functional fashion. 

We first started with the pantry....categorizing goods, purging expired foods, and creating zones with labels on each bin (Ex: Breakfast, Grains, Canned Goods, etc).

One of my favorite organizing supplies is a Lazy Susan! Believe it or not, it works great in pantries. If you look in the picture above, I used a Lazy Susan to organize all of her kids' condiments & PBJ supplies. Makes it easy for adults (and kids) to find what they're looking for!

Another important step was to clear the clutter on the floor of the pantry. We corralled water bottles into a bin, as well as recyclable bags in another one. Once the bin gets full, it's time to let go of a few!

Then we moved onto the drawers and cabinets in the kitchen. This "before & after" is one of my favorites. Again, we purged a few items - duplicates and broken ones - and then used Dollar Store bins to create a holding place for each category (knives, cooking utensils, etc.)

I love when I come across a cabinet in a client's home that is pretty close to empty! This was the case here, as shown in the top picture. This cabinet was located above her fridge, and was very under-utilized. We moved some things around, and were able to free up this cabinet to act as a china storage spot! A few shelf helpers did the trick and now her china will be stored in a safe & very visible space.

One of my last favorite spaces in this client's kitchen was her narrow coffee cabinet. I added a few shelf helpers and moved her keepsake mugs to the top shelf. My client was even able to pull in a few mugs from other cabinets that had been placed sporadically throughout the kitchen. Now all of her coffee supplies & mugs are in the same place!

All in all, this kitchen makeover took close to 7 hours. We were able to completely update her walk-in pantry, as well as better organize all of her kitchen cabinets. 

Please let me know if you could use my help with a similar project! 

De-Cluttering Before a Move

A recent client called me because her realtor said she needed to organize her pantry before her house was put on the market. I was happy to help!!

This pantry was SUCH a great space to begin with; it just needed a bit of de-cluttering and categorizing. Plus, cute bins & labels always help :)

One of my favorite organizing supplies is mini hanging chalkboards. They are easy to use, and more importantly, easy to change as your family's needs change!

We grouped baking items together, as well as created a few easy-to-grab snack bins for her kids.

We grouped chips with chips and crackers with crackers, A "shelf helper" added space to an upper shelf where we placed all of her paper products and disposable utensils.

We checked for expired medicine, as well as grouped together lunch bags & reusable bags.

One more look at this updated & organized pantry!
Now this client is ready to put her house on the market and WOW some potential buyers!

I offer a variety of de-cluttering, staging, packing, and unpacking services.

Please let me know if I can assist you in your moving process.

Kitchen Makeover: Part 3

As promised, here is Part 3 of a recent kitchen makeover....

First up, the freezer!

These "before & after" pictures may not look very dramatic, and to be honest, this was a pretty quick job. I just put "like" items together. (Ex: ice cream on one shelf, all the breads in a container, all the popsicles on one shelf, all the veggies in the bottom drawer.)

Same for the door of the freezer - I mainly just grouped together all the ice packs and left the frozen fruits where they were.

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Now, the fridge!

I designated a shelf for each of the following:

miscellaneous, condiments, sauces/marinades, and salad dressings.

For the main part of the fridge, I put all the tall beverages (milk, juices, pitcher of lemonade) on the top shelf. Then we corralled the go-gurts into a narrow clear container. The middle drawer now holds meats & cheeses, and the bottom two drawers hold fruits and veggies. Easy peasy!

This fridge/freezer just needed a quick update, and it took 30 minutes at most! Plus, in the process, we wiped it down really good (while it was empty). So now, not only is it organized but sparkly-clean too! :)

Kitchen Makeover: Part 2

Today, I want to show you a pantry transformation for one of my recent clients. (If you missed Part 1 of the Makeover, which included the cabinets, countertops, and under the sink.....click here.)

 This pantry was a great space, but just not being utilized properly. In the upper shelves, there were odds & ends like rubbermaids, a mixer, and lots of cups not being used. The goal for this pantry was to ONLY house food & drinks, so we found those items a new home in the newly de-cluttered cabinets. (Well, some went into the "donate" pile :)

We were able to leave the upper shelf almost completely clear! Right now, it is storing a few (new) pyrex dishes that are not being used, but they wanted to keep. The 2nd shelf now holds all their cereals and breakfast items, while the 3rd shelf holds one of their daughter's medication, plus a turntable for their spices & oils.

 Let's take a close-up at this turntable! I love these for soooo many reasons....

 The biggest challenge for this pantry was to utilize the depth of it. (It is 18" deep!!) To do that, I used a "shelf helper" on the top shelf to hold some snack bars, and put other - larger - boxes of snacks at the back. Additionally, the kids now have a designated snack bin on the front of the shelf, and 2 small bins house miscellaneous items and sauces.

 The middle shelf now houses all of their baking items. A vacant jar now holds all of their baking chips, and we made a small bin for all of their sprinkles, toppings, etc.

Last but not least, on the bottom shelf, there is a designated bin for pastas & grains, and lots of overflow room on the right for baby items like formula, jugs of water, etc.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of the makeover!

Kitchen Makeover: Part 1

A recent client needed a complete kitchen overhaul (think: cabinets, countertops, fridge, pantry, etc.) and I was happy to help!!

Before I get into the details of the makeover, I want to give you a little background on why I chose to become an organizer. First of all, I love to organize (DUH)! But second, I love to help people. And when I walk in someone's home and they are completely overwhelmed & close to tears, my heart goes out to them. I want to help them in any way I can, and usually, that starts with organizing. So, this client was more than just a little overwhelmed when I first saw her kitchen. Which is evident since her countertops were overflowing with food & other items that belonged in the pantry and cabinets.

She's a busy mom of three, and the kitchen countertops and table became the catch-all for...
well, everything.

I was BEYOND excited to help this client reclaim her kitchen, and best of all, her family's kitchen table! As I was leaving, one of her daughters started laying out placemats for their dinner that night. She was so excited to have the table cleared off so they could have family time. Warmed my heart!

Though I was itching to move all that excess food from the countertops to the pantry, I couldn't do that without de-cluttering her kitchen cabinets first, to make room for things that didn't belong in the pantry! Did you follow that!? :)

We started with the cups & glasses.....my client got rid of quite a few that they didn't need/want, and then I placed them back into the cabinet by types: mugs, water bottles, glasses, baby stuff, etc.

Her pots & pans were being stored in a cabinet that had a veeeery deep right side. I decided to store some appliances in that corner that weren't being used much, and added a lid rack to organize her lids. I grouped the saucepans by size & shape, and made a spot for her most-used pyrex dishes.

The space under kitchen sinks is always a precarious one, and often under-utilized as well. I designated a bin for cleaning items and another bin for paper products.

And then on the far left side of the sink cabinet, I used a 2 tiered organizer similar to this to hold excess paper towels as well as dish-washing items/sponges.

In this same organizing session, we were able to overhaul her pantry! But I will save that for the next post, Part 2. We literally organized every single cabinet in her kitchen, but I will spare you all of those pictures. There were a lot!

I just want to say that I am SO proud of the work we did in the kitchen, and even more so of my client for being brave enough to let me into her house. I *promise* you, I never walk in to a client's house & start to judge. I am solely there to help. And a big reason I take all of these before & after pictures is so that my clients can see how much progress we've made, which will hopefully motivate them to stay organized and never get back to that "before" photo.

Please let me know if I can help makeover your kitchen!

And stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3 of this reveal.....

Organizing Your Kitchen Cabinets

The majority of my clients are moms, and what is one room that every.single.mom spends a lot of time in???!? The kitchen. Whether it's for cooking, cleaning, washing dishes, packing lunches, or just clearing off the counters......a kitchen is a place where most women spend a good chunk of their day. Which is why it's so important for those cabinets & drawers to be organized!!

 

A recent client called on me to help organize her kitchen, because like mentioned above, she is a busy mom of 3 busy kids, and doesn't have time to de-clutter her kitchen. But oh how delighted she was for me to do it!! :)

 

This family is a big fan of Tervis Tumblers, as you can see below! I reorganized their drink cabinet to hold water bottles, sippy cups, and tumblers on the right side. (And I added a small white bin to hold all those pesky lids.) And on the left side of the "After" cabinet, I placed all of the other glasses, organized by type (of course).

Her cabinets with pyrex / corningware / mixing bowls weren't too bad, but just needed some tweaking. I think the biggest changes I made were to store the pyrex pieces by shape (rectangles go with rectangles, ovals with ovals....) and adding a basket to hold a few small pyrex lids.

 EVERYONE has a drawer with large utensils that could use a little TLC! My client was no exception. An expandable drawer organizer like this one did the trick, and will help keep the drawer from becoming a clutter magnet again.

 Not only are unorganized utensil drawers common, but so are junk drawers!!! Raise your hand if you have one in your kitchen! (My hand is raised.) There is nothing wrong with a junk drawer - they definitely serve a purpose. But who says a junk drawer can't be organized?! My poor client couldn't even pull her drawer out the whole way when I first got there :) I couldn't wait to get my hands on it....

 Now, this client had *many* other cabinets and drawers. And I touched them all. But just so I don't show off the entire contents of her kitchen, I thought I'd just highlight one more space..... the dreaded under-the-sink cabinet. It is a hotspot in most kitchens, and one that easily gets messy.

I just repurposed a few baskets the client already had, categorized the items, and purged a few. Nothing to it! The bottom basket now holds all small items like sponges, rags, and cleaning brushes.

 

Now that you've seen a few organized cabinets & drawers,

are you inspired to go de-clutter some of your own?!

 

Calling All Junk Drawer Lovers!

Is there anyone out there who does NOT have a junk drawer?!

If you just said yes, I think you're lying :)

 

We all have them, and that's okay. They serve a necessary purpose. And I prefer to call them "Miscellaneous Drawers" instead of junk drawers. Because I know my miscellaneous drawer has some pretty useful stuff in there, not junk!

 

I helped a recent client de-clutter & organize the two miscellaneous drawers in her kitchen. Lucky for me, they are both huge drawers, so we had a great space to work with.

 

Check out these before & after shots:

We designated this drawer as the "homework station," so it holds most of her kids' homework supplies, as well as other learning resources they use.

This drawer has a whole lot of....you guessed it....miscellaneous stuff! Batteries, loose change, sunglasses, address book. All this stuff needs a home! And now it has a nice new one.

 

This transformation didn't take a lot of time (~1 hour) or money (~$10). I bought some acrylic organizers from Walmart and a few plastic ones from the Dollar Tree. Plus, I was able to utilize some of the drawer organizers my client already owned.

 

A simple job, but a huge transformation!

 

My Freezer: Before & After

Sometimes, a transformation can take just 30 minutes, but make SUCH a difference.

Case in point: my freezer!

As you can see below, my freezer was not organized at all. (I know, gasp!) So I decided it was time. Basically, I emptied the freezer & gave it a good wipe-down. I threw away a few frostbitten items, and grouped "like" items together.

I ordered the clear bins from The Container Store. (Sidenote: I LOVE these bins! And they are very inexpensive! I bought the medium-sized ones.) Then, I used my labelmaker & some simple labels from Office Depot to create the bin labels.

 

 On the door, I just made a few subtle changes. I moved the ice packs, separated the coffee into guest coffee / Greg's coffee, and added some chalk labels.

And voila! An easy transformation, with a big impact.

Does your freezer need a makeover!?