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!?

Peek Inside: A Professional Organizer's House {More Bathrooms}

Part two of my Bathroom Reveal...

 

1. Our one & only bathroom on the main floor. Luckily, it's a full bath in case we have a ton of overnight guests, or if one of the kids comes inside & is super muddy :)

 

 The top two drawers of the storage tower are empty, in case an overnight guest needs to stash some of their toiletries. And, as you can see, the other drawers are as follows:

-extra hand towel & washcloths

-spare hairdryer

-extra toilet paper & kleenex

 2. Upstairs, my son Nate has his own bathroom. Well, that is until overnight guests arrive. This is the closest bathroom to the guest room, so it does double duty then. (So, he doesn't mind the chandelier for now, but he might when he's older!)

 The storage tower holds many of the same things as the downstairs one - extra toilet paper, soap, and Kleenex.

 

The linen closet is located behind the bathroom door, and was super hard to get things in & out of. So, we removed the door and I lined each shelf with contact paper. I covered two diaper boxes with wrapping power, and they now hold all of our guest towels.

I love these boxes from TJ Maxx; they are super durable and the perfect size to hold medicine, first aid items, and miscellaneous items. I used my absolute favorite labels, these hanging chalkboards. I cut off the loop at the top, and attached the chalkboard with Velcro.

 

The bucket on the far right (well, actually, it's a flower pot from IKEA!) holds extra toothbrushes & toothpastes. I just used a simple chalkboard label on the front.

And can we talk about this darling little mirrored tray!? I fixed this up recently, so our guests will feel welcomed, and have a spot all their own when they come to visit.

 

 3. My daughter Abby lucked out and got her own bathroom attached to her room. As a 5 year old, she doesn't appreciate this. But when she's 16 and spending countless hours in there primping, I think the whole family will be happy about this decision! :)

 I refurbished this old cabinet by painting it, removing the glass panes & adding chicken wire, and attaching new hardware. Each little basket holds my daughter's nail polish, headbands, hair elastics, combs, barrettes, and some smaller clip bows.

 The storage chest in between the toilet & sink holds all of Abby's larger toiletry items, as well as her travel case, extra toilet paper, and hair dryer.

Her bedroom is decorated in a "bird" theme, and I just
wanted to show you her adorable bird shower curtain!

 That concludes the thrilling tour of my house's 4 bathrooms. I hope you picked up a few organizing tips; let me know if so!

Peek Inside: A Professional Organizer's House {Kitchen}

**Before I get started, I want to make it clear that by no means am I doing these "Peek Inside" posts as a way to brag, or to insinuate that I have a perfect home. In fact, it's far from perfect. (Hello, I do have two small kids!) In fact, I've actually heard that word a lot...."perfect"....and it really irks me. I do work hard to have a clutter-free home most of the time, but that's because I've spent a lot of time putting systems into place, and "training" my other family members to utilize these systems. It's a lot of work, but to me, it's worth it. So, hopefully, my "Peek Inside" series will inspire you, rather than irritate you!**

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ok...got that off my chest. Now we can begin!! :)

Since we've been talking about organization in the kitchen all month long, it's time to finally reveal MY kitchen and how I keep it organized....

1. Chore charts - I found these online here, and laminated them for the kids. We've had them for almost a year now, and they have been the best charts I've found to date. (Of course, Nate has to help his little sister read the chart every now & then, but usually he's happy to oblige.)

 2. Pantry - I did a post earlier in the month about pantry tips; click here to check that out. Since we have a narrow cabinet, the pull-out features are a must, and I also made sure to utilize the height of each cabinet. Click here to view the Etsy store where I got my custom red vinyl labels.

 3. Freezer - Click here to read my recent post with "before & after" pictures of my newly updated freezer. My new bins make all the difference!

4. Fridge - I'll be honest, when I at these pictures of my fridge, it looks kinda empty for a family of four. But then I remember, we are lucky in that we have a second fridge in our basement to store bulk quantities of water, juice boxes, beer, etc. With that being said, I still try to keep things in "zones"....yogurts in a bin, kids' applesauces in a bin, juice boxes in a bin, condiments together, lunch supplies together in a drawer, and breads together.

 5. The "Junk" Drawer - yes, even Professional Organizers have a junk drawer in the kitchen! Ours holds a bunch of miscellaneous items - pens, chip clips, wine stoppers, scotch tape, etc. But the key is to corral them with a few plastic organizers, so they don't get out of hand.

(All of mine are from the Dollar Store!)

 6. Baking dishes - Under our junk drawer is where we keep our recipe books & pyrex dishes. Pretty straightforward here....just stack the rectangle ones together and the square ones together!

 7. Tupperware - Oh, the dreaded Tupperware cabinet! We store ours in the (awkward) corner cabinet, and again, store them by shape. I think the key for us is to not have too many, and to make sure the lids are either stacked underneath them, or to the side.

 8. Appliances & Pot/Pan Lids - This corner cabinet holds our crockpots, rice cooker, mixer blender, mixing bowls, and pot/pan lids. So, a little bit of everything! :) The lid racks are key to keeping our pot/pan lids organized.

 9. Open Shelving - I would never imagined having open shelving in my "dream house," but....it has it. And I love it. Sure, it gets dusty more often, but goodness, it's pretty to look at! And since the dishwasher is almost right below the shelving, it makes unloading dishes go very quickly.

 10. Utensils - We use a mix of metal & mesh organizers for our utensils,

all from Bed, Bath & Beyond.

 11. Pots & Pans - Again, we were super lucky to move into a house that already had pull-out features for the pots & pans. We stack by size/type, and store the lids in a different cabinet (see #8).

 12. Miscellaneous Utensils - This drawer can easily get out of hand, so we try not to have duplicates of any item. (Exception: pizza cutter - we eat a lot of pizza in this house!) I store my cooking utensils in a bucket on the countertop by the stove, so this drawer just houses a few odds & ends. Again, drawer organizers are key!

 13. Paper goods & food wraps - We have a super deep drawer that holds our paper plates, cups, ziplocks, plastic utensils, and food wraps. Of course, only a small amount of paper plates & cups can fit at a time, so the remainder are stored in the basement.

 Now we move onto the right side of the kitchen, where I spend most of my time slaving over a hot stove :) Good thing it has 6 burners!!

 14. Under the Kitchen Sink - Click here to see the "before & after" post about this cabinet. It was easy to simplify this cabinet, once I emptied it all and saw all the duplicates / junk / unnecessary items in there! My most favorite DIY project was recovering a wipes bin with contact paper to make a new trash bag dispenser :)

 15. Coffee Station - My husband is the only coffee drinker in our family, yet we have a whole cabinet dedicated to his obsession habit. (Well, I have a few measuring cups thrown in there on the bottom shelf, since I'm a shrimp and can't reach much higher!)

 16. Spices - Click here to read my recent post on our spice cabinet. Those spice clips are a lifesaver, since it's a narrow cabinet. As are the $1 baskets I found from Target and the white bins that hold cookie cutters and toppings on the higher shelves.

I attached the mini-chalkboard labels with Velcro!

 To the right of the stove & carport door, we have our family's command center. I wish we had a bigger area, but this house came with about a 2 feet wide wall there, so that's what we have to work with. I designate daily activities for each child on the wipe board (N=Nate & A=Abby), and then each child gets a wall pocket that holds their weekly work and things they bring home. I clean these out at the end of each week & change the wipe-board schedule when necessary.

 

**UPDATE: As of May 2016, our family command center has gotten a facelift. It's still in the same tiny spot, but now looks like this:

 I added a nail to hold 2 clipboards - each of my children has a clipboard with important announcements or homework assignments for the week. Plus, one of my fabulous clients told me about this Erin Condren schedule pad. It is amazing!! I've color-coded our family's activities. Abby=pink, Nate=purple, and Greg & I= teal. It's so nice to have everything all in one place, and I've found my husband using it quite a bit too! I usually post up 3 weeks at a time, and just have them pinned behind the current week.

 

 

 And here is our humble little kitchen table. It's perfectly suitable for our little family, but I have grand plans of building some shelving on this big open wall, as well as getting a custom farmhouse table & banquette seating. Who knows when that will happen, but a girl can dream, eh?!

 And that concludes my kitchen tour! Thanks for stopping by and hopefully you saw something that you can implement into your own kitchen.

 

Starting tomorrow, March 1st, I will be discussing kids' bedrooms (all month long), so make sure to check back for that!

 

 

 

 

Pantry Organization Tips

Is there anyone out there that has a pantry like this!?

 

{Source; Source; Source}

 

Yeah, I didn't think so. Even as a Professional Organizer, my pantry doesn't look like that!! (Seriously though....the one with the chandelier and rolling ladder...Is that really necessary??)

 

 

Well, today I want to offer a few PRATICAL tips to organize your pantry.....

 

1. First, take EVERYTHING out of your pantry, and place items onto a large table. Use this opportunity to give your pantry a good wipe-down.

 

2. Throw out any expired food you come across! (The biggest culprits for me are always spices & baking staples, like sugar & flour.)

 

3. Group items into categories. For example: canned goods, cereals, snacks, pasta/rice, sweets, breakfast, baking items....

 

4. Place your items back into the pantry, as a "staging" step. This allows you visualize the final product & gauge what/if you need to purchase any bins/containers. Make sure to organize items into "zones" in the pantry. (Translation: Group items together that make sense....like putting poptarts, bagels, cereal near each other since they are all breakfast items.)



{An undershelf basket like this one is a great way to utilize extra space}
{Source}

5. Scrounge around your house for any baskets or plastic containers not being used. These can be a temporary measure until you are able to purchase any necessary items.

 

6. If you do need to purchase items, be sure to take measurements of your pantry beforehand, especially the height between shelves, width, depth of shelves. Take note what size baskets/bins & the number of clear canisters you may need. I love the look (& function!) of airtight clear containers, and have found the best prices on ones at TJ Maxx & Wal-Mart.

{Source}

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

*For canned goods, there are so many options out there*

{Magazine file; Expandable shelf; Stairstep; Turntable}

*If you have a small pantry, utilize the back of the door if possible. And any space on the walls inside the pantry, before the shelves begin*

{Pencil drawer organizer; Over-the-door organizer; Sink caddy}

:

*If you have a deep pantry and don't want to install expensive pull-out features, consider creating your own! Just purchase a small under-bed box type of bin and discard the lid. It's easy to pull out and can accommodate a large grouping of items*

{Source}

*I love the idea of having one of your "zones" designated for your children's snacks, to make it easier to grab & go. (In fact, I do this for my 5 and 7 year old!)*

{Source}

 

*Once you have all the containers you need, labeling is the last finishing touch (and my absolute FAVORITE part of this process!! I love to use chalkboard labels, but there are also a million printable options out there as well*

{Source; Source; Source}

 

*But If you want some custom-made labels, check out one of my favorite Etsy stores: SomethingSortaCrafty. This is where I have purchased my red vinyl labels, and I could not be happier with them! (Just be sure if you are using permanent labels, to only use them for items you always plan to have on hand.)*

This is my itty bitty pantry :) No chandelier here!
If you like my vinyl labels, check out my Facebook page on Tuesday for a giveaway!!

Happy Organizing!