Spring Cleaning-Kitchen

So, if you saw yesterday's post you know I've used my writer's block to organize my kitchen.  In fact, I was inspired by this totally awesome blog The Organization Junkie --please please check it out to get inspiration for your own spring cleaning tips and ideas.

I decided to tackle five projects in the kitchen.  One is still ongoing (that good ol' pantry) but I figured I'd show you the results of my four other projects.  Each took me no more than half an hour and I worked on one of these projects a day.  And I am now a big fan of baskets thanks to the recommendation of the Organization Junkie herself!  I bought several at The Dollar Tree for between a dollar and three dollars each.  Totally worth it!

Project One: Under the Sink 

Uh, yeah.  Embarrassing.  And yes, that is a paper towel roll unraveling throughout my mess of cleaning products.  After tossing some stuff and consolidating others (for example, I had two half used bottles of bleach that became one) and adding some baskets to the mix, I had this: 

Project Two: The Junk Drawer

I found coupons in here that expired in 2009.  Which I guess reveals that I have never cleaned out this drawer, but continue adding to it.  I tossed every piece of paper in here except for the notepad, found a basket for the chip clips and other supplies, and threw away the aluminum box that only had two inches of foil left in it.  That left me with this:

Project Three: The Utensil Drawer

It was ridiculous trying to find anything in here, especially my measuring spoons.  So I got rid of the things I never used or had unnecessary duplicates of (do I really need two potato mashers? I think not!) and donated them to a friend who just moved into a new apartment and is in desperate need of kitchen utensils.  And of course, I had to use a basket for easy access to my measuring spoons.  That made my drawer like this:

Project Four: Above the Microwave

Yes, hubster and I store all our daily medicines and vitamins atop the microwave.  The cluttery look got to me, and I realized I could put the medicines in the cabinet by moving the middle shelf baking items to our pantry.  To make sure we don't forget to take our medicines/vitamins I made sure they were still in sight--in a pill box organizer.  Also, it was always a challenge locating the proper spice or seasoning among all my spices on the bottom shelf of my cabinet, so I bought a three-tier cabinet organizer from Amazon for $9.  With the microwave cleaned off an engagement pic of the hubster and I now adorn the microwave, as opposed to medicine madness. Ta da!

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These projects were all inspired by: