How to Organize your home, office, school and more

OK kids, let’s make cookies.  First we need 2 teaspoons of, wait where are the measuring spoons?  Never mind, we’ll guess, next we need 3 cups of, umm, and the measuring cups are where?  Ok kids, into the car, let’s go buy some cookies . . . has anyone seem the car keys?  Does any of this sound familiar?

Organize your kitchen, following the "Steps to Organization" (aka How to Organize) -

As a general rule, you will be using your kitchen daily.  Therefore you will want to put a little extra thought into how and when to do your kitchen reorganization.  You have several options, you can decide to do it over a weekend and plan on simple meals (or eating out), you can do it in pieces (know it may take a bit longer, but may possibly be less stressful), or you can invite a group of friends over tell them you are learning how to organize and that you want them to learn how to organize with you, order a pizza and get it done in one crazy night.  Whatever works for you is the best option.

How to Organize: Step 1 – Sorting

Begin by gathering together some boxes.  (The size of these boxes depends on the size of your kitchen).  Clearly mark each box – one will be for items to be donated or sold at a yard sale, one will be for items that will go back into the kitchen, one will be for items that you plan on keeping but never should have been in the kitchen in the first place. 

The “it doesn’t belong here” box is a great job to pass along to a spouse or children.  (Or those friends who came over thinking they were going to hear a talk on how to organize their house).  Start with the box of things that don’t belong in the kitchen, call the kids and tell them to take the box and put things where they belong – for my kids I usually offer an incentive (like extra video game time or hide some change in the box, it is amazing what a 9 year old will put away if he knows he can keep whatever change he finds – whatever works)

As for the donate box, get the items out of your house as soon as possible.  

How to Organize: Step 2 – Building the Border

When we begin to build our border we will do it in pieces.  This site will focus on how to organize certain areas, which can then be adapted to your kitchen.

The Tupperware Cabinet

Maybe you have one, maybe you don’t, but this is the place where all of those leftover containers get tossed.  I remember one time I had gone through our Tupperware cabinet and took everything out, then I sorted all of the pieces so the lids were in one place, the bases in another neat pile, I was so happy.  Later that day I went to show my sister my neat and organized container cabinet – unfortunately the dishwasher had been emptied and items had been tossed into the cabinet so it was no longer neat and organized.  So what had I done wrong?  Did I not know how to organize my Tupperware?  Well the first thing is I hadn’t shared my system with my husband (so he didn’t know where to put the containers and lids), second I didn’t make my system simple (the lids were stacked all together by size, but not according to which container they went onto, there were also secured by a rubber-band which meant that whenever you put a new lid away you had to pull out all of the other lids, so this did not work out well.  Obviously I did not know how to organize in a way that made sense and was simple.  (Fortunately – se have come a long way since then._

If you already have a bunch of containers and don’t want to invest in new ones, consider storing the entire collection of like sized containers nested within each other.  The lids for these containers should be placed on top of the nested containers stack.  Do this for each of your sets – however this is only a long term solution if you continue to implement it.

Another thought on how to organize your Tupperware is to pass along all of your mismatched pieces and start fresh.  You can try something like the Rubbermaid Easy Find Lids 36-pc. Food Storage Set or the Rubbermaid Easy Find Lid 50 Piece Food Storage Containers. Items like these have lids that attach to the base of the container or to other lids so they are convenient to find.  Another option is the Prime Pacific Trading 49-Piece Food Storage Container Set. With this option the containers and lids are stored separately, but they are stored together in a carousel.  Next we will look at how to organize the utensil drawer.

The Utensil Drawer

Whether you cook a lot, a little or none at all, odds are you use utensils, at least occasionally.  Keeping your utensil drawer organizer really isn’t bad.  First thing, you will want a utensil organizer.  Now most places on this site I say, you could use, or look into, but here it really is a very useful organizing tool.  Below I have included various utensil organizers along with notes on each. 

 For larger utensils, such as serving spoons, spatulas, etc, look for a nice utensil crock or rack, such as the BIA Cordon Bleu 64-Ounce Utensil Crock, White or the Oxo SteeL Kitchen Tool and Utensil Rack . If you have an additional drawer, you can also look at another drawer divider, such as the Axis Expandable Kitchen Drawer Divider.  

The Junk Drawer

Why do we have these?  And why to we name it that?  After all, we are keeping all of the things in there for a reason, right?  Right?  Well, perhaps that is where we need to start.  What is in the junk drawer?  Why is it there?  Do we need it in the kitchen?  Do we need it at all?  There are many assorted things that we do keep in the kitchen to have on hand, and those can be organized, but take a close look at what is really in your junk drawer before deciding what goes back in.  To organize those little odds and end (pens, pencils, notepads for writing grocery lists, tape, twist ties, corn cob  holder things that you stick in the end of corn on the cob, you know all that little stuff), you need a plan.  The first step is determine what will stay and what will go.  The next step is to find something in which to organize the items that will stay.  Ok, so how cool is it that they actually have things called "Junk Drawer Organizers" – check these things out : 

They come in black, they come in white, they come in wood, they come expandable or stackable.  Pretty much any way you want it, plus it has a finite amount of space so your junk drawer becomes organized and not just a drawer that is so stuffed full of stuff that you can’t open it any longer.  Yeah!

 The rest of the kitchen :

Everyone’s kitchen is different, and everyones needs are different.  But there are so many ways to get organized.  If you have a problem with boxes of saran wrap or aluminum foil, look into a Kitchen Wrap Organizer or an UNDER SHELF WRAP RACK.  If your problems lie with pot lids check out the Cabinet Door Lid Rack.  If you have trouble with both pots and pans, perhaps a PAN TREE is what you need.

The bottom line is, take a look around your kitchen.  Anywhere that you see clutter or piles, there is a way to organize it.  You can also check out the organizational books section for books that contain more ideas on getting organized.

How to Organize: Step 3 – Filling in the pieces

With all of the organizational products out there, whether found here, at your local store, or at a local thrift store, once you have the border in place, filling in the pieces is much simpler.  If you come across an item that does not have a place, then think seriously if that item belongs in the kitchen.

How to Organize: Step 4 – The final step – How to Organize so you Keep it organized

No matter how good the kitchen looks when it is first organized, it won’t stay that way unless it is simple to keep it that way.  At first you may have to remind yourself (and the rest of your household) how to put things in their proper place, but soon it will become routine and your kitchen will be a organizational wonder.