I’m a sucker for a basket, bucket, container of any sort really. To me it defines order and tidiness. Even an old biscuit tin or ice cream can. I’ll hold onto it with a vision of it becoming a store-all for something that might need, well, storing. Trouble is, I need a storage area for all the baskets I gather. I have never brought any of these things from a shop. I’ve got them all from thrift stores, garage sales, Freecycle or recycled containers from around the house. They may not match but they perform a function.
Stick me in a room with a bunch of women who love to shop, play games and talk about food (or otherwise known as a Tupperware party) and I’m in. It’s just really expensive, simple as that. I reckon I’ve been to about 10 Tupperware parties in the last couple of months and managed to limit my spending of 1 item per party. That was still over my budget but I just can’t get past the socialising.
I’m not going to blind you with brilliant pictures of perfectly matching, colour coordinated matching baskets and bins in my kitchen. You can see that in all of those ‘other’ organising blogs. In my pantry, I use coffee jars, containers from thrift stores and very rarely ‘decant’ packets of coconut, nuts etc rather opting to seal the bag with a peg. I picked up this lazy susan to pop in the pantry to get access to the jars in the back. Honestly, I’ve got the worst non existent pantry for someone who loves to cook as much as me but I’ve put up with it for so long, I manage. Here are some other little tips I’ve used a long the way.
Use a magazine holder to store all your alfoil, cling wrap etc. Frees up drawer space.
Broom mounts attached to inside the pantry door are an excellent spice bottle holder.
When storing your kitchen appliances, apply a velcro picture hanging adhesive to the appliance and the cord to wrap around neatly.
Dish racks make a good place to store all your plastic lids.
If you happen to hang on to your plastic shopping bags (as I do – for bin liners), roll them so they come out the centre similar to wipes.
Repurpose an empty shampoo bottle to use as a sponge holder over the kitchen tap.
Used jam jars become salt and pepper shakers with holes punched in the lids. Use for salt and pepper or other spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, garlic powder etc.
Used plastic milk containers make excellent pourable storage containers for things like rice, small pasta shapes, flour, sugar, oil.
Wall mounted tea towel storage in a three tiered planting container.
Use small trays from the thrift store or a pack of disposable plastic party food trays from the dollar store to line your cupboards and protect from spills etc. These can be cleaned and reused many times.
I use a document tray similar to the above to store all my small jars in the fridge. Things like mustards, pickles, pastes etc. I also have one for dairy items like yoghurt, cottage cheese etc.
For more room in the freezer, store leftover soups, casseroles and other meals in ziplock bags. Lay them flat to freeze and they’ll take up less room in the freezer.
Never under estimate the value of a rubber band, piece of string, cardboard cereal box, milk or orange juice container, margarine container, sauce bottle or anything else that comes from the kitchen and goes into the recycle bin. It could be a potential organising item for the kitchen or the rest of the home. Don’t hold on to too much though or else you’ll be creating yet more ‘junk’ and clutter that will need organising. I like to keep 1 or 2 of everything or find a suitable storage place, eg I keep all the rubber bands in a dish in one of my kitchen drawers. I don’t think I’ve bought a rubber band in years.
This post is part of domesblissity’s THRiVING – Thrifty Living feature.
Great tips Anne, I love the the plastic lid idea! Thanks for your comment on my blog today, I really appreciate it xxx
So many great ideas! I need to start taking a few minutes each day to do some organizing!
great idea's Anne! Can't remember who I saw on IG that gets all her dry goods storage from op shops like the Salvo's and Vinnies with a vintage theme at no expense, looks like yours!
amazing….thanks for sharing…
You have some great ideas here! I love the magazine holder for gladwrap etc, and those salt and pepper shakers are inspired! I don't have a lazy suzan in my pantry, so I have a round, rimmed, metal tray that holds all of my bottles (soy, vinegar, etc) and spins nicely.
xx
My favorite is the velcro for the cord storage. I think everything should have a retractable cord in it. I love retractable cords.
I think those salt/pepper jars are cute too. I use that sort of jam, I may just have to make some of those.
Some great ideas. I have found that rubber bands perish after a while.
Great Ideas! I'm definetly going to do the velcro for appliance leads, sooooo annoying when they tangle amongst themselves in the cupboard!
Stacey-Lee 😀
I'm so doing the velcro. that's gold.
All really great ideas! Thanks for sharing!
The dish rack for the lids and the milk cartons to store rice, etc. is brilliant. You may have just changed my life. I could commit [insert heinous act here] every time I have to dig through the mess in the lower cabinet where I keep my plastic storage containers and lids. No matter how hard I try, they are always all over the place, or they have mysteriously disappeared. I'm giving the dish rack a try for sure! Thanks!
Liz
PS: I'm also now following you. Hope you'll stop over to Quirky Vistas as well.
Liz
Do people buy rubber bands?
I always seem to have plenty – not sure where they come from but the live in a glass jar in the top drawer in the kitchen.
I love the velcro tab on the appliances – will have to try that.
Thanks for the ideas.
Wow, I can sure use so many of these organization tips Anne! Thank you for stopping by my blog today and for your sweet comment. After a year from hell at work, I am getting back to bloggin with my bestest blog friends! Hope you're enjoying your cooler season in Australia . . . we are burning up here in this unbelievably hot summer in the U.S. Be well my friend! Roz
great tips. and i can honestly say I've never brought a rubber band!!
would love it if you could share this on my link party – http://serenityyou.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/serenity-saturday-47.html
Thanks for sharing nice tips service caster & shepherd casters & hand truck casters
Excellent ideas! Some of these I've never seen before. I pinned this.
What tool do you use to punch holes in jar lids?
One of my favorite kitchen storage tips is to use cardboard tubes (from paper towels, etc.) to store plastic bags you have washed for reuse. It's much easier than stuffing them back into the original box. I labeled the tubes "small ziptop" "large plain top" etc. so we can find the different types of bags easily.
—'Becca
Great ideas and so very useful, thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much Debi. I appreciate you stopping by and commenting.
Anne xx