Cleaning the Cleaning Supplies

I know, I missed a week.  Last week was really crazy with my husband being gone and I really should have planned ahead.  Sorry everyone!  I'm working on being more organized...well, you already know that.  I'm not promising anything, but I may have time to do an extra project this week.  We'll see how things go.

Here's this week's project.

 

 Yeah, that's where I keep my cleaning supplies.  I had no idea what all was in there.  See the baskets down at the bottom?  I tried to make stuff organized in the beginning!  The problem was that I didn't keep it up.  Stuff just got tossed in there all the time.  It just wasn't enough.

There are a TON of things I would like to do under here.  The problem is that I can't do all of them because I don't yet have the money to go out and buy stuff to make my kitchen better.  I was only going to do this with stuff I already had, right?

Mostly what I did here was throw stuff away.  The little spot cleaning machine that no longer works but I was going to get around to fixing (4 years ago) is gone.  The carpet cleaner (I have no carpets in my house!), the cleaning supplies that don't work, and the stuff that I can't remember what it is and no longer has a label are all gone.  In goes the baskets.  I also decided to install these little things that I found at a thrift store years ago that I was going to put in my pantry because I figured I had no space in there...there's plenty of space now, plus I also have pockets where I was going to put the shelves.

These shelves are just wire things (one was supposed to be a spice rack, but that one is covered too!) that go on the doors to hold stuff.  They work pretty well for now until I get around to remodeling my kitchen.

Ready to see the results?

 

Coolest thing I did here:  I actually made space in a drawer where I was keeping my cooking wraps (foil, plastic wrap, etc) because I had an extra shelf.  I think that's what this shelf thing was designed for anyway.  I actually carry one like it in my Clever Container catalog (check it out here) but I think I'm going to save the CC one I have for when I'm organizing my plastic containers.  I heard a great tip about using one to hold all the lids.

I used the shelves to hold the stuff that I use all the time. The little spice rack thing was perfect to hold my little extra scrubbies that I'm forever losing in the back.

Like it?  I know I can do better, but this is good enough for now.

The Hall Closet

I decided to take a break from the kitchen because I keep having these urges to go out and buy more containers in there.  You know, something that would be a bit more "perfect"?  I kept telling myself that my reward for doing all this is going to be a full kitchen remodel.  This remodel is going to be paid for with all the money I'll be saving from not buying useless junk to replace the stuff I can't find.  That will be when my kitchen is perfect, for now I want fully functional.  It's not working anymore to tell myself these things, so I'm moving on.  Next project!  I'll be back kitchen!

The hall closet.

Can you hear the Jaws theme?Nobody really knows what was in that thing.  Basically it's a bunch of stuff that needed to not be seen.  Anything that I don't know what to do with goes in that closet.  Anything that my husband can't find another place for goes in that closet.  Want to see the picture?  Bear with me, my hallway is terribly narrow and there's just not a good way to take these pictures with the equipment I have.

See what I mean?  It's just not pretty.  The funniest thing is that most of that stuff in there had another home...it just hadn't been there in a while.  The actual coats that were in there were my kids' from at least a year ago and wouldn't fit them now.  I went through that closet and found very little that I actually wanted.

There were things to keep in there.  My wedding dress (I was married 12 years ago this June) that I was really going to get packed away and preserved.  My prom dress (don't ask) and a couple of bridesmaid dresses were in there.  Why do I have these things?  Why were they in my hall closet?

In the end there were 2 things in the closet that I wanted to keep there...and one is still up for debate.  I have the ironing board (that I don't actually own an iron for anymore...but I'm going to get one!) and my handy Wrap It Up from Clever Container.  I'm actually going to have room for coats!  I'm thinking I'll get a shoe rack for the floor so my husband will have a place for his shoes that isn't on the floor just inside the door.  I just don't want to break my rule so early in the game.  Until I deem it absolutely necessary, he can just put his shoes on the floor in there.

.

As soon as I decide what else is going in there, I'm going to just leave it as is.  I have so much space to work with!  I don't know what to do with it now, but I'm excited to see it. 

Next week I'm going to tackle...I don't know what yet.  I'm going to have to wait and see what inspires me this week.