Organizing Class

Just finally sharing a few pics from an organizing class I attended a few weeks ago.

Above: Paper towels, TP, kleenex, etc stored between studs in the area under her stairs. Wide strips of elastic keep it all in place and easily accessible. Wall studs go clear to the ceiling above, so even though you can only see 4 ft. or so of kleenex, the pile really goes all the way to the ceiling.

Above: Area under the stairs - not sheetrocked in, added boards to each step for storage. At the very bottom - bags of flour stored on their sides. Note: shelves on the side are built to each stair, no wasted space.

Above: #10 cans - all items she actually uses. The wall to the left of the picture has just about the same amount of cans too. Plastic lids on each one - if the lid is on the top of the can, it is open, if the lid is on the bottom of the can - then it hasn't been opened yet. Everything is clearly labeled and dated.

Above: plastic drawers for storing things not easily stacked. Click on the pictures to see them larger if you want. Every drawer labeled to find things easily.

Above: canned food and in the area below it. Dated with color-coded stickers. Only rotated when an entire row is empty so that cans are never having to be pulled forward. Each shelf is clearly labeled.

Kids bedrooms/grand-kid play area:
She suggested that a bulletin board be put in every child's room, to keep the mess off of the fridge.

Above: games all placed on their sides. So boxes don't get mashed and so that the kids don't ever "want the one on the bottom of the pile". She has started replacing all the games with the Library version of them because they look nice. She edged the older game boxes with packing tape so they don't get so worn.

Above: toys in clearly labeled bins for easy clean-up. Kids know where the toys belong. She suggested only keeping the toys that your kids will appreciate playing with for years and years and that have an educational purpose.

Kitchen:
Above: Wow! I know. So many spices! These spinner racks are pretty cool though. Each container has an opening at the top for scooping and shaking and then the dial pre-measures a 1/4 teaspoon with each turn. Each is also clearly labeled. Bottles on bottom shelf hold things like bulk jell-o and larger quantities of certain spices.

Above: she said she found these cool containers at Win-Co. They hold cooking/baking things that are larger or that you use more of at a time - like all different kinds of chocolate chips, bay leaves, bread crumbs, pudding mixes, etc.

Above: Shoe boxes with things like hot chocolate mix, tortilla chips, lasagna noodles, marshmallows, crackers. She said they keep things fresh for 3-6 months. Eliminates all the packaging and keeps everything organized.

Above: hinged storage bins that hold cereal, pasta, oatmeal, popcorn, etc. Each bin has a scoop attached to the inside of the lid! I *think* she bought these through LTD Commodities, but I can't find them on the website anywhere.

I didn't take pictures of everything she showed us, but we also went on a tour of her bathroom cabinets, bedroom closets and dressers, silverware drawers, etc. Amazing! If you have any questions, just ask and I'll try to answer.