One of my 2012 resolutions was to get this place organized and clean out the clutter. It didn't start off pretty - trust me when I say that you're about to feel a whole lot better about the state of your cabinets when you see the "before" pictures - but now I'm in love with the storage spaces in my house.
I purchased 20 bins from the dollar store and have been busy getting every cabinet and closet cleaned out. Tuesday is trash day and it's a big deal around here. The garbage truck rolls by and picks up the trash and a few minutes after it's empty, I fill it back up. The local thrift store is also benefiting from my resolution. I've donated several bags and have a few more waiting to go out this week.
Here's a tour of a few cabinets around the house. Let's start under the kitchen sink.
Kitchen Sink Cabinet
So much stuff always ends up down there. If it's a cleaning supply or something completely random I would throw it in.
After:
I put the every day cleaning supplies on the right and the not-so-everyday things on the left along with my dwindling stockpile of sponges and dish soap. Probably most importantly, the fire extinguisher isn't tucked in the back anymore and is ready to go if needed (which we pray never happens).
All of our lower cabinets have child-proof locks.
Laundry Room
These cabinets are above the washer and dryer and have only served as a catch-all for things that don't quite make it to the garage. Nails, spray paint, light bulbs, etc.
After:
A container for the spray paint, bin for the nails and a bin for the light bulbs. Then I put everything together in these categories: laundry supplies, tire repair, lubricants, bug spray.
Hall Closet
The hall closet serves as the linen/game/media/decorations storage space. It's painfully embarrassing to post this picture.
It was a hot mess.
Redemption.
Games on the top shelf. Then towels, linens (table runners, tables clothes, sheets, holiday linens), decorations, media, and DVDs on the bottom.
All of our spare comforters and pillows are in a space bag in the coat closet by the front door. That closet is deceptively large so I fit all of the blankets in there.
Master Bathroom
Want to guess which side is mine? Seriously, dude, why is the General Lee under your sink? He probably stuffed it down there when he saw how many toys I was stacking in the "give away" pile when I cleaned out the play room.
After:
On the right - I put the bathroom cleaning supplies in a bin and Mr. G's cleaning supplies :snicker: in another. Once again the fire extinguisher has made its way to the front of the cabinet.
On the left - I organized my side by hair and face products.
At the dollar store I also purchased this caddy for my makeup. I holds everything I need daily perfectly and is super easy to take out and put back. There's a clear bin on the left side of the cabinet that holds all of my makeup which I switch out depending on my mood. Right now I'm into soft eyes and apricot blush.
Playroom Closet
Lastly, the playroom closet. Before the makeover it served as my gift closet and did a fine job until this past Christmas when the overuse of it was too much and it exploded. My excuse, anyway.
After:
I also have my gift wrapping supplies and the handful of books that I kept from the enormous library that we had accumulated over the years. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to get rid of them. Max Lucado books stay. I kept a few Journalism resource books from college and Mr. G kept a few Science books. The remaining 100+ books were donated. The gifts were moved to the top rack of the coat closet.
Last month I would have died if someone came in and snooped around in my cabinets/closets. The amount of junk that we had was absurd. It is liberating to get rid of the clutter and have fresh, clean spaces. Now I have to work at keeping them this way and tackle the other things on my resolution list.
-Amanda
Looks great! I really need to reorganize my kitchen cabinets. The others aren't so bad, but the kitchen has been on my back burner (no pun intended) for quite some time.
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