Welcome to Day 2 of my month long series “How to Organize Your Kitchen Frugally in 31 Days”.
Today I’m sharing how I organize the cabinets under my kitchen sink. If you haven’t seen the “big picture” look at my kitchen, you can see it here.
If you missed it, you may want to read why I’m embracing my outdated kitchen. It might give you a little perspective on why the pictures of my kitchen organization won’t be “magazine worthy”, but helpful for real life organization.
So let’s get started!
Due to the fact that I don’t have a closet to store cleaning supplies, I keep all of the supplies I need for the first floor of my house under the kitchen sink (except for bathroom cleaners, which I keep in the bathrooms). I highly suggest keeping cleaners where you use them. This also provides easy access for my kids who help with some household chores like cleaning windows.
The biggest challenge in organizing this space was making the supplies I use fit into the space. It is rather tight because of the pipes and garbage disposal.
I found these drawer units at Walmart for a few dollars each. They are an excellent solution for keeping my sponges, cleaning cloths, magic erasers, and gloves organized.
Everything in this space is used either at the sink, or on the first floor. Since I don’t have any drawers near my sink that would work for linens, I keep the dish towels under the sink in one of these drawer units since I use the towels at the sink.
One of the best ways to maximize the effectiveness of any storage area is to use containers to fill the space. First, clear the clutter. Recycle, donate, or pitch the things you don’t use. Do you have extra cleaning supplies hiding in your cupboard that you don’t use, but feel bad to get rid of because you spent money on them? Free yourself! Let go of things that are not important so you can begin to enjoy your organized, uncluttered space.
Once you have narrowed down your supplies to things you actually use, group your items together to figure out what size and shape containers you will need. Remember: containers don’t have to be expensive! If you notice in the picture above, my household cleaners are stored in a long narrow cracker box. If you’re creative, you could even paint or mod podge your box to make it look nice. 🙂
Since the space under the garbage disposal is so tight, I made the best use of the space by using the drawer units and putting racks on the doors. It is super easy to access what I need without having to unstack things, or try to shuffle through a mess to find what is hiding in the back of the cupboard. I even take advantage of the space on top of the drawer unit for things I use most often, like dish detergent.
I found these little door racks at The Container Store for a few dollars. I love these! They are great for holding my every day cleaning supplies. Easy access makes for easy clean up! On the other door, I keep sponges and dishwands that I regularly use. Note: if you choose to use these racks in combination with the drawer units, make sure that you install them high enough on your door that they don’t interfere with the drawer unit when the door is closed.
Well, that’s it! I hope you’ll join me tomorrow to see how I organize my spices, cooking oils, and more.
We have the same dish rags!! 🙂
Can’t wait to get started! I feel like the underside of my sink is a black abyss where cleaning products go to die!! No more!!
I didn’t get day 1 & I can’t find on your site. Please help.
You can find it here:
I didn’t get day one either. And I also can’t find it. Can you please help?
Thank you
I want to first thank you. You have inspired me. I started following your post at the end of last week. What I have decided to do is enhance things by trying to do them as cheaply as possible.
Great post Ginny!
Anna 🙂
This is nothing short of brilliant! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing simple tips like this that I can really use!!
I feel so silly! Never would have even thought of this. Brilliant! Thanks!
Brilliant!! I would have never thought to use those plastic drawers for under the kitchen sink…. I think I have a 3 drawer one floating around somewhere — it will be perfect for hiding kitchen towels & such from my 18 month old. He likes to pull them all out from their current location and throw them all over the kitchen…. So thank you!!!!
Hi Ginny! I love your website! The tip for putting dish towels under the sink in a pull out drawer is genius! My apartment kitchen doesn’t really have room for towels so I will definitely use this tip!
freecycle.org is a great way to get rid of things you’re not using, like cleaning supplies, that you don’t want to add to the landfill
I love that you use inexpensive things or things that you already have, i.e. the cracker box storage bin. It works beautifully and isn’t trash! Good job. I’m learning so much. Keep the ideas coming please ma’am.
I actually DID feel guilty about throwing away my “misfit cleansers”. So what I did was assemble them in one area…and use them to clean my toilet. Everything from caustic cleansers to three spray bottles of Febreeze. I quickly clean my toilet daily. They’ve ALL done a great job! Bonus: Not having to buy any “specific” toilet cleanser and not feeling like I’ve wasted money on rarely/never used cleaning supplies. Just an idea as to how to put old cleansers to good use.
Brilliant idea! That is such a totally wasted space at our house. And the drawer for towels is not big enough. Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend? 🙂
I love that you added the drawers, what a great way to maximize the space and keep the loose items better organized.
Thanks, Morgan. It did add so much storage space. I love it!
Ok, you have inspired me!! I am going to tackle this this weekend!!! My before pic will be shameful, but hopefully, my after pic will look as awesome as yours!!!
I’m sure you’ll do a great job, Tonia! I’m so happy you’re inspired. Have fun and send me your pics. 🙂
This is fantastic!I have such a a small kitchen.Thank-you for sharing!!And inspiring.
I like the drawer idea! I cut up an old, ripped shoe organizer and put cleaning supplies in it on the inside of the door under the sink. I love it! I can quickly see the cleaners. I keep most often used: windex, fantastik, etc. I also put extra dish soap, sponges and hand soaps in it.
I love your posts. Wondering if you have any suggestions on where to keep dishwasher tabs? Under the sink is not an option since I have little ones. I have no cabinet space and very little counter space. Right now I just have the box next to the sink but I hate looking at it.
I like the way you have the sponges and dish rags in a drawer. This makes room for cleaning supplies on top of drawers.
Where did you get the plastic drawers that are used under your sink?
Thanks
S Reed
I found them at Walmart. They are made by Sterilite.
OMG! I Love you!! off to organize that nasty under the sink space!
Hi! We moved to our new house last February. Up until now we haven’t organize our kitchen. It is funny to always foam around to find things. Hehehe… Annyway, im glad to have found your blog. I have one question. In my under sink where we place our detergent soap and its big part is for the plastic bag. I feel this way is missy. How do you keep your plastic bag? And where?