Organized Reader Spaces and Questions Answered ~ Organize Your Kitchen Frugally Day 31

Welcome to Day 31 of my month long series “How to Organize Your Kitchen Frugally in 31 Days”.  Every day during the month of October I will be sharing an organized space in my kitchen with you.  My goal is to inspire you and give you ideas on how you can organize your kitchen.

If you missed it, you may want to read why I’m embracing my outdated kitchen.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.

Welcome to the last day of How to Organize Your Kitchen Frugally in 31 Days.  I have had SO much fun sharing my kitchen with you!  Today, I thought it would be fun to share some of the amazing work that YOU, my readers, have done.  So many of you have told me how you were inspired to think about your spaces and how you could most effectively organize your kitchens. Awesome job!!!

Today, I’ll be featuring some of the amazing “before and afters”, some other “after” shots, and questions that you have wondered about.  If I missed one of your questions, please feel free to ask in the comments below.

First let’s start with a question:

Where are the teal bins in your Command Center from?

I got them at Target about a year ago.  I believe that Target stocks them seasonally, and you’ll see them again after Christmas merchandise is cleared out and organizational bins are back.

Speaking of command centers, check out all the amazing pictures from some Organizing Homelife readers:

Look what a fantastic job Dana did with her command center!  I love how she used Command hooks to hang her paper files on the doors.  I’m dying over that red phone, too!

Look how fabulous Kristi’s new command center is!  I love the decorative zebra tape she used to “pretty up” her box and bin!

I love how Jennifer used my suggestion of flipping the letter try upside down to store 2 letter bins.  I also love the storage boxes she used. Great job, Jennifer!

Crystal did an AMAZING job of sorting through paperwork and “stuff” and got it organized.  Fabulous job!!

I love how Kym used a cookie sheet organizer to keep her binders from falling over!  I also love her awesome coffee & tea station!

Check out Kayte’s organized fridge.  I love how she used decorative duct tape so her labels wouldn’t peel off.  Fantastic job!

Where do you store your Tupperware/plastic food storage containers?

I don’t!  I believe that it is wonderful to be frugal, but not if it causes more aggravation and wasted time on a daily basis.  I do not have ANY plastic food storage containers that I use regularly.  When the butter, cottage cheese, cool whip, or other foods run out, I toss the container in the recycling bin.  I store my leftovers in stackable Pyrex glass storage containers and keep disposable plastic food storage containers in my pantry for the sole purpose of having something to send home with guests or if I’m taking a meal to someone.  I never store my leftovers in them.

I realize that some of you may not have it in your budget to buy nice leftover containers, but this is what works for me.  I recommend saving up for a nice set and disposing of the miscellaneous, mix-matched, plastic containers.  Don’t send me hate mail – I just can’t stand seeing overflowing cupboards with a zillion different sized containers.  If you can keep it organized, great job!  Do what works for YOU.

Look how Pat emptied her two overflowing tea cupboards (one pictured) and organized her tea in a drawer.  I love it!

Check out Heather’s organized pantry.  I love how she used bins – and labeled them!  Way to go!!

Why don’t you have a dish rack?  How do you deal with cleaned dishes?

I had seen these large drying mats in the store and noticed that one of my friends had one.  I liked the idea of not having a dish rack, but didn’t think it would work for me with the amount of dishes we constantly have circulating through the kitchen.  I saw one for about $7 at Walmart and decided to try it.  I’ll never go back to a dish rack now!  I love that my counters “appear” cleared off, but still are ready for dishes when meal time is done.  It is super absorbent and dries quickly.  The best part is it can be tossed in the wash!  I actually loved it so much I bought another one so I can have a spare when the other one is in the laundry.

I am so thrilled to see how Pat evaluated her space and realized that she was keeping miscellaneous gadgets in her silverware drawer.  She moved them out, and now stores extra K-cups in that space.  Why is that a good idea?  Because her coffee station is right above this drawer!  Great job, Pat!

I am also swooning over the organization that took place in Pat’s baking utensil drawer…

…and her cooking utensil drawer!  She now has a clear counter top, too.  She used to keep her cooking utensils in a crock on her counter, but after cleaning out this “junk” drawer, she repurposed it for her cooking utensils and got rid of the crock.

Does your kitchen stay organized and how do you get your family to cooperate?

Does my kitchen stay organized? Yes. Does it ever get messy?  Yes, daily.  Does it always look like it does in the pictures? No.  Remember, I have a family of six and five of us are home all day, most every day.  My favorite thing about having organized spaces is that when life happens and things get messy, it’s easy to clean up.  When things are labeled for your family, it makes it simple for everyone to participate in keeping your home in order.  When everything has a place to belong, it’s not hard to put away.  Clutter and messes happen when we don’t have places for our things (usually a result of having too much stuff).  Everyone gets lazy from time to time, but when you have clearly defined places for your things, it’s easy to clean up.

I LOVE Robin’s lunch station!  What a great way to keep lunch prep easy with everything in one spot.  Great job!

I am so happy to see that many of you incorporated a plastic drawer unit under your kitchen sinks.  Check out how Kristi organized under her sink:

I love the 3-drawer bin that Jennifer used, too!  Great idea, Jennifer!

Felisha’s under sink cupboard is so much more functional now!

In your pantry, how do you remember the cooking instructions for foods you have in your plastic containers?

True! Some of the foods I store in the plastic bins have instructions on the box that I need for preparing the food.  I cut the instructions off of the box, put them in a zip-top baggie, and store it right in the plastic container.

I am THRILLED for Dyane and the great job she did organizing her junk drawer:

I love Heather’s creativity in repurposing a silverware organizer for her junk drawer!

Check out how Mona organized her cleaning supplies.  I love the lazy susan idea for cleaning supplies!

Thanks to ALL of my readers who so kindly took the time to send me pictures.  I hope you were inspired by their spaces, too!

Thanks for joining me on this kitchen organization journey.  I hope you picked up a few ideas along the way that will help you organize your kitchen in a way that works well for your family.