My love first began on Instagram. Following these quirky, loveable home organizers and their IG stories was such a welcomed break from the usual stream of influencers. Then I became a full-fledged fan. Saw them speak, got their book, watched the show on Netflix.
Needing to do SOMETHING with my nervous pre-election energy, I decided to tackle my kitchen. It is the one place in my house that needed the most organization…and I was inspired by Clea + Joanna of The Home Edit. I spent a ridiculous amount of money on random plastic boxes from Home Goods, The Container Store, Target and Amazon. Armed with loose plan of attack, I started with my pantry zone.
My pantry has deep, high shelves that were grossly underutilized. After purging most of my plastic water cups and bottles and crap, I had a vision for using the area for actually storing food. THIS can thing is my very organizing thing and got them on Amazon. These helped tame the insane amount of canned goods I felt compelled to buy early in the COVID season. I have over 2 dozen cans of beans, y’all. Not ok.
Another area that desperately needed purging and organizing was my coffee/tea situation. Again, after pulling everything out, I do not need more tea. I repeat, I do not need more tea. WTF made me buy this much decaf Earl Grey? My kids had a fun time sorting all the packets into little plastic bins I got at the Dollar Tree. Kept them busy for 15 min and I got my shit sorted. WIN WIN.
Before I continue, I need to admit something. I have a spice problem. LIKE FOR REAL. Very few things make me happier than the promise of a new spice blend. Everytime I buy another one: All my food will taste delicious now! I’ve tried a few times to organize my spices in a coherant way, but it was time for the nuclear option: decanting and alphabetizing.
Went with these guys on Amazon and sat down for an afternoon of tossing old spices and dumping all the keepable ones into new containers. They came with labels that were really helpful and actually had a few Penzeys spice blend labels in there! I appreciated that…considering my addiction to Penzeys is strong. This took an inordinate amount of time and work…but so worth it. My spices have never looked so good. I can actually find the ones I want now! And I clearly don’t need more salt. Yeah. Definitely not.
After those top problem areas were solved, I felt emboldened to do the rest of my kitchen. Junk drawers, baking supplies and pasta were no match for my labels and matching containers from Homegoods and these labels…which look eerily similar to my own handwriting. I ruthlessly purged and sorted. We no longer have five bags of tortilla chips and that gluten-free mac and cheese no one will ever eat. Even my kids were impressed.
Now if we can keep it this way…praise be.
