My Slightly Organized Kitchen Drawers and Cupboards

Hi everyone! Today I am sharing my "slightly organized" kitchen drawers and cupboards. I am labeling this "slightly organized: because BOY do we have far to go. This is a starting point and I truly hope that one day my drawers and cupboards will be Home Edit worthy but for now at least we know where to find everything!

For now we just have random organizers inside the drawers but I definitely want to create a more uniform look in the future but will be buying items slowly since buying a ton of product does get super pricey. Also, I feel like we filled up this kitchen super fast! We have been in this house for one whole year at this point and when we moved here I felt like we had so much room and now I could use some more space! My mom keeps telling me that everyone feels this way about their home, that there's never enough space but I know our house is on the smaller side so we will have to figure that out one day!

Anyways, let's take a look at what's going on in those kitchen drawers and cupboards and what my plans are for this kitchen in the future.

Here are my first two kitchen drawers. These hold all of our silverware and other kitchen utensils. The silverware organizer is just a cheap one that we picked up from Target back when we first moved into our apartment years ago and it works just fine but I would love one that is lighter and brighter. Also, our silverware is only a few years old but I can see it starting to tarnish. I need to either figure out how to fix that or purchase some new silverware at some point. Anyways let's take a closer look at each of these drawers.

Keep in mind too that our dishwasher was running at this point so some items are missing. I would like to get a slim container to hold all of our chip clips which all just get placed on the side of the silverware. In the back behind the silverware we also need a small container that can hold all the random items that get shoved back there. 

This drawer is full of organizers but also full of a ton of stuff! Tim and I need to go through this drawer together and decide if there are items we can get rid of. When I went through it by myself I identified a lot of items I could get rid of but I never want to get rid of things without checking with Tim since he is the true cook of the house. 

We also have a ton of coozies but I can't bring myself to get rid of some since they came from events we went to. I definitely need to declutter though. After watching Get Organized with The Home Edit on Netflix I feel ashamed that my kitchen doesn't look as pretty as they make others look!

This is our double cabinet that holds some of our food. The rest of our food is on the back of our basement door and on the shelves at the top of our basement stairs. I purged a ton of items in this cabinet right before this picture was taken. We also needed to grocery shop so there isn't a ton in here but honestly I prefer it that way!

This is our appliance cabinet, along with our cutting boards and grilling tools. We have quite a bit and I don't love the look of appliances on the countertops so it's nice that we are able to store them down in this cabinet. 

This is our notorious junk drawer. I don't love the concept of junk drawers, but there is definitely a need to store these types of items. These containers slide around in the drawer and drive me crazy. I need to purchase some museum putty to hold them in place. Add that to the "to buy" list.

This cabinet holds all our Tupperware on the top and our bowls and plates on the bottom two shelves. I love our fiestaware dishes. This is one of the cabinets I feel pretty okay about and there's not much I can do to make it any different!

Our island has two pull out drawers which are great for our pots and pans. I like the way that the top drawer looks with our colanders, pots, and glass trays. It is definitely nice and neat which I appreciate.

The second drawer however.....I'm not sure what to do here. There isn't enough room here for any organizer and we probably have too many pans. Right now it's just a lot of stacking and unstacking items but some day I will find a solution for it!

Also in the island we have three smaller drawers. The top holds some of Sophie's items. We keep smaller treats and some other items in here. 

I am a dish towel hoarder. This drawer is full of dish towels and there are a few molds for dog treats inside there as well. I am not allowed to buy any more dish towels! I always find such cute ones and can't help myself. 

This drawer holds our cling wrap, aluminum wrap, and all our ziplock bags. Honestly we don't use these items all the time so it's nice to have them in a bottom drawer where we don't need to reach for them constantly.

Our corner cabinet holds all of our glasses and mugs. We have far too many for only two humans living in the house. The top shelf looks slightly empty but that's because we had a few in the dishwasher, it is honestly normally full. We definitely don't need anything else in this cabinet!

This next cabinet holds random dishes, measuring cups and mixing bowls. I am in and out of here whenever I'm cooking for the mixing bowls and measuring cups but I honestly don't use any of our serving dishes very often. I love the Disney dishes my college roommate Megan gave us for our wedding but we haven't had much of a chance to use them yet!

Above our microwave we have all our spices. This is fairly organized although I would love to make this look more uniform in the future. I also want to make new labels and have bigger spice jars. 

This little drawer next to our stove just holds our oven mitts. 

We have this little cupboard next to the stove with a super small cabinet door. I just keep a few appliances in here including the blender I use daily.

Above our refrigerator I keep items we don't access every day. Vases are on the left and then on the right we have a ton of water bottles and cups that we received from different events. We could probably go through this cabinet and get rid of quite a bit but that will be a future project.

Lastly, under the kitchen sink! I decluttered this area before taking this picture but I do need to order some products to make this area look a bit nicer. I also plan to put some liner down to brighten this area up. I am thinking about getting some lazy susans for the cleaning products and some containers to hold things like trash bags and sponges. 

So that's a tour of my slightly organized kitchen. I hope that some day my kitchen will be as beautiful as The Home Edit makes kitchens look! I will definitely keep you updated on any updates I make and I plan to get started soon!

Have a great day everyone!

 

July Empties

I think empties are my favorite type of post to do and see other people do. I love knowing which products are worth spending money on and which ones aren't.

Here are all the products I finished up this past month. 

Lets start with some household products

I have been loving Tide Pods except for the child-proof ziploc container. I swear this bag is Melissa-proof because I end up just ripping the bag open most of the time.

Softsoap lavender and chamomile is just okay. I'm not super picky about my soap and this I managed to pick up while couponing so you know that  I didn't pay much for it!

Bounce dryer sheets are great and the only dryer sheets that I will use. I will keep purchasing them in the future.

I'm still using the Dawn dish soap in the New Zealand scent which is a beautiful teal color. I keep choosing this one because it looks pretty on my sink and smells great!

I love using these little Gain vent clips in my car and this one smells great and just like laundry! I've already picked up another.

These Lysol wipes in the purple container aren't my favorite they don't smell great and I'm glad to get back to the yellow and green container wipes.

I finished a container of bleach which I use once a week when I do a load of whites. I'm not picky with where my bleach comes from it's all the same!

I used up a container of Purex which I like but it's something I grew up using. I do feel Tide works a little better and I do like pods better then carrying a bottle of detergent either downstairs or to the laundromat.

Lastly for household products I used a Method Bathroom Spray which I think is just okay. I will be trying some other bathroom cleaning products in the future!

I finished two candle this month and I liked both of them a lot. The Bath and Body Works candle in Mahogany Coconut was really nice and had a musty scent to it. The coconut candle is something I received as a gift and I have a second one I'm currently burning right now. I thought it was a really cool concept but didn't last very long and also didn't have much of a scent.

I thought the da Bomb Party Bomb was very cool and the company seems to be run by two teenage girls which is awesome! There was a tiny little dinosaur inside which was cute and the pineapple scent was great. I would definitely try other bath bombs from this line.

Bath and Body Works Aruba Coconut shower gel is great and even Tim used it! I love anything coconut scented and this was no exception.

I used the Olay moisturizer regularly and thought it was great for my sensitive skin. I am going to try some other things but I would definitely consider buying this in the future. I love that it's a small container with a pump since it's a little more sanitary then a container you dip your fingers into!

I used up four cake batter chapsticks. That's not a lot for me at all which is great because I tend to fly through these!

I almost finished a pack of Pacifica face wipes but they ended up drying up before I could use them all. They were okay and took off the majority of my makeup and did not burn my eyes at all which is good. I may repurchase them in the future but I didn't find them amazing or anything.

I really liked the Make eye makeup remover and would consider purchasing it in the future. I have quite a few other eye makeup removers to try right now though so I'm not planning on buying anything soon.

I purchased this Pacifica mascara when I bought the wipes and thought it was just okay. The wand was super thick and not what I prefer to put on mascara with. I don't think I'll be repurchasing this in the future although I did like it was a natural makeup product.

Quite a few hair products this month!

The Living Proof Shampoo and Conditioner was just okay, nothing too special. I did love the Living Proof Restore Spray which I used as a heat protectant. It smelled great and I thought my hair looked great!

Oribe Gold Lust Dry Shampoo smells amazing and I would definitely purchase it full size in the future. (Also apparently Blake Lively uses it and she has unbelievable hair so there's that)

The Briogeo Shampoo and Parlor Conditioner I used at the same time and they were both just okay. I won't be purchasing full sizes of them and were happy to just get them out of my collection quite honestly.

A product I will definitely repurchase is the Moroccanoil Smoothing Cream. I received this for Christmas and it was awesome. I love Moroccanoil products and I will definitely be getting more of them in the future.

Only one mini lotion this month. I loved Bath and Body Works A Thousand Wishes! This scent was great and I kept it in my drawer at work which made a lot of people want to use it! I received a lot of compliments on how nice it was so I will definitely be repurchasing this in the future!

The one declutter item I had this month was Avene cleanance gel which had expired back in February. I decided not to mess with this since I don't want to put any expired products on my face!

That's it for this month's empties! I'll see you guys later this week with my next post!

Weekly Apartment Cleaning Routine

We're talking about a super exciting topic today you guys... cleaning!

As much as I whine and complain about cleaning once a week I absolutely love having a clean house. Since we are in an apartment currently the cleaning isn't too overwhelming but it does take me a good chunk of time every weekend.  Today I'm going to talk about the process I use to clean each week and the products I use to get my home squeaky clean. 

I always start in the back of our apartment and work my way towards the front. I've found that staying in one room and completing it before moving to the next keeps me focused. I try to move quickly and not get distracted by things that need to be organized. If I allow myself to go crazy I will keep finding new things to organized and tidy, this is just about cleaning. 

So lets get started in our bedroom!

The first thing I do every weekend is bring my laundry to the laundromat and recycling to the recycling center.  I like to get all my laundry done first so I can fold and put away all clothes and know that it is completely out of the way before I start scrubbing.

Once all the laundry is put away I make sure our bed is made with fresh sheets. Then I dust all of the furniture and vacuum the floors. Our bedroom is pretty easy to maintain and requires minimal cleaning each week because we keep it pretty simple. Remember that if you have less stuff out on your surfaces that will mean you will have less stuff to dust. 

Our second bedroom is pretty simple to clean as well, just a quick dusting of the nightstand and dresser and a vacuum of the floor and this room is clean. We mostly store paper goods in here and keep our laundry baskets in here. I won't show you the closet though because right now I think of it as my Monica closet. (Any Friends lovers out there?)

Our bathroom is pretty small so I can clean it pretty quickly. The first thing I do is spray down the entire toilet in my bathroom spray and then use toilet bowl cleaner to clean up the inside of the bowl. 

I then move onto the sink and wipe everything down with a bathroom spray and sponge. Once my sink area is complete I go back back to the toilet and finish wiping everything down. I always use paper towels for the toilet since I feel it's a little cleaner. 

I move on to the shower next and use a shower spray and sponge to wipe everything down. Once everything has been wiped down I pull everything the rug, trash can and scale out so I can vacuum and mop the floor. Once everything is dry I put everything back in and it stays clean for approximately five minutes... ;)

I do try to tidy a bit in this area in addition to cleaning. My desk area tends to collect piles pretty easily and my makeup area turns into quite a mess quickly. I try to put things away while I'm cleaning so not too much is out on the surface. I don't like to look at clutter and prefer my surfaces to be clear. After I put things away where they belong I use my multi-purpose spray and a rag to wipe down everything on both sides. Then I vacuum and mop the area so it looks squeaky clean.

Cleaning the kitchen always starts off with taking out the trash and washing the dishes. Once that's complete I clean the sink and wipe down all the counters and the stove top. At least once a week I make sure I wipe down all the burners as well. I wipe out the microwave and make sure I clean the top of it as well as underneath. I move the rug and trash can out so I can vacuum and mop the area. I make sure to include the entry way as well when I'm doing this.

My last room is my favorite room, our living room. I clear off all surfaces and then wipe everything down. Once I'm done dusting I vacuum everything, including the couch and fluff the pillows so everything is picture perfect.

Here are the tools I like to use when I clean...

Dyson Ball Multifloor Canister Vacuum

This may have been one of the best purchases I've ever made. I absolutely love my Dyson! It's lightweight, easy to move around and comes with a ton of attachments. It's also extremely easy to clean which is great because who doesn't want their cleaning tools to be clean?

Libman Mop

This is a mop I picked up in Target and it's worked wonders! I use this every week and it keeps our floors looking shiny!

Method All Purpose Spray

I love my Method All Purpose spray and lately I've been loving this Ocean Waves scent which is a limited edition. I also like the cucumber but I think I need to stock up on this Ocean Waves scent while it's out!

Dawn Dish Soap

I'm not picky with my dish soap but I do love Dawn, particularly their New Zealand scent!

Tide Pods

These make doing laundry super easy!

Bounce Dryer Sheets

These are always musts when I do our laundry.

Purex Crystals

These are a new favorite of mine and our laundry smells amazing when I use them!

Clorox Toilet Bowl Cleaner

I have yet to find any toilet bowl cleaner that works as well as this does. 

Method Bathroom Cleaner

This cleaner is natural and still works great!

Method Every Day Shower Spray

I use this after every shower without fail!

I'm sure I've left something out, but you guys get the idea! 

What does your cleaning routine look like? What are some of your favorite products?

Under The Sinks..

When I typed the title of this blog post I totally sang it to the "Under The Sea" tune from The Little Mermaid...just in case you were wondering how cool I am!

This past weekend while I was cleaning I noticed some dirt under the bathroom sink in our little cupboard so obviously that meant I needed to take everything out and clean the whole surface. While I had everything out on the floor I figured I might as well put contact paper down to make it look a little nicer. (Side Note: This is starting to sound a lot like that book When You Give A Mouse A Cookie)

I think placing the paper down and reorganizing made a big difference in our two under-sink cabinets.  I didn't think to take before pictures, but here is a peek at what each one looks like.

Bathroom Cupboard:

I love Method products! I have been obsessed with their cleaning products lately. 

Kitchen Cupboard:

Although neither place is absolutely beautiful; they are organized and functional and that's what truly matters!