Junk

You know how some people have a junk drawer? The place where they put things in their home that they don't know what else to do with? Well, truth be told I have a junk drawer and two junk cabinets. Oh the shame! Last week after finding some good storage solutions via Pinterest and my organizational aspiration's blog I tackled the mountain of mess.

First up, the cabinet above the microwave. Previously it stored everything from cookbooks to medication, randomly thrown in together. To say it was a mess is an understatement. I constantly opened the doors and stepped back, always afraid something would fall out.

Before



Yep, told you it was scary.

After



I placed all of the Owner's Manuals for our various appliances in a 3 ring binder using plastic inserts. I got the idea for it off of Pinterest. You can find the original post here.

The majority of the other storage solutions came from this post.

I separated J's medication from the adult ones, put the markers, pens, batteries, and office supplies in pencil boxes (from the Dollar Store for $1), moved the cookbooks to the top shelf and placed all the random cards and envelopes in a box that I already had.

Onto the Drawer full of Junk (aka Junk Drawer)

Before



After



I bought a drawer organizer from Staples (where I bought the majority of the other supplies) and placed only the frequently used things back in the drawer for easier access.

The Bottom Cabinet

Before




This cabinet I affectionately call "dumping ground." It is where I "lost" the Church checkbook for over three months (only to be found when I was looking for a candle) and where the Easter Bunny left J's Easter sippy cup, which I found cleaning out the cabinet for this project. Better late than never, right?

After



I already had the plastic tubs for this cabinet, they were hidden by the amount of junk in front of them. I keep my napkin rings and napkins in them. (The ones I got for my wedding that I have used a total of one time.) I also keep random candles and miscellaneous Christmas decorations that I keep forgetting to store in the attic in a tub. Basically, I cleaned out this cabinet and only placed what fit back in to it.

Overall I am impressed with my 2 hour project. (Yep, completed it during nap time.) The final cost was somewhere around $50. I am debating about placing cork board on the back of the top cabinet doors for invitations, notes, etc. (Also I am sorry about the poor quality of the photos. I used my phone since it was within reach when I started.)