Happy Wednesday everyone!
I am so happy to here today, it feels like it has been forever! This year I have dedicated January to getting cleaned up and organized. I don’t know about you but I get the organizing fever this time of year. Over at my blog, Ask Anna, I have been running a 14 day challenge to help all of us get 2012 started off a little cleaner and a little more organized!
Today I want to share with you a couple of my favorite tips from the 14 Day Challenge:
First let’s start in the kitchen. I hear {all the time} from my readers that their spice cabinets are unorganized so I want to show you how I organize my spice cabinet.
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#1 To organize your spice cupboard start by taking everything out.
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#2 Wipe down shelves and place one or two Bay Leaves on each shelf. The Bay Leaves will keep the weevils away!
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#3 Organize the cooking spices into alphabetical order.
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#4 Start putting items back into the cupboard, starting with the everyday items: salt, pepper, oil, toothpicks, recipes, etc.
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#5 Next put your spices back into the cupboard. I finally purchased a tiered organizer, because I’ve been wanting one for years, and it was on sale at Target. If you don’t have one, it’s okay. Start by placing the highest alphabet letters {w, x, y, z} in the back, and then work your way forward. You should have Bay leaves, Cayenne pepper, etc. in the front.
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#6 Add baking items back to the cupboard. This will include spices like Nutmeg, Cinnamon, All Spice, Baking Soda, etc. We store our flour and sugars in the pantry but if you keep them in the spice cupboard then they would also go on this shelf.
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#7 Place remaining items back into the cupboard, in an organized way. Every one has different items that they cook with so organize the rest of your cupboard they way you need it to function.
Let’s move on to the linen closet.
I’m sure you all love putting the laundry away as much as I do {insert sarcasm}. I decided to give myself a little motivation to put the laundry away, by organizing my linen closet. It’s nothing too fancy but it’s well organized and it makes me smile. 🙂
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#1 First you will need some baskets. The ones I chose are from Target, but Dollar stores, Wal*Mart, etc. also have great baskets. {I just happened to have a gift card to Target}.
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#2 Next empty out your linen closet.
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#3 Next categorize the items that came out of your closet: table linens, sheets, hand towels, bath towels, beach towels, etc. Once you have all of your items in the right categories decide which items you would like to put in a basket. Not everything has to go in a basket, and not everything will probably fit in a basket. I decided to leave my towels out because they are pretty wide and I didn’t like the way they fit in the baskets. The items I put in baskets are: table linens, sheets and hand towels. Everything else is folded neatly and placed next to the baskets.
If you have a deep linen closet, like I do, placed items that you don’t use that often, in baskets behind the items you use on a daily.
Need help folding fitted sheets so that they will fit nicely on a closet shelf, or in a basket? Check out my tutorial on How to Fold a Fitted Sheet.
You can see how my linen closet went from drab to fab with just a few baskets and some labels made with my Silhouette!
I hope these tips will inspire you to get organized this year.
If you’d like to see more of my tips for getting clean and organized in 2012, come join me for the 14 day challenge! It’s never too late to get started!
Thanks for letting me be here with you today, I look forward to seeing you again next month!
Your Spices and linen closet are looking great!!
Be sure to check out Anna’s 14 Day Challenge — it’s awesome!!
With fabulous organizational projects like:
Cleaning up the Desktop and Email
And so much more! Get organized in 2012 with Anna!
xoxo
Have a Wonderful Wednesday!!
PS — A fun Valentine’s Tutorial coming up tomorrow!!
And, my Kitchen Reveal is coming up on Friday 🙂
And speaking of organizing, here are 16 Ways to Organize Kids’ Rooms:
thanks for the spice organizer idea.
Love your suggestions. I need tons of help in the organization dept! Love the tip about the bay leaves I had no idea they did that. Thanks for such a great blog. I really enjoy reading it!
Great tips, I’ve really been thinking about how I would like to re-organize my spice cabinet.
I love this. I love the tip about the stove top and DEFINITELY love the tip about the weevils. I want to avoid them at all costs!
Fantastic job, Anna…you have sparked a ridiculous storm of organization in my house!
Jessica @ Mom 4 Real
These are great ideas. I really need to work on my linen closet. I need some containers with drawers like yours. It will make things so much easier.
Ruth
Thanks Ruth! I think I got that container with the drawers at Big Lots. They have really cheap storage stuff. If you don’t have a Big Lots I know they have them at Walmart too. 🙂
Anna
hey girl! i seriously love your work and love your blog! i need to organize my spices so badly! my husband always has to reach up there and find them for me….ha ha
follow mine, if you wish of course…
http://allieandhusband.blogspot.com
allie
Awesome, thanks Allie! 🙂
Anna
My linen closet is the only place I have left to organize. I never thought of little baskets going in there!
Oooo, how fun! When you are done with your linen closet you will LOVE it! 🙂
Anna
Hello Jen,
I have been on a organizing kick since the first of the year. Thanks for the tips.
Smiles, Paula
Thanks for the tips, looks great. I’ll get to that after paperwork filing and declutter.
Awesome! Great job tackling the paperwork clutter, that’s one I always dread. 🙂
Anna
Oh gee I so need to do that…will you post what you did and how you did it…pics too cause Im a visual person…thanks…I just love Pinterest and the wonderful ideas everyone has…Im organizing my pantry now…then linen closet!!! Thanks.