Last night was my turn to do the dishes. I much prefer dirtying them than cleaning them. But, alas, we all have to take one for the team every now and then. As I prepared to put up the leftovers, I became rather frustrated with the ridiculous disarray of our jars and storage containers. We had jar lids in three different drawers, plastic storage containers strewn about and intermingled with the pots and pans, and it seemed like no lid matched any container. Enough! I decided to put my mad geometric skills to work and organize everything for conservation of space and ease of use.
First, I must confess that I'm a storage container packrat. I rarely throw out jars or plastic containers. Half our "tupperware" comprises butter tubs, sherbet containers, and the ubiquitous fundraiser-frozen-cookie-dough buckets. I decided to pull everything out on the counters and start match-making.
I began with the bottles. Most were haphazardly stuck in a lower cabinet, and we've lost more than one to the tile floor when we opened the cabinet door. I took the disparate lids and began sytematically finding the right lids for each jar. Once I got them all together, up they went into an upper cabinet, sorted by size, where they are easy to retrieve and safer from accidental breakage.
Next, I went after the storage containers. I got them all on the counter, along with the lids which were spread out in multiple drawers. It dawned on me that plastic containers primarily come in three shapes: round, square, and rectangular. So, I sorted the lids and containers by shape. It made the pairing up process much, much easier. After I had matched up lids, I put the lids back in the three drawers from which they came, but this time all the rounds went in one drawer, squares in the second, and rectangles in the third. Everything fit in rather nicely. Then, I stacked the containers into each other from smallest to largest by shape. Even though they were various brands and sizes, it was impressive how compactly they stacked together.
As you might expect, pairing lids with jars and plastic containers is kind of like pairing socks -- one always seems to end up with a few orphans. What to do with the strays? I had an extra medium sized rectangular container, so I used it to hold the extra jar lids.
The whole process may sound a little tedious and slightly A/R, but in reality I just simplified two ongoing tasks. From now on, it will be much easier to put up leftovers, and it will be easier to unload the dishwasher. And, I reduced the cabinet space being used for the storage utensils by almost 2/3. Plus, it was kind of fun, like a matching game. If you have younger children around, it's the kind of task with which they can help and feel like they are playing a game. Best of all, I have now made ample room in the cabinets for some new kitchen tools -- Christmas will be here before you know it!
Have fun organizing your kitchen, and most of all, enjoy the food!
First, I must confess that I'm a storage container packrat. I rarely throw out jars or plastic containers. Half our "tupperware" comprises butter tubs, sherbet containers, and the ubiquitous fundraiser-frozen-cookie-dough buckets. I decided to pull everything out on the counters and start match-making.
I began with the bottles. Most were haphazardly stuck in a lower cabinet, and we've lost more than one to the tile floor when we opened the cabinet door. I took the disparate lids and began sytematically finding the right lids for each jar. Once I got them all together, up they went into an upper cabinet, sorted by size, where they are easy to retrieve and safer from accidental breakage.
Next, I went after the storage containers. I got them all on the counter, along with the lids which were spread out in multiple drawers. It dawned on me that plastic containers primarily come in three shapes: round, square, and rectangular. So, I sorted the lids and containers by shape. It made the pairing up process much, much easier. After I had matched up lids, I put the lids back in the three drawers from which they came, but this time all the rounds went in one drawer, squares in the second, and rectangles in the third. Everything fit in rather nicely. Then, I stacked the containers into each other from smallest to largest by shape. Even though they were various brands and sizes, it was impressive how compactly they stacked together.
As you might expect, pairing lids with jars and plastic containers is kind of like pairing socks -- one always seems to end up with a few orphans. What to do with the strays? I had an extra medium sized rectangular container, so I used it to hold the extra jar lids.
The whole process may sound a little tedious and slightly A/R, but in reality I just simplified two ongoing tasks. From now on, it will be much easier to put up leftovers, and it will be easier to unload the dishwasher. And, I reduced the cabinet space being used for the storage utensils by almost 2/3. Plus, it was kind of fun, like a matching game. If you have younger children around, it's the kind of task with which they can help and feel like they are playing a game. Best of all, I have now made ample room in the cabinets for some new kitchen tools -- Christmas will be here before you know it!
Have fun organizing your kitchen, and most of all, enjoy the food!
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