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My utensil drawer is officially my new favorite part of my house. If I could have a “Honey I shrunk the kids” adventure in that beautifully organized slice of heaven I would. Here’s a glimpse at the before…
Scary, wasn’t it. That drawer was been the bane of my existence for over a year. It was packed with tons of little gadgets and cooking goodies that all aim to help make the cooking experience easier. However, on a good day I was lucky to get it open; finding what I needed was a miracle!
Obviously, something had to be done. I made multiple trips to Bed Bath & Beyond only to leave completely overwhelmed and unsure of what to buy. Why was it so hard? I have no idea. Maybe it’s the perfectionist in me or all the pressure I felt to make my adventure out of the house really count (with 4 little ones I’m homebound most days. I may be verging on “mommy shut-in.” Thank goodness I’m a homebody and don’t mind!). I eventually decided to give these Real Simple expandable drawer organizers a try, and I’m loving them! (Sadly, no one’s paying me to say that.)
Now, I haven’t really done anything to “make them pretty,” but honestly, to me, there’s nothing prettier than a nicely organized space so I’m not too upset about that. I may get around to prettying it up in the future, but for now it’s just my simply organized, easy to use space, and, as usual, when I was finished I was kicking myself for not doing this earlier. In only 20 or so minutes (including the “peel the stickers off ” time) I went from the messy before to the beautiful and spacious after.
My process:
1) Remove all junk from drawers and give them a good wipe down. We’ve only lived in this house for a little over a year, but those drawers already needed attention. Crumbs in all four corners it seemed.
2) Sort through my junk. I had two sets of measuring cups, measuring spoons, three kitchen sheers (I’m actually keeping all of those hehe), 3 can openers, and random gadgets that I never used. I divided the utensils into four piles: use frequently (which would return to that drawer), want within reach (to be placed in my new utensil holder, which I’ll reveal later this week), novelty items (things I want to keep but don’t use often enough to have cluttering up prime kitchen real estate), and items to donate.
3) I then destickered (if that’s a word) and organized my drawer organizers and voila!
Only 20 minutes to an organized, happy space that had been driving me crazy for over a year. Can you believe how much space is in that drawer now? Time to go buy some more kitchen utensils! (For my darling husband, if you’re reading this… yes, that was a joke.)
Anyone else get this excited over an organized utensil drawer?
Linking up here!
My utensil drawers STILL look like your “before”. I have found a solution yet to fit our drawers, but I’m sure I’ll be dancing when I find one!
BTW, glad to see you back in blogland 😉
Thanks, Erin! It’s good to be back. As for the drawers, I’ve opened them quite a few times just to peek in. It’s kind of sad how happy they make me. 🙂
Oh so pretty! Makes me want to go dump a drawer and reorganize it right now! 😉 Hope you are having a wonderful week, my friend!
~Abby =)
I know, right! I’m hoping this organizing kick will spread to the rest of the house now! If only I could inspire my kids to sort through their toys 🙂
Your drawer looks great! So organized now!
Kim
Thanks! It’s amazing how something so simple (and fast to do) can make me so happy. Thanks for stopping by, Kim!
What a difference! I’m ashamed to say, but my utensil drawer may look even worse than your before picture.. it is a mess! I only use the utensils on the top, because if I dig down below, I mess up the arrangement, and the drawer can’t be opened or closed.. LOL! YIKES! Thanks so much for linking this up at Tips & Tricks!
Oh yes, I feel your pain! That was me like a week ago. Thanks for hosting such a great party!
Hi! Stopping by from Strut Your Stuff Link party! I love the way you organized your drawers! What a big difference!
Hi Selene, Thanks! I’m thrilled to finally be able to open them and find things! Thanks for stopping by. Off to check out your blog now. 🙂
Oh, yeah. I love all things organized. You did a great job!
Hi Daisy, Thanks! It’s made such an improvement in the kitchen. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
this is so organized,recently I changed to a similar drawer organizer & I found it is really helpful,If not mine was like your ‘before’ pic until recent…
My “before” lasted waaay too long! It’s so nice for everything to have a home. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
Hi there! I’m stopping in from Meandering Mondays. I love all organization posts. Your drawer looks great! I recently reorganized mine as well. It’s amazing how many double and even triple sets of things I had.
Us too! It’s amazing how much space we freed up simply from sorting and getting rid of duplicates.
What a great job you did here, mine looks like your before !!
Thanks for sharing with us at Creative Mondays 🙂
Thank you for showing us there is a way to Decluttering and organizing. Don’t have a Bed, Bath and Beyond……need to show what to buy to insert in kitchen drawers.
drawer looks great now. it’s not the organizer. it’s the fact that you got rid of so much that everything is now in view and has a place getting rid is the hardest part. kudos