Food on the Table

Have you noticed that the most cluttered cabinet in your kitchen is the one that holds the organizational containers?  Storage containers can save time and money, but can also become a shelf space waster. The typical cook likes to have easy access to their kitchen supplies, even the items used to store leftovers.  Here are five simple ways to organize the cabinet that holds all your plastic storage containers.

Take Inventory

The majority of people have storage containers that don’t match. You have a lid that you think fits a container, but you realize later that you threw that container away. First step is to take every piece out of the cabinet and lay it out so you can look at it effectively.  Next, match lids to bottoms.

Keep Only What You Need

Chances are you’ll find pieces that don’t match. In that case, trash the ones that don’t have a lid or bottom. It is wasting space to keep lids or bottoms with a secret wish that you’ll find the other half.  According to the Green & Clean blog, you can look up a database on Earth 911 to find a local recycling place that accepts the plastic.

Organize By Shape/Size

The most common shapes of storage containers are square or rectangle. If this is the case in your kitchen then stacking is easy.  Try to keep everything in one shape, as you can imagine it is hard to fit a square into a circle.  Round storage containers have been known to take up more space, so consider moving to all 4-sided containers.  The Conscious Consumer blog suggests buying in sets is more space-smart because they have been made to stack into each other, and might even share the same size lid.

Store Lids with Containers

There is no point in going through your plastic storage containers unless you put it back into the cabinet in an organized matter. Put all of your square lids together, circle lids together, and rectangle lids together and put them in front of the containers. Another strategy found by Lifestyles of the Organized is to arrange the lids from biggest to smallest inside a shoebox.

Maintain

Maintaining new habits is one of the most difficult things to do. By practicing putting everything back in the proper place it will soon become second nature. Organization is something that is easily overlooked and easy to get out of. Resist the urge to throw containers or lids into the cabinet. Try getting the family involved and keep things organized to save time!

Related posts:

1. Organizing Cookware in Your Kitchen
2. Organizing Your Kitchen For Speed
3. Tips for Organizing and Saving Money on Spices