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How to Organize Under the Sink in the Kitchen (6 tips to create a place for everything!)

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Today I will share six tips for how to organize under the sink and create a place for everything!
One of the areas that was on my “a place for everything and everything in its place” list for a really long time was to organize under the sink, so I am thrilled that I finally tackled it.
Empty the cabinet and declutter.
Begin by taking everything out of the cabinet and tossing trash or things you know you don’t use. It helps to consider what would actually be convenient to keep in that cabinet and what is just unnecessarily cluttering the available space. Once you’ve pared down to only what you use regularly, move any items that you know can be relocated.
Determine what will need a home.
Everything will need a home, so assess what you want to keep and what you will organize under the sink. We wanted a roll of trash bags, a small supply of the dish brushes we use, our smiling sponges, steel wool for cleaning pans, magic erasers and the dishwasher detergents and cleaning supplies.
Measure the space you have to work with and order organizers.
Before I ordered containers, I measured the cabinet space I had to work with in the cabinet (height, depth and width of the cabinet and factored in the limitations of pipes).
When I partnered with The Container Store over on Instagram recently (you can see my organizing video HERE!) I was introduced to the Everything Organizers! I love this system.
These organizers are clear which I think is so smart under the sink plus they are really simple to use as well as to clean. They are also very flexible in how you can use and arrange them so I was able to order options and then decide on the best configuration once they arrived.

Arrange organizers to maximize space.
Once you have your containers you’ll want to organize them efficiently in the cabinet to maximize space.
I only used containers across the front of the cabinet, leaving open space behind ours for any surplus or rarely used items.
This system is designed so you can stack shorter drawers on top of each other or pair short with tall to maximize the height as well as the width of the space. I stacked a couple of sizes of the clear drawers and added the Lazy Susan to create an efficient system that fit well in our space.
Since some of the items we keep under the sink were taller so we also left open space to one side. To create a tidy spot for them, we placed a tray style container on one side to hold spray bottles and handy roll of paper towels. I like that the container can be taken out to set up on the counter when in use and is easy to clean, too.
The Lazy Susan also has removable sections so you can also customize how you arrange items in it.
Group like items together.
The simplest way to decide how to organize each of your containers is to group like items together. Depending on your cabinet and organizer sizes, you may realize after grouping like items together that you still have too many items to fit comfortably. You might need to relocate a few more items or if you buy in bulk you could have backup supplies elsewhere such as a garage or pantry.
A place for everything and everything in its place.
No organizing system will stay organized for long if you cram too many items in or can’t easily maintain order in them. The key is to keep it simple, don’t make the system too complicated.
This is why I love the clear organizers as a dedicated spot for each type of item — it makes it easy to maintain a place for everything.
You may also need to pare down on the number of products you use in order to maximize efficiency and space.
For example, we use just our one toxin-free all purpose cleaner and a scrub for most things, so we don’t need to keep a lot of bottles under the sink.
Having a designated place for everything also helps us to easily see what you have on hand and when you need to replenish!

Ta da! A place for everything and everything in its place! Organizing is fun and rewarding once you get started! In fact, organizing this cabinet was so fun that I went on to organize my fridge and set up a cart for our dog supplies (which I’ll share with you in a separate post).
Shop the Everything Organizers here.
* Watch my under sink organizing video HERE! *
My home organizing books:
Make Room for What You Love Simply Home (two in one book for organizing and decorating) More

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    in Organization

    How to Organize Under the Sink in the Kitchen (6 tips to create a place for everything!)

    This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy here

    Today I will share six tips for how to organize under the sink and create a place for everything!
    One of the areas that was on my “a place for everything and everything in its place” list for a really long time was to organize under the sink, so I am thrilled that I finally tackled it.
    Empty the cabinet and declutter.
    Begin by taking everything out of the cabinet and tossing trash or things you know you don’t use. It helps to consider what would actually be convenient to keep in that cabinet and what is just unnecessarily cluttering the available space. Once you’ve pared down to only what you use regularly, move any items that you know can be relocated.
    Determine what will need a home.
    Everything will need a home, so assess what you want to keep and what you will organize under the sink. We wanted a roll of trash bags, a small supply of the dish brushes we use, our smiling sponges, steel wool for cleaning pans, magic erasers and the dishwasher detergents and cleaning supplies.
    Measure the space you have to work with and order organizers.
    Before I ordered containers, I measured the cabinet space I had to work with in the cabinet (height, depth and width of the cabinet and factored in the limitations of pipes).
    When I partnered with The Container Store over on Instagram recently (you can see my organizing video HERE!) I was introduced to the Everything Organizers! I love this system.
    These organizers are clear which I think is so smart under the sink plus they are really simple to use as well as to clean. They are also very flexible in how you can use and arrange them so I was able to order options and then decide on the best configuration once they arrived.

    Arrange organizers to maximize space.
    Once you have your containers you’ll want to organize them efficiently in the cabinet to maximize space.
    I only used containers across the front of the cabinet, leaving open space behind ours for any surplus or rarely used items.
    This system is designed so you can stack shorter drawers on top of each other or pair short with tall to maximize the height as well as the width of the space. I stacked a couple of sizes of the clear drawers and added the Lazy Susan to create an efficient system that fit well in our space.
    Since some of the items we keep under the sink were taller so we also left open space to one side. To create a tidy spot for them, we placed a tray style container on one side to hold spray bottles and handy roll of paper towels. I like that the container can be taken out to set up on the counter when in use and is easy to clean, too.
    The Lazy Susan also has removable sections so you can also customize how you arrange items in it.
    Group like items together.
    The simplest way to decide how to organize each of your containers is to group like items together. Depending on your cabinet and organizer sizes, you may realize after grouping like items together that you still have too many items to fit comfortably. You might need to relocate a few more items or if you buy in bulk you could have backup supplies elsewhere such as a garage or pantry.
    A place for everything and everything in its place.
    No organizing system will stay organized for long if you cram too many items in or can’t easily maintain order in them. The key is to keep it simple, don’t make the system too complicated.
    This is why I love the clear organizers as a dedicated spot for each type of item — it makes it easy to maintain a place for everything.
    You may also need to pare down on the number of products you use in order to maximize efficiency and space.
    For example, we use just our one toxin-free all purpose cleaner and a scrub for most things, so we don’t need to keep a lot of bottles under the sink.
    Having a designated place for everything also helps us to easily see what you have on hand and when you need to replenish!

    Ta da! A place for everything and everything in its place! Organizing is fun and rewarding once you get started! In fact, organizing this cabinet was so fun that I went on to organize my fridge and set up a cart for our dog supplies (which I’ll share with you in a separate post).
    Shop the Everything Organizers here.
    * Watch my under sink organizing video HERE! *
    My home organizing books:
    Make Room for What You Love Simply Home (two in one book for organizing and decorating) More

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    My Coffee Cabinet Makeover (Removable Wallpaper, Berkey Water Filter Storage and Organization)

    This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy here

    A place for everything and everything in its place is my mission for this year, but the truth is I really got inspired for it last year with a few simple projects that I haven’t shared on the blog yet!
    I started getting these cabinets organized last fall as a part of a fun cozy home challenge HomeBodies did in HomeBody Gathering Place.
    In our renovation we had cabinetry designated in our dining area for our coffee making area and our Berkey Water filter. While we don’t have a fancy coffee station or water filtration system, what we have works great for us so I wanted to make it as functional and organized as I could.
    I put up this adorable peel and stick wallpaper on the back of the cabinet, just for fun — it makes the whole experience of preparing coffee more charming. It was so simple to do!
    Before I explain the organization, here is a list of some cabinet and organizing supplies I used:
    This cabinet organizer shelf
    This wood lazy Susan
    This plastic tray under the coffee gadgets
    Milk frother/steamer (love this one, it’s stainless steel instead of toxic nonstick coating!)
    These blue and white buffalo check lidded canisters
    Coffee grinder
    Botanical coffee mugs
    Blue and white geometric pattern coffee mug
    Click here for above sources
    This whole organization project took me less than 30 minutes to make the additions and improvements, so I wish I had done this ages ago! But I’m glad I finally did it. Now that this cabinet is extra cute, I am inspired to keep the cabinet more organized, too!
    Organizing the Coffee Cabinet (a place for everything!)
    I decided we should use the two upper shelves only for serving platters. I have no other cabinet for them so this made sense! Our shelves are adjustable so I can rearrange later if desired.
    To make better use of the rest of the cabinet space, without making it feeling too cluttered, I added some tiered accessory shelves to elevate some of the mugs and organize supplies.
    Cabinet organizer shelf // Botanical coffee mugs // Similar Homebody Mug (my mug is from here)
    This cabinet now holds only the mugs we’ll be using often this season (this is key, we cannot keep EVERY mug in this cabinet!) We put the mugs on the Lazy Susan and a few others that will sit next to it on the tiered shelves. No more cluttered cabinet! Our extra mugs are stored in the cabinet below.
    I also got a set of cute checkered canisters to hold coffee beans and spoons.
    We keep this tray under our coffee grinder and the milk steamer/frother to make it easier to clean up the cabinet from the inevitable messes made while grinding coffee and steaming milk.
    We still use this stovetop espresso brewer (someday we’ll get a fancier machine, but we’ve used this for years and it is so simple and makes good coffee)!.

    Organizing Our Berkey Water Filter Cabinet
    We used to have the Berkey sitting on a bench in our mudroom, but this was always my intended spot for it. It’s safe from little hands and puppies and so convenient for grown people to use. The drawer underneath the Berkey pulls out so we can easily fill it and we put a tray and mat under it to catch any drips or overflow.
    We put our Berkey on this stand so we can easily get a glass under it to fill. Works great!
    Someday we may get a whole house filter (or a new one at the kitchen sink like we had in the past) but we’re perfectly happy with this arrangement.
    The cabinet shelves above and below the Berkey hold our pretty blue and green drinking glasses, electric hot water kettles (I have this copper and this blue kettle) and other handy items.

    A Place for Everything
    Even though it’s always been nice to have all of these cabinets to store stuff, having a place for everything and everything in its place means that now I really enjoy using these spaces as they are intended (and enjoy keeping them organized!) every day.

    Small Space Tip
    The doors on the coffee cabinet slide back in so they don’t stick out into the room — this is a handy small space hack if you are getting new cabinets :).
    Now that it’s so cute I can even leave the coffee station open whenever I want to!
    Our home may not be huge, but I wanted to make every space count. I pictured a cozy, comfortable, orderly place right here in the dining room where family and friends could gather around and chat while making coffee or tea. I’m happy to have created a pleasant experience for everyone!
    Sources for above
    Related Posts:
    Our Coastal Cottage Kitchen Reveal
    Our Kitchen Before and After (with photos of the kitchen and dining room swap!) More

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    A Pretty Solution for Hiding Power Strips and Cords

    I don’t know about you, but a tangled mess of cords on the floor definitely doesn’t spark joy for me! Since I’m on a roll finding a place for everything in my house, hiding power strips has been at the top of my list. I wanted a solution that would not only hide cords but also look attractive in the room—and I found the perfect tools for the job!
    I got two different styles of these cable management baskets. The first one I ordered (THIS ONE) is made of imitation rattan. While it’s not my favorite finish, it looks great at a distance and does the job of concealing cords and a power strip.
    Since I really liked how functional this basket is I ordered a different set for other spaces in the house (like our kitchen and Snug).
    These other cable management baskets (below) just arrived and came in a set of two sizes, and the finish is natural and lovely in our home! I would buy these again (and probably will!).
    Cable management baskets
    These baskets are an attractive and practical way to hide cords and power strips to keep everything looking neat. You can also tuck in a couple of extra phone chargers to keep them organized or have on hand for guests!
    The basket is naturally ventilated, so it prevents overheating of power strips and chargers. You don’t want to put power strips in closed in or tight spaces without ventilation or overload them (we never plug in heaters or anything powerful like that on a power strip just to be safe).
    We will use our new baskets for charging phones (which we can set on top of the basket with the cord coming out one side), hiding a lamp cord on the kitchen counter.
    Be sure to measure whatever power strip you want to use (I got these surge protectors for our new baskets) to make sure it will fit.
    These power strip baskets are so handy for hiding a power strip and corralling all your cords in one neat place, I’m so glad I found them.
    Here’s to simple, pretty solutions for a more peaceful home!

    Decorating & Organizing with Baskets (A Place for Everything!)
    New Baskets in the Dining Room: A Place for Everything!
    10 Organizers We Use In Our Home
    Our Tiny Mudroom (Pantry + Dog Feeding Station) Makeover
    Little Updates Around Our House Lately
    Browse all organization inspiration posts on The Inspired Room More

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    Baskets in the Dining Room (a place for everything!)

    This Post May Contain Affiliate Links. Please Read Our Disclosure Policy here

    Rattan Lidded Basket
    My focus this year is on creating a space for everything we love! This week I added two baskets in the dining room, I’ll explain them in this post.
    I’m pleased that every year we own less stuff due to our continual efforts in downsizing and being more intentional in what we keep. But I am determined to find joy in everything we have.
    I find NO joy in trying to find places for things we don’t use often. Through the years I’ve come to understand that there is no point in keeping a lot of items “just in case” we might want them someday. Not only do we not have room in this home to store items like that, it’s futile to hang onto so much “someday stuff” that even if you do want something, you can’t find it. Or when you know yourself well enough that if the time comes to use it you know you won’t want to make the effort to look for it, even if you do have it “somewhere”.
    These points may seem obvious but it is crazy how stuff seems to multiply if you don’t start to set boundaries for what you keep and where you keep it. We are still in process!
    Rattan Lidded Basket
    You have to understand yourself and your habits in a particular home or your general tendencies in order to make better decisions, so it takes time to figure these things out.
    Baskets can one of those questionable storage options for me. A basket can be an attractive organizer but it can also invite you to stash a lot of things you will never use or find again LOL! They can be a clutter multiplying risk. But with that said, it’s nice to have a place to stash some things so your house feel less cluttered. I am not a minimalist 🙂 — I assume minimalists wouldn’t want baskets but to me they look cozy and add texture so even if there are one or two there where you stash stuff, so be it.
    In my quest to find a place for everything and put everything in its place, baskets will be used with intention.
    Amazon Baskets and Bins I Have and Love (click here for sources)
    How I make baskets functional is to give each one a dedicated purpose and put them in a location that makes sense to me. If I will use the items often in that location, it makes sense to me to keep a basket or two there.
    I realized I had two shelves by my dining room banquette where attractive baskets could be handy to hold little items that bring joy in setting a table such as napkins, candle holders, or taper candles. We have larger drawers below the banquette but I imagined a basket being a simple spot to store small items. That way they could easily be pulled out and set on the table to select items.
    We love using our bookshelves here for books or decorative items, so I didn’t really want it to be a storage unit but because the lower two shelves are usually hidden by pillows anyway so adding baskets here would be the most convenient spot to organize these items.
    My main hesitation was some baskets might not look as attractive as I wanted for this spot so I wanted to take the time to find the right wood tone and quality! Baskets like I wanted are not cheap so I had to compromise a little on my dream baskets, but also was willing to spend enough to get something that looked attractive here.
    Rattan lidded baskets
    I also wanted them to be large enough to fill the space so they felt intentional, so the right size and scale was important. The other qualifications were they had to be very sturdy and have removable lids so they could be as functional as possible. I actually tried baskets I had here for awhile before but they didn’t have lids so it just felt cluttered.
    After quite a bit of searching, I decided that these were as close to what I was looking for as I could find with my time and budget. Turns out they work perfectly! I love the removable lids and the baskets look very pretty here.
    I also considered THESE baskets, I love the idea of the removable dividers so it was tempting, but after much deliberation, these baskets turned out to be the right choice for our shelves. I still might consider the others for another location though!
    I haven’t yet worked on exactly what will go in them or how I will organize them, but I’m excited to have a dedicated place to hold items so close to the dining table! Stay tuned for more of my journey to find a place for everything :).

    More baskets I love on Amazon
    7 Home Organizing Tips + Organizers That Changed Our Lives
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