Little Green Boxes and 3 Tips for Organizing the Kitchen

Well, I am getting off to a slow start this year with the blog, but maybe I'm striving for crochet perfection (or at least correct and useful information) too much!  So, in the mean time, I'm posting about my New Year's Cleaning (rather than Spring Cleaning) in the hopes that it will be helpful to you.  And, by getting organized and decluttered, I'm hoping my creativity will get a boost as well.

The kitchen is the first room I've been tackling.  I got out my labeler and got all of the half-opened bags and containers of dried goods out of the pantry and into properly sealing containers with labels.  I didn't also add the date on the containers, but that's probably a good idea going forward (hopefully I'll use up stuff fast enough to not have to worry about this, but I think on the next go around, I will add dates so that I'll know how quickly or slowly I'm using up products).

Then I started in on the refrigerator after having read this helpful post by Nealey Stapleton of the Organizing Boutique.  Since I was headed to Bed, Bath, and Beyond anyway for a new shower curtain and toilet seat (the bathroom is next!), I added a 12-inch turntable/Lazy Susan to my list and put it in the fridge to organize all the small jars of pickles, mustard, etc.  I think it's really going to help in avoiding jars of half-used stuff getting shoved to the back of the refrigerator and being left to die.

And, even though I stuck to my list while at BBandB, I did make an impulse purchase of Debbie Meyer's 32-piece UltraLite Green Boxes to preserve fruits, vegetables and baked goods (hey, I had some 20% coupons, so not so bad :-)



We've been trying to eat more healthfully but, if I try to shop for the whole week, by the end of the week, some of the organic produce is looking a little sad...  I'm hoping, based on the great reviews given these boxes, they will help extend the life of our fruits and veggies!

So, in summary:

1)  Get everything labeled and dated -- it will help you keep track of what ingredients and pantry items you have and don't have, how fresh it is, etc.
2)  Keep the refrigerator clean by using a few containers and turntables to help group like items and keep them organized and accessible.
3)  Allow yourself to get distracted by little green boxes if it will help motivate you and help you feel better about starting off 2015 the way you want!

(Disclosure:  We are an Amazon Affiliate and the above-provided link is an affiliate link.  The boxes were $19.99 at BBandB, before the 20% off.)