Getting Organized

Published July 20, 2012

If you are like most people you probably have a drawer in your kitchen that is basically full of junk. Scissors, tape, pens, paper clips, spools of thread, are just a few of the things we may throw haphazardly in this drawer.  It’s not easy to train our kids (and spouses) to put things back in their proper place so when we need to retrieve them next time they are actually there.

Thank goodness for Dollar stores. I love these stores. Actually, I can’t remember how we got by without them years ago. If you haven’t visited a Dollar store lately you should. These stores are full of fabulous deals for our households. I won’t go into detail because that’s a whole other column. But for now, the Dollar store is the place to go to get organized.

In the “plastic container” section, you will find great, little plastic organizers that fit nicely in most kitchen drawers. They come in all sorts of different colours and shapes and can be purchased in solid or basket style.

Before you go to the Dollar store, choose a drawer in your kitchen that is convenient for each member of the family and is large enough to hold everything. Next step is to clean it out. Discard any garbage, and small items that you feel are not useful for everyday use. Begin to sort out your items. Scissors, tape, paper clips, thread, pens and other items that will be used on a day-to-day basis are just a few examples. This way you can figure out how many and how large of containers you will require. With a measuring tape, measure out the dimensions of the drawer and it’s depth.  Draw out the drawer size on a piece of paper and with your list of items written on a piece of paper it’s time to head to the Dollar store.

The best way to purchase the drawer organizers is to fit them on the piece of paper. Be sure to allow for proper size of container for larger items such as scissors and pens. Place the containers on the piece of paper until you can maximize the amount of containers within the space. The ideal situation is to fit as many small baskets as you can.

Fit the containers into the drawer and fill with your items.

The next step is to train your family to put things back…good luck with that.