4 Areas in Your Kitchen Where You Can Add Some Extra Storage Space

You probably spend time in your kitchen everyday cooking and cleaning up after meals. In addition to storing food, cookware, and small appliances in that room, you might also have pet food, cleaning supplies, and other odds and ends. If your kitchen is starting to feel cramped and overflowing with a need for more storage space, the following suggestions may help.

Drawers

Clear out your kitchen drawers that are packed with odds and ends like keys, paper clips, old grocery lists, and flashlights. Find a more relevant place for items that don't belong to free up space for kitchenware. Buy inexpensive drawer organizers for silverware and dishcloths to keep everything in its place and easy to find when needed. You can get color-coded separators in various configurations based on your preference.

Cupboards

Try vertical shelves in addition to horizontal shelving to add more storage area to your cupboards. Slender plates or serving dishes can be stored in either type of shelf to allow room for other dishes as well. Some shelves might accommodate being separated into another level or two for smaller dishes and pans. If your cupboards have open space on top, artfully arrange your less commonly used cookware or serving dishes as visual décor until you need to use them.

Pantry

Pantries always seem to be stocked with long-expired food cans and packages along with items that don't take up much space. Add more shelves to use the open areas. You could also install wall mounts for larger packages of dry goods and canned items. Add a door hanger with wire or wooden shelves as additional storage space to separate cleaning items, for example, or foods that are more often used.

Above the Countertop

In addition to storing certain foods on top of the countertops, like dred goods canisters or packets of coffee or tea, consider installing storage shelves below your upper cabinets above the countertops or use racks that sit on infrequently used areas of your counters. Many people install their microwave ovens below the cupboards but above the cooking range or countertops.

Kitchen Remodeling Options

When you remodel or update your kitchen, remember to include plans for expanding your storage areas. You can never have too much storage in a kitchen, as it is a main living area and food preparation center of the home. Every kitchen remodeling project should build in extra storage shelving to efficiently utilize available space without creating a crowded effect.

As you look around your kitchen, you will likely find areas that can be neatly arranged to provide more storage space for necessary supplies and dishes. Take advantage of them to help keep your kitchen from becoming cluttered and unwelcoming.

3 Tips For Organizing Long-Term Storage Spaces

There are a wide variety of reasons why someone might keep some of their belongings in a long-term storage space. From not having enough space for everything within your home to needing to put away items that you know you won’t need for a while, it can be extremely helpful to have a few feet of space that you can do with whatever you need. However, if you don’t plan this space out well, it might become more of a headache than you thought.

So to help ensure that your storage space serves you well, here are three tips for organizing long-term storage spaces. 

Inventory Your Items

Once you have everything together that you’re hoping to put into your storage space, the best thing you can do, according to Melissa Epifano, a contributor to Apartment Therapy, is to inventory all of the items you’re storing. 

To do this, you should make sure that all of your boxes or containers are accurately labeled with whatever items can be found in them. Additionally, it’s also a good idea to take photos of what’s in each box so that you can easily refer to these photos when there’s something specific that you want to get out of storage. You could also write down where certain items are stored so that you don’t have to pull the whole space apart to get to what you need. 

By managing your inventory and assets in this way, using your storage space will be much more convenient. 

Use Plastic Containers

As for what you should store all of your items in, Elizabeth Larkin, a contributor to The Spruce, recommends that you keep everything in plastic containers. Ideally, you should try to get clear plastic containers so that you can easily see into the containers and know exactly what you’ll be getting in each box. 

Not only will plastic containers make storage easier, but they will also help to better protect your belongings from pests, dirt, and other pollutants that may be able to make their way into other types of storage containers while sitting in a long-term storage unit. 

Pack The Space Correctly

As you’re preparing to move everything into your long-term storage space, you’re going to want to make sure that you pack everything in logically. 

According to Marian White, a contributor to Moving.com, you’ll want to store large and heavy items into the back of your storage unit on the bottom layer. Lighter items should then go on top. And if there’s going to be anything that you might need in the near future, make sure you keep those items near the front so they’re easy to find and access. 

If you’re going to be moving some of your things into a long-term storage unit soon, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you make the most of this space. 

6 Steps to the Perfect Home Workspace Organization

For most people, the central place of their home is the living room. It is the place where all the family gathers after having spent all day apart. However, this isn’t the case with remote employees. For them, the hub of their home is their home office. In this room, specially designated for work purposes, they keep all their data, attend video conferences, and communicate with clients and the management. To stay on top of things at work, they have to work in an organized workspace. Otherwise, they might experience low efficiency. If you are looking for ways to organize your home workspace perfectly, here are some steps to follow. 

Keep it clean and tidy

If you want to have an organized workspace, you should keep it clean and tidy. The best place to start with is your desk. Your work desk occupies the central place of your home office. Also, it is the place where you spend the largest part of your workday. If you can’t see your desk underneath all of the files and post-it notes, then you should definitely spend some time decluttering. While you are doing this, think about every item that was on your desk. How often do you need those office supplies and files? If you don’t need them every day, put them aside, let’s say, on a shelf or in the drawer. This way, your desk will be more organized and every item in the home office will have its place. 

Move personal things

Although home offices are a part of your house or apartment, they should still be used only as a workspace. For that reason, as much as you are tempted, or think personal things might be motivating, you should keep them in some other room. Framed pictures of your family shouldn’t stand at your desk or on the shelves. If you want, you can hang that photo on the wall where it occupies less space. Stuff like magazines or souvenirs also doesn’t belong on your work desk. What you can keep are plants, but make sure to keep them on the windowsills, so you have more space for work-related items. 

Invest in digital storage 

Since the world has gone digital, you should make use of highly advanced tools to stay organized. Instead of printing out all of your files, you should store them in the cloud. This way you will get rid of unnecessary piles of paper while still keeping all of your files stored digitally. In case you are using some sort of an employee app for work, you can use it as a storage unit too. All the files you exchange with your coworkers are saved, so you can access them whenever you feel the need to. More importantly, make sure to back up all your files. This way, in case of a data breach or malicious software, all your files will be safe. 

Throw away unnecessary items 

At the end of the workday, what most of us only want to do is unplug and relax. That is why most remote workers forget to declutter and throw away unnecessary items. As a result, their workplace is unorganized. Old newspapers, broken office supplies, pens that have run out of ink take too much space in the home office and serve no purpose. That is why you should throw them away and replace them with new and functional ones. As far as official documents are concerned, you should keep them if you aren’t sure whether or not you might need them in the future. But if you do, then keep them filed neatly. 

Keep a clear message board

Chances are your home office contains a message board or a bulletin. They are great for keeping employees up to date with events. However, more often than not, they are a complete disaster because no one takes the time to declutter them at the end of the day. Decluttering  isn’t just about erasing messages on the board. It helps you organize your workspace and become more productive. That is why you should take a few minutes at the end of the workday and take off old messages and post-it notes, to make room for new ones. You will quickly realize how efficient you become with this simple trick. 

Hang a wall calendar

For better performance at work, you have to manage your time and tasks well. One simple yet effective trick can help you control your time better and keep all objectives in sight. All you have to do is hang a calendar on your wall. Furthermore, you can customize it, so it serves as a decoration too. Having a calendar on your wall will remind you to complete due projects, don’t miss out on a meeting with a client, and don't forget your mom’s birthday or wedding anniversary. 

On the whole, keeping your workspace organized and neat isn’t hard. It just takes some time and effort. With our tips, you will spend your days in an organized and tidy workspace. 

Guest Post - Common Cleaning Hacks for Busy Homeowners

We partnered with a cleaning company for this post. The opinions in the post are honest. All reviews and opinions expressed in this post are based on our personal views. We are excited because we know you will love it.

Keeping a house or a flat clean is often a chore no one likes doing. Of course, it’s good exercise, and it can help clear your mind if you are pondering a particularly bothersome issue - but even then, it’s just tiresome and strenuous, especially as you have to keep doing it over and over again. 

Add to that the pace of modern life, and you’ll come to the conclusion I have - there is very little time in the day and the week in which we will be able to, and want to, clean our homes. 

To help you overcome some of the most common cleaning issues in your own space, here are my simple hacks that will save you time, money, or effort. You can also learn more here.

Oven racks, dish racks, cutting boards, and the like 

I often find that my oven rack and dish rack are the worst to clean, because they are so fiddly and require a lot of scrubbing. However, if you leave them to soak overnight, you can literally just wash them in the morning and they will be squeaky clean.

Place your oven rack in the tub and cover it in water. You can add a towel underneath it to prevent any damage to the tub, and you can add some dish soap to the water for added effect. Once it has been soaking for 8-10 hours, you’ll find most of the stuff that’s been stuck to it comes off with ease. 

For cutting boards and especially dish racks, I like to use a similar method. I place them in the tub and coat them with a mixture of sodium citrate and dish soap. This dissolves all the gunk, and I can just use a toothbrush or a small brush in the morning for scrubbing. 

Pans, pots and kettles 

No matter how well we wash them, the bottoms of pots and pans tend to get that layer of limescale over time. 

Instead of scrubbing like mad, try to use some bicarbonate of soda to clean the bottoms, which will require much less elbow grease. 

You can also use white vinegar in a solution of water, and lemon juice works just as well. 

If you want to descale a kettle, you can apply the same mixtures - but note that it will require a bit more time, as the kettle will likely be in much worse shape, given the fact that it’s often used for boiling just water, and that we never really tend to clean it properly.

Glass stove tops 

Your glass stove top can also be cleaned with the use of white vinegar and baking soda, as these two ingredients form the basis of most natural household cleaners. 

The trick here will be not to scrub too hard, and to find a brush that will not damage the glass. 

I’d also recommend doing this little hack at least once a week, or even more often. You’ll notice that your kitchen is much cleaner if you keep just the stove top clean, as the marks and rings from cooking tend to show up after just one meal, and they are usually what makes the kitchen look messy.

Sofas, blankets and pillows 

If you find your sofa or chairs have a lingering smell that is less than pleasant, instead of masking with some sort of deodorizing product, try to get rid of it altogether.

Just brush the area down first, getting rid of any dust, and then sprinkle it with baking soda. You can leave it on there for as little as 20 minutes, but if you want it to work harder, you can extend that period. After that, just vacuum all of it up. 

You can do the same for pillows and blankets you don’t have the time to wash and dry. Just make sure you get all of the baking soda out and that you vacuum thoroughly.

Computer screens, remote controls, phones 

Computer screens, TV screens, but especially keyboards tend to get a bit sticky and dirty from prolonged use. 

The easiest way to clean them is with vinegar (again). Make sure you use a very soft microfibre cloth for wiping. Don’t use any kind of paper product (like tissues), as it will leave more stains, and you’ll only end up with more of a mess.

Wipe down with a clean and dry cloth after you’ve worked with the vinegar. For tougher spots, you can use a cotton swab soaked in vinegar, and then wipe dry.

To sum it up 

Vinegar and baking soda will be your best assets when it comes to easy and natural cleaning in the home. Find a ratio that works for different areas, and don’t be afraid to use them. 

You can also use lemon for the same purpose, and invest in some better quality cloths that will not damage your surfaces. 

As long as you don’t wait too long for the mess to become really bad, you can keep your home clean with just a bit of regular weekly maintenance. 

Author Bio:

Mother of two and an aspiring baker, Joyce started blogging during the 2020 pandemic. She is still unsure about her voice (which is why she writes under a pseudonym), but is aiming to overcome her fears and write as much as she can. You can find her at The Confused Nester.