Four 30 Minute Home Organization Projects!

With so much hustle and bustle surrounding the holiday season, settling back into routine at the start of the year is a great time to do some quick yet worthwhile organization projects. These projects are meant to be done in a short period of time (30 minutes or less). The goal of these mini-projects is to give some often-used areas in your home and kitchen a little TLC while making them even more efficient and easy-to-use in the process. Happy Organizing!

Coat Closet Clean-Up

For many families, coat closets are a central spot for much more than just coats. They often house sporting gear and winter accessories, too. With so many small items, the coat closet can be overcome by piles and make it difficult to find what is needed. Consider taking all of these items out of the closet leaving only coats inside. Push coats to one side and hang a pants or shoe organizer on the other end of the closet rod. Simply use each section for small items by theme whether it be sporting equipment or clothing accessories. One section could hold sunglasses while another could be used for winter hats. Still another could house gloves or scarves. Use an old ice cream bucket in one of the sections to hold various small balls or other sporting goods. Fill any shelf or floor space in with larger items as needed once the smaller items and coats are organized.

Spices Looking so Nice

As you stock up on spices and add to your assortment, spices can quickly take up a good amount of space and be hard to organize. If your spice collection has gone past the point of being able to fit in a nice little spice rack on the counter, consider finding a shelf in your kitchen to dedicate to spices.

This will allow you to have all of them in one place instead of some of them being on the counter while others are in a drawer or in the pantry. Organize the spices in rows grouping spices that you use simultaneously or by theme. For example, put all of your meat seasonings in a row, your ethnic-themed spices in a row (Italian, Asian, etc.), your sweet spices in a row, etc. By having them in themes they will be easier to locate, and you can use extra space at the backs of the rows for any stockpiled spices that will easily replace the ones in front of them. You can even take it a step further and use a label maker to create labels for each row.

Reusable Food Containers all put in Order

With the constant need for packed lunches for school and work, it is easy for reusable food containers to get disorganized and even scattered (do you have some lurking in the office or car?!?). Collect up all of your containers, take them out of their intended storage space and do a simple organizing. Once they are organized by size and in efficient stacks, re-load the storage space. Have separate spots for the lids and the containers so you can easily see what you have and can fill a container without needing to move all the lids off to get to it first. If the containers are organized and visible, they will be easier to find and therefore more likely to be used. This may just inspire you to actually eat those leftovers and take lunch from home instead of just eating out or buying school lunch.

Freezer Fine-tuning

When I come home from the store, I end up putting my freezer items at the front of the freezer or wherever I find room to cram the food in. If you do the same, take a little time to take everything out of freezer (wear some winter gloves so your hands don’t freeze!). Once everything is out, start putting things back in better order. Consider putting newest items on the bottom so the oldest items that need to be used first are on top. Organize by groups so all of the meat is in one area, all of the veggies and fruit are in another, and quick foods like pizzas and snacks are in one spot. Use the door shelves for smaller items. A simple bit of organizing will remind you of what all you have to eat in the freezer, could help inspire meal planning for the weeks to come, and will make sure those older items get used before Jack Frost takes over.