Our kids' dish drawer. Thanks to Ikea and Walmart, we assigned each child their own cup color, which makes it easy to see who didn't clear their dishes! My philosophy is make it as easy as possible for kids to be self-sufficient. I've used this kids dish drawer idea for many years, and it helps!
Yes, we do have two sets of silverware. And yes, we do use them. We have a large family, plus our home is the party hub for both of our extended families. Often we use plastic cutlery, but these come in handy too. We keep a few plastic forks and spoons in a bin here for sack lunches. Other bins hold a phone headset (a life saver so a busy mom can multi-task without needing a chiropractic appointment afterward), a knife sharperner, and those tiny medicine cups.
The tiny cups reminded me... if anyone has anemia problems from low iron in your blood, we found an all-natural, good-tasting, whole foods iron supplement that is AMAZING. It's Floradix brand liquid iron. We had used it once before for my daughter when she was young from a nurse's recommendation. Don't ask us why we didn't think to use it on her again as a teenager when she has seemed tired so much. She's been taking it for two or three weeks and she is like a new girl! I'm taking it too, and feel a difference. Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, just sharing a success story...
A drawer for large kitchen gadgets. Bins help things stay contained. Does it always look this tidy? Of course not. But it only takes a minute or two to tidy it up like this, because everything has a home.
Who wants to fold dish rags and dish towels? I questioned this one day, "Why," I asked myself, "if they're going to be unfolded and wet and hanging there anyway?" I couldn't think of one good reason so I've never folded them since. I used to label the spill rags (you know, the stained, yucky ones) with a "s" written on the corners so my youngins could tell the difference. Now they're pretty good at knowing the difference so I don't need to. Another idea is to separate spill rags into a separate bin or pile. If you too are liberated from folding rags, welcome to the club! P.S. Malia crocheted the pretty dish cloth in the top right corner for me. Made me several. Love 'em.
Okay I confess. I'm a container freak. Which includes Ziploks. I just really like 'em. If you don't have a full drawer to store your plastic like this, you can attach a wire rack inside your cupboard doors under your sink and store them there. I keep a bin of clothes pins to shut bread bags, produce bags, shredded cheese bags, you get the drift.
Hot pad drawer. We now also call this the homework drawer. We moved the hot pads to one side and use the other side to hold homework folders in between uses.
Measuring cup drawer. I am an audio book girl. But I'm also a girl who likes a tidy counter top. Solution: store current audio books and music CD's in this drawer. Check.
We store several cookie sheets and skillets under the oven.
Our "junk drawer" or pencil drawer. I often bring this drawer to show groups when I speak. It makes the point of how awful the drawer would look if I removed the bins and tossed all the items back in randomly. Ewe. I'm cheap, so notice most of my bins are homemade from sandwich bag boxes? I think the cutlery tray was from the dollar store. See, I'm cheap. I love having napkins out of sight but so easily reachable. The most-used tools like hammer and screwdriver are here, and the rest are in the garage.
If anyone else has my pet peave of hating to reach into the pencil pile and pulling out several unsharpened pencils in a row, here's what worked for me: I created a bin at the back of this drawer for all unsharpened pencils. I also invest in a stock of click pencils each summer on the back-to-school sales. Then when my kids bring home old-fashioned pencils, if they're sharp, they're welcome to hang out in my pencil bin. If they're not, I nicely banish them to the back until a child gets a sharpening fettish. Then there is a happy reunion in the pencil drawer. And all is well.
Kitchen gadget drawer. Again a cheap cutlery tray (I think $2 from Wal-mart) plus a few other bins that link together. The vegetable peeler and can opener are the most commonly used items here, which mean they get the front and center space.
Flower pot that holds our most-used kitchen tools. It frees up drawer space, plus makes it easier to cook when you can reach spoons and spatulas without opening a drawer. If you can't find one to match your kitchen colors, you can buy plain terra cotta and paint it with acrylic paints. Been there. Done that. It was fun!
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