Under the sink

Hello and happy Tuesday! It’s the new year and for me (and most of us?) that means clearing out the clutter!! I’m always pumped and hyped and ready to tackle it in January, it wanes a bit in February, I get into it again about March and then hopefully my organization/decrapifiying has held up because I don’t do much again till the next year.

This year I’m planning on making the organizing a constant thing, so you’ll come along for my ride. At least till March. ;)

Today I’m sharing a spot that usually stays pretty organized – I’ve figured out what I want there, what I need within reach, and it stays decent throughout the year.

I’m talking about under our sink – I try to clean it out every six months or so, which usually means every twelve months or so but whatever. This is not one of my problem spots. I’ve got plenty of those.

When we built our house we had tip out trays installed on the sinks – it makes those faux drawers in front of your sink somewhat useful. But when we installed the new granite sink in the kitchen years ago, the trays wouldn’t work because the sink was so big.

So I hung them both on the inside of one of the doors instead:

They don’t hold a ton, but they do keep the little sponges and sink stuff out of the way, and they are within easy reach. And yes, I use a bottle brush to clean our dishes – I find they work just as well as the fancy ones you can get. :)

On the other door I put one of those little jobbies that holds your kitchen towel:

I used it for about three days and stopped – I’m just a throw the towel over the sink kind of gal. :)

Inside I store our tall, skinny stuff that doesn’t really work anywhere else – I found I was storing them all flat in drawers and other stuff always got piled on top, which made them a pain to get to. I’ve got just enough room to line up the baking sheets, cutting board and bulky strainers:

The paper bags are our compactor bags and I’ll probably do a post on our trash compactor sometime – I love it that much. :)

The other side holds our paper towels:

I know it’s an odd place for them, but a couple years ago I was on a mission to get as much off the counters as possible and came up with this idea instead. We actually had them hanging from under a cabinet but it was just visual clutter that I was trying to eliminate. (It was probably in January. ;) )

It’s AWESOME. I just installed the bar at an angle so they are easy to tear off:

It takes very little effort to reach down and grab one, so I love it under the sink!

When we get a new roll of trash bags I tear the whole flap off for easy access:

There’s nothing more annoying than a floppy flap getting in your way. ;)

I keep one small bin under the sink for necessities and this is usually the only part of this area that gets cluttered. I did a quick clean out and set everything upright again:

Cause let’s be honest, nine times out of ten I’m not one to put it away perfectly. :) (I throw it back in the bin and shut the door.)

This is the stuff I pulled out of the bin that had piled up over the past six twelve months:

Lots of hand soap (I bought a glass soap dispenser almost a year ago so that tells you last time I used most of these), random brushes we don’t need, a remnant of the child locks and an old sponge to name a few. The soaps and cleaning supplies will be put in the linen closet. You know…where they go.

It wasn’t too bad to start, but I wiped it down, cleared it out a bit, washed out the trays and now it’s ready for a new year!:

Having a clean sink makes me feel like the rest of my house isn’t so bad. Having the area under the sink doesn’t have quite that power, but it does help a little. ;)

What areas have you tackled so far this new year? Do you do it all at once or spend months doing it like me?