Neat Nik....Kitchen Edition part1

Even thought Jagger is still just a wee nutty....it's amazing how easily the house can go awry with mess and destruction. I think I've gotten a case of the post-pregnancy nesting and have gotten kind of obsessed with the organizing. I really have a need for the house to look somewhat tidy and clean (toys don't count because they are just constantly everywhere), and this has started a neatness movement in my home that Sonny loves rolling his eyes to!

I'm starting with the kitchen because I just don't have the time and energy to search for the box of pasta I want or dig through the cabinets to get the plate I need. As you know, I'm horrible at taking before pics...so much of these are "afters." The first thing I did was a really quick fix for the 2 ft space above my cabinets. These baskets were inexpensive, good looking, and are really great storage. They are super sturdy...two of them are holding my corning ware, which I really only use once a year at Thanksgiving.

My pantry was next...although this is a work in progress. I really could only afford to do one shelf. This is my pasta shelf, which annoys me to no end because I hate the way that all the pasta boxes are different sizes. So I purchased a set of OXO Pop containers, which have made my life so much easier! They nest on top of one another beautifully, they are airtight (so perfect for rice, past, sugar, flour, etc) and they come in all different shapes and sizes to fit anything you need.

And again....I have no before pics, but this is a pic of my top 2 shelves which I haven't organized yet. Crazy, right? I will certainly be buying the containers for these things too.

And lastly (for now) is my cabinets. We really don't have alot of cabinet space in our house, and since we have no plans to redo them anytime soon, I had to find a way to make space within the cabinets themselves. I purchased this little shelf for $6 at Bed Bath and Beyond and it works great. It's not fancy, but it does what I need it to do. Although it really doesn't give me MORE room than I had before in this cabinet.....it makes everything easier to access, which to me, is successful. Before I had small plates stacked on the big plates so you would have to remove dishes just to get the ones you wanted and it was super annoying. Also, it has allowed a space on the side where I put my oils now, so that has freed up some counter space! Wahoo!

Things are slowly coming together...this is just kitchen part one.  There will be many other posts coming about how I'm going to be working to organize my home.  I have a feeling that with 2 kiddos its going to be a necessity!!!