Clean Up The Crap Wednesday!

Something always needs to be cleaned up and organized around my house. Truly I could blog about this everyday, but I will spare you - and only blog about it on Wednesdays!


So, I decided to clean out my supply cabinet. Originally this cabinet housed our TV and stereo, but we recently purchased a TV that hangs on the wall. I use this cabinet to hold all of my supplies that I use in the house, as opposed to the supplies that are used in my workshop. I found that these items needed to be in a temperature controlled environment, and also didn't need to be exposed to the dust that is created by power tools in my workshop. The pictures really just do not show the full scope of the disaster this cabinet was, and I have been putting off the task of cleaning it out for months!

So, first things first, the cabinet is emptied out. You can see that I literally just took everything out and piled it on the floor. For me, it is just easier to get everything out and then sort it. I sorted by a few different categories for the first sort: Trash, doesn't belong in this cabinet, and keep. Next, I sorted out the things that were staying in the cabinet by what I used them for - office supplies, fabric and fabric crafts, paper crafts, partially finished projects, tools (used in multiple crafts). Next, I sorted each of these categories by how often I used the item.

This last sort is required because this cabinet is fairly deep, and I want to utilize all of the space. Therefore I placed the items that are used least often in the back of the cabinet, and items used most often in the front of the cabinet.

Putting things back in:

As I said above, I tried to put the items that I use least often in the back of the cabinet. However, I also had a few boxes that were full of excess office supplies. So, I took out a small amount of these supplies to store at the front, or in a different location, and then placed the boxes in the back of the cabinet.

I didn't buy any new containers for this organizational project. I simply re-purposed what I had already. Baskets that weren't being used now have a purpose, and bins that were overflowing were cleaned out and used for a different purpose.

There were a few surprises that I found - First was a box of supplies that I didn't realize that I had, and I had just purchased more of these supplies the week before - what a waste of money!! Also, I found a box of paperwork that needed to be added to my tax documents! (Glad I haven't finished taxes yet!).

Lessons Learned: I really need to do things like this more often! Buying supplies that I already have, and having tax documents in a supply cabinet is really bad! I also learned that I need to get better about not putting things in this cabinet that don't belong here! Finally, I need to remember that every square inch of every space does not need to be occupied. Having a bit of room is helpful when you need to move things around, take things out, and put things back in. Also, I am quite sure that there is a supply that I need and have not bought yet!