Organize: Under The Kitchen Sink

So many readers have been asking about organizing under the kitchen sink. This hasn't really ever been an issue for me - and maybe because I don't access it a ton. (I should clean more than I do.)

The space under my kitchen sink isn't that big. I have an obnoxiously large sink with no divider (which drives me nuts...hence why I don't do the dishes by hand). I also have a food disposal. Not much room left. Here's what it looked like under my sink before "cleaning" it out.

I have two caddies under my sink. I don't ever take them out to tote around the house with me, so I suppose a regular plastic basket would also do. I do like the compactness of the caddies though. I sort everything under my sink and put like items together.

This small stackable shelf is my favorite thing under the sink. It makes towels and cleaning accessories easily accessible and fits nicely in the front of my space.

please excuse the ghetto tape job on the wall...lol

There's not much to it for my under the sink space, but here are some tips for you...

• Use command hooks to hang what you can on doors or the wall - it makes things easily accessible and doesn't take up valuable surface space needed for cleaning supplies.
• Purge - seriously. Get rid of what you have extra of if you don't have the room to store it under your sink. Or store it elsewhere. This space is meant to be easily accessible and not to store every odd and end you can't find a home for. Since sinks can be leaky or troublesome at times, you don't want to have to haul out a ton of junk just to wipe up a drip.
• Look around your kitchen for drawers/cupboard space you could store things in that don't need to be under the sink. If I had an extra drawer, I'd be storing my towels there rather than under the sink.
• Keep cleaning supplies in a container/basket/etc. - if they leak, they won't ruin the cabinet. Also, if you need to remove everything from under the sink because of an issue (such as a leak), you can do so a lot faster since everything's containerized.

the towel that hangs on my cabinet door...love it

For more ideas and tips, visit the posts the following blogs have previous written on this topic:

• A Bowl Full of Lemons
• Ask Anna...
• Delightful Order
• Organize with Sandy

P.S. Thank you so much for all of the ideas for the 2012 monthly challenge - I have a ton of ideas to get us organized in the new year. Please, keep them coming if you have more ideas!