Affordable and Easy Ways to Organize Your Kitchen

Genius Tips and Ideas to Organize Every Inch of your Kitchen

Sometimes you just need some really easy ways to organize your kitchen.

The kitchen is one of those areas that has so much stuff crammed into so many different areas, it’s easy for it all to start looking like a complete disaster area. The problem, of course, is that our kitchens are probably one of the most used areas of the home.  If we can’t keep everything neat and tidy, just the simple act of pulling together a snack for the kiddos can become a huge time suck!

Do you ever worry about a pile of baking sheets toppling over when you go to make some cookies?  Are all of your corn cob holders impossible to find when you need them?  And how about your spices? Oh, don’t even get me started on the spices.  We’ve tried risers, but the little jar of pumpkin spice is still impossible to find when I need it!

Now, we can’t just go out and renovate our kitchen with all of the bells and whistles and handy storage compartments already built in.  Instead, what I’ve  pulled together here are some super-simple, inexpensive ways to to keep your kitchen neat, tidy, and well-organized.

 

Easy Ways to Organize Your Kitchen: Must have items for cheap kitchen organization

Getting your cabinets and all of your little bits and pieces in order is going to be so fast and easy, you’ll be slapping your head for not thinking of these things sooner.

All you need to start organizing your kitchen are these 3 things:

 

 

Small tension rods can be purchased in packs of three from Amazon for around $6. They make great dividers and help hold various items in your kitchen upright instead of stacking them up on top of each other.

Command Hooks are the duct tape of kitchen organization.  These little miracle workers pull their weight by helping you move nearly anything to a door instead of having it take up space in a cabinet. Regular hooks are also useful, but Command hooks in particular have that wonderful sticky back system which is perfect for anything you don’t necessarily want to keep permanently in place. Also, they come in many different useful sizes.

Magazine files, or magazine holders, help to stack things up vertically in a space so that you can use the inside of your cabinets more efficiently.  The mess file folders in the photo above are $6.99 for a pack of two, but you also find plastic or cardboard ones for less.

Ok, now that you have the basics of what you’ll be using to get your kitchen in order, let me share with you some really genius, easy ways of using these items in your kitchen.  Check out the images below for the ultimate kitchen storage hacks.

Go Vertical in Your Pantry with Magazine Files

A simple Dollar store magazine file helps keep paper plates and napkins contained (via Organizing Made Fun)

Store your cans vertically (via PB&J Stories)

Keep spahetti boxes lined up neatly (via Mom with a Prep)

Potatoes and onions can still breath in these mesh file folders (but apparently onions and potatoes living side-by-side is a no-no) (via Mimi’s Crafty World)

Contain food wrap boxes in a magazine file (via Pretty Providence)

 

 

Put anything on a door using Hooks

Here’s a DIY for hanging your food wrap boxes from hooks on a door (via I Heart Organizing)

 

Strategically placed hooks can be mounted on cabinet doors to hold your pot lids (via Instructables)

Measuring cups and spoons are kept nice and neat on hooks (via Simply Darling)

Oven mitts were meant to be hung, not stuffed in a drawer! (via A bowl full of lemons)

 

 

Find Your Spices when You Need Them with Tension Rods

Spices in a drawer are kept neatly in a row with these tension rods (via de Jong Dream House)

 

Tension rod for little spices from Joyful Home Making

 

More uses for Tension Rods

This drawer can handle the clutter of food storage containers easily with handy tension rods (via BHG)

More vertical storage of large cooking dishes using tension rods (via chez larsson)

Add instant counter space by getting your paper towel roll on a tension rod under the cabinet (via Alejandra.TV)

 

Spray bottles hang easily with under-sink mounted tension rods (via A Thousand Words)

Martha Stewart shows us she stores her lovely vintage cutting boards and platters vertically with tension rods.