Under the Sink Organization

Some may think I'm an innately organized person, especially after seeing my pantry, my spice cupboard and my doggy cupboard. Truthfully, organization does not come naturally to me. It's an everyday challenge that I continue to struggle with. Like keeping fit, maintaining a happy marriage, and all around living well, it's not about just doing something right once, it's about putting in consistent effort, requiring constant work and time investment.

I'm not an expert in any of those things, but one thing I know to be true: it's the baby steps that make all the difference. If you make small, manageable changes everyday, you are sure to end up ahead in the long run. Sitting back and waiting for things to happen, or doing something once and then sitting back, will not get you anywhere.

I must say, my pantry has maintained a really nice level of organization thus far. I set it up to succeed by not giving it any opportunity for clutter to accumulate. Yay me! But other spaces seem to get clutter-fied faster than it takes to organize them in the first place. So back to the drawing board I go, back to re-work the system and try to think of a way to make it more maintainable.

One such area is under the sink. Like most people (I presume) we store our cleaning products down there, and cleaning products are plentiful. To be honest, sometimes I have no idea how some of those things even got there. I don't think I bought them, and I certainly know Mr. Mans did not. I'll just say they grew feet and decided to walk from all corners of the earth to find their way underneath our kitchen sink.

Well, I got tired of looking at this mess day after day, so a little bit of time and some label making were in order. Anything almost empty got married with something else (be careful not to mix different types of cleaners or chemicals in case they react to each other!) and got rid of some old old things that were under there. De-cluttering spaces is such an amazing feeling and will truly lift your soul. Less is definitely more int his case. The cleaning supplies I did keep were put in this wooden caddy that came with our home (that I painted a while back) and a label is the prefect accessory to motivate us to keep it looking neat and clean.

I think sometimes it's nice to hear that it's not all unicorns and butterflies! That we all have to work for it. I found this Gwyneth Paltrow quote on Pinterest SO refreshing! To know that it takes work and dedication, and that in the end it is worth it, gives me the energy and motivation to keep plugging away!

What areas of your life do you struggle with? 

What keeps you going?

xox J

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