So I'm reading one of the posts from Lifehacker in my G+ stream, about hacking small apartments. Anyone that's followed any of my posts across the social networks will know I have been streamlining things, and a current peeve of mine is some clutter I just cannot seem to permanently correct. I present exhibit A, the before image:
Plastic food bins and things on top, fairly accessible, nested, a little chaotic, but liveable. Spice shelf, bad jumble, cannot see half my stuff, and a time waster when cooking. Bottom shelf, more of the same, with two sets of measuring cups, three sets of measuring spoons, and a tableware sorter piled up with things that don't fit.
What got me started was in one of the subarticles it mentioned the use of the ceiling for storage and magnets for smaller things in jars with ferrous lids. This reminded me of an old Boy's Life magazine that suggested using baby food jars or mayonnaise jars to sort things like small nails and screws. You could drive a couple roofing nails through the lid, securing them under a workbench. Just look under the bench, see what jar has what you need, unscrew it take out what you need, and screw the jar back on. No wasted workbench space. So I got the sudden idea of grabbing some extra adhesive velcro I had laying around and was going to cut tabs, stick them to the lids of spice jars, and glue them to the underside of that top shelf. Then I didn't have as much velcro as I thought I had. It would have to wait until I go in to work, we have it in bulk rolls, and it's not a big issue to grab some. We're always using it for the oddest projects anyway. On further thought I decided that the whole side of the shelving unit was open, so I'd just put long strips of velcro on the side, mating strips on all the jars and just slap them on the side, freeing up the shelf even further.
Next I looked at the jumble of measuring accouterments. They have hanging holes on the end, and I have a stock of cup hooks. Those shelves are freecycled and will be again, so I got out my DeWalt cordless drill and started putting pilot holes in the particle board. I hung up the good stainless set of cups and spoons and put the plastic ones off to the side. I have long handled nylon spoons, drilled holes in them while I was at it. Cup hooks went in the fronts of the doors and all the long stuff went there as well as my GSI Outdoors Fair Share Collapsible mug. Next I noticed there was a lip all the way around the tableware sorter, so more cup hooks went in the underside of the shelf and the sorter became a drawer.
Well, I didn't feel like waiting to pick up velcro, and I remembered there was a scrap piece of baseboard trim laying outside. I sold off my chop box, but I still had a sharktooth tool box saw. So I used an old trick I learned years (25??) ago and made a mini-shelf. Quick, dirty and free.
Here is exhibit B, the aftermath:
The two white rectangles you see on the left end of the first shelf are some labels I made, volume conversions for the common kitchen measurements. I reuse many of the metric serving scoops that come with supplements (you can see a few extras on the shelf next to the knife block) but rarely are they exactly any of the sizes in typical cooking use. For example there is a 33ml, 60ml, 90ml. I just pick one that will do the job and leave it in the container. If I want a different serving size, I just pick a different one, consistency is what is important. Previously I had been looking at the other set of cups and spoons for the conversion which was printed on them. The metal ones do not have metric equivalents on them.
No more jumble, but not excessively organized. Much more efficient. Another expense free project completed.
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