Organizing for Others: Under the Sink

How many times a day do you answer, or ask, the question, "hey, where is the (fill in the blank)?"? For me, it's countless. While I try to keep an organized home, sometimes I forget that I am not the only person living here. Being mindful of what organized means to you and everyone else you live with is so important to maintaining an organized home {oh, and sanity}. 

Since this is something that I face on a near daily basis, and only have one roommate, I figured I cannot be the only one. So I decided to start a little series called Organizing for Others. The main focus of this series will be how to make an organized home work for everyone.

The first area I tackled was under our kitchen sink. While I thought that it was organized and everything functioned perfectly under there, Brit felt very differently. 

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Why did I start under the sink? Well, we noticed the other day that our kitchen sink was leaking {fabulous}. Simple enough to fix, it just needed a new washer. The old one literally fell apart when trying to unscrew it. Oops!! So we called a guy to come over and just make sure this was the only problem, and not something else that could eventually be catastrophic. Before he could work on the sink though, we needed to move everything out so he could have easy access. Holy hat guys. Things appear to have gotten a little out of control down there. 

Take a look...

{Ok, so we have a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it's a little bit unorganized}

Allow me to explain, or make up excuses. Brit and I have an awesome thing going as far as our cleaning habits go. I do a lot of the tidying and keeping up with things, he does a lot of the bigger chores such a mopping the floor and cleaning our appliances {yes, you read correctly, the man likes to clean appliances.}

So that's the good. The bad is that I was organizing his cleaning products and getting frustrated when they weren't put back to my liking. So I'd move them. This became a bit of an issue when Brit spent 15 minutes searching for his new hardwood floor cleaner {which he was uber excited about}. When he had finally given up and confessed what he was looking for, I was able to locate it under the sink in about .5 seconds. This may or may not have angered the beast. But it wasn't his fault, it was mine. I was organizing for me. 

All the products I don't use daily, I placed under the shelf rack. Pretty selfish right? 

{Who could blame the kid for getting a little upset with me}

However, in my defense, when Brit can't find something or doesn't know where it goes, he makes a point of ensuring I know that he doesn't like the way I've organized. Can we just talk about this? Putting the cleaner inside the box? Come on. 

{I had to laugh when I saw this one. Well played sir, well played.}

I can't say this enough, when you organize a space make sure that it works for EVERYONE. Other wise you've wasted time and gained stress. Not a pleasant exchange if you ask me.
So after the sink was fixed, organizing time! 
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Lucky for me everything was already out so my typical first step was already completed. I'm always so shocked at how many items can squeeze into such small spaces. 

First, I put down a heavy duty waterproof and water resistant mat. Now I should have done this BEFORE the leak but live and learn, right? While you know I LOVE free organizing projects, this one needed a bit more oomph, so some $$ had to be spent. Not much though, I'm happy to say.

In addition to the mat, we added this Cabinet Turntable. We placed it right on top of our shelf. This has been a fabulous addition and makes finding those small or awkward sized items so much easier! 

{This is Brit's favorite part}

This has helped tremendously! The smaller items that fit nicely under our shelf can now be seen and easily accessed. It makes things super easy to reach and easy to put right back. Plus, since Brit loves it, he's more likely to use it. 

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Next task, preventing spray bottles from ending up in our dishwasher tablet box. In order to do this, I grabbed this vase and filled it with our tablets.

My favorite part of this is that we can easily see when more tablets need to be purchased {like now}. Also, the clear container makes the area appear cleaner and more open. 

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This last part may be my favorite and has totally reduced the number of times I hear, "hey, where is the _____?". On top if each cleaning bottle I added a very simple and basic label. Brit loves cleaning supplies {could I ask for a better man?} and therefore we have very specific sprays for very specific items. While Brit loves the cleaning supplies, he has a difficult time remembering which one is which when just glancing in the cabinet {heaven forbid he bend over and pick one up to read the label}. Anyway, to avoid future bickers and promote Brit's enjoyment of cleaning, I tried to make it as easy as possible. 

By simply glancing down we can read what each spray bottle is for. Also, by adding the Cabinet Turntable and the glass vase, we were able to open up more space for our sprays, making them easier to grab, and easier to put back. 

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Now under our shelf, we store our trash bags, all-purpose cleaning cloths, rubber gloves and sponges. Putting these items under the shelf makes things so much easier because we don't need to root around for anything. We can see exactly what is back there and easily reach it all. 

So voila! What was once a chaotic, and embarrassing mess, is now orderly and functional. Brit has approved the new look and said he is excited about the new changes {only time will tell}. 

How have you managed under your sink? Have you ever run into issues trying to organize for others?  

Thanks for visiting!

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