Kitchen Organizing: Cheap vs. Pricey Storage Solutions

This is not a promotional or sponsored post and there are no affiliate links. I am just sharing my recent experience.

Do you ever go to the Container Store?  I love that place but it can be a minefield of expensive gadgets and too much inspiration.  I usually come home from there feeling that I need to completely tear apart every closet and drawer in the house and reorganize it.

I recently went there to tackle one item on my 2014 Project List.  I ended up buying both fancy and simple organizers. Some fancy ones were perfect, some were a total waste and got returned.  Some of the cheap, simple ones were perfect.  I thought you might find this info useful.

1.  Undersink Storage

The challenge:  Because of the pipes and the hose dangling from the sprayer faucet, I needed particular sizes of containers and I needed to go vertical with storage.

My cabinet houses the following:

• Trash
• Cleaning supplies – bottles and rags
• Used batteries and wine corks for recycling

I wanted to make better use of the right side space near the sprayer faucet’s hose.  It was a narrow, tall corner that was otherwise going to waste.

The Linus clear plastic stacking bins from The Container Store were one of the pricey containers I bought, but they were perfect for the space.  The bottom holds old batteries, then sponges, then the top holds wine corks. I added the bottom of a cardboard box to enable the top caddy to hold lots of corks.

Total cost – $21, which is high for such simple storage, but the containers are solid and can be reused a lot down the road – if we ever move out.

Here’s the finished result.  Trash on left.  Cleaning supplies in the middle.  Rags on the right.  Corks/Batteries in the back right.  Reusable plastic grocery bags in the back left.  So exciting, I know.

I must admit that seeing this super tidy photo makes me so happy.

 2.  Freezer Storage

The challenge: Organize. I’m constantly losing track of what’s in the freezer, or I have to pull everything out of a shelf to get to the one item I need.

I wanted to pop the bags of frozen veggies up to the higher shelf to make it easy to sort through.  I bought some fancypants Linus Deep Drawer Binz that measured out perfectly. But when I put them in the freezer they felt cumbersome, heavy and awkward.  At $17 each, they were a waste:

On a whim I tried putting two cheap ($1.89) shoe boxes on the shelf instead.  They were perfect! Unopened frozen veggies in the back bin, opened and ziplocked veggies in the front. This way I can keep the oldest ones in front to use up. The idea of spending $4 to organize the veggies in the freezer is so much less ridiculous than spending $32, you know?

Here’s a few more ways I organized my freezer, in case you’re curious:

The left image is the bottom half of the freezer:

• I have another $2 bin for bags of frozen meat and fish on the shelf. Again, I like the bin because I can pull it out to sort through.
• The top wire drawer holds frozen vegetarian proteins – beans, lentils, tofu, etc.
• The bottom drawer holds miscellaneous, and a big ziplock bag filled with blocks of veggie broth. (I made the broth and froze it in cupcake tins so that I have it all portioned out.)

In the door:

• Tin foil & wax paper that I use to wrap and freeze pizza.  I reuse the foil & wax paper, so storing it in the freezer cuts down on germs.
• Ziplock bags that I reuse.  Same concept.  Store in freezer after washing.
• The bottom shelf holds jars of homemade herb-infused salts and sugars.

A Final Tip:

I leave all labels and packaging on organizing containers when I’m setting up a space.  That way, if I get things set up, live with it for a few days, and then hate it, I can still return the items and find something better.

Also, sometimes I like store bought organizing containers, but I’m also a big fan of DIY organizing containers.  When you’re tackling a space, always look at what trash or recycling you could use!  Old cardboard boxes, plastic take-out containers, etc can work wonders!

Wow. This post ended up much longer than planned.  Well, I hope you find some ideas from it useful. I have lots of opinions on organizing, and I could just organize all day long if given the opportunity! 🙂