Kitchen

You can use them all over your house.

Toss these items ASAP.

It’s so useful.

I’ve sworn by it for years.

I live in a relatively small apartment with multiple roommates, so I’m always on the lookout for ways to improve the storage situation in my living space — particularly in the kitchen. Shelves, drawers, bins, and boxes can take up a surprising amount of space, so I have a soft spot for multifunctional pieces — especially ones that also look nice on a kitchen countertop.

I cook at home regularly, which means I’m often using my groceries up and buying more just as quickly. As my schedule gets busier, I’ve streamlined my grocery shopping and have more go-to staples I buy frequently. However, some of the groceries I rely on don’t easily fit in my cabinets due to their bulky shape or awkward packaging. That’s why this pantry organizer hack using just a plastic Dollar Tree office organizer caught my eye. Here’s how it works.

It's so whimsical!

In my teeny New York City apartment, figuring out how to extract every square inch of space sometimes feels like performing a magic trick. I adore cooking and baking, but making space for all of the ingredients and gadgets can be quite the feat. Through trial and error, I’ve found that using vertical space helps enormously, as it clears the counters and takes advantage of otherwise wasted square footage.

They're small but effective.

I live in a small New York City apartment with roommates. I also love to meal prep and freeze leftovers for later, so those two facts mean that my freezer is often overcrowded and disorganized. On top of that, I also don’t have great freezer storage options. My freezer-safe food containers are awkwardly shaped, and small ice cube trays without a lid have made freezing things like soups and stocks a challenge.

I don’t know about you, but bread boxes aren’t exactly a part of my life. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever lived somewhere that had one — even when I was a young kid. The concept of a box just for bread never struck me as necessary, but I’ve since learned that there’s so much more you can do with a bread box, which makes this rustic-yet-elegant new find from IKEA all the more exciting — because it’s secretly a storage superhero.

It instantly elevated the space.

I wish I'd done it sooner.

As one of the most-used spots in your home, the kitchen is prone to getting messy — from the cabinets to the drawers and everything in between. That’s why it’s so important to regularly tidy and declutter this busy spot to prevent clutter from taking over. The best way to get your kitchen organized is to declutter one spot at a time. Here’s how to do it.

I’ve lived in my apartment for six years, have had my fair share of roommates, and cook at home often, so trust that I’ve accumulated a lot of spices. I use what I can and toss anything that’s truly old, but I still have quite a collection that needs organizing in my kitchen cabinets.Even my two wall-mounted spice racks can’t contain it all!