Comments on: Weekly Project #1: The Great Cabinet Clean-out

By: Jacob Jones

Jacob Jones — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:43:38 +0000

Some pictures would really be great. My recent post If you register your site for free at

By: tink

tink — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 23:08:39 +0000

All of my spices are in a shallow drawer – most are in tupperware spice containers – but only because I’ve owned the containers for about a thousand years.

They’re labeled and grouped – and they lay on their side, label up so I can see exactly what I have without ever digging.

It took me about an evening to complete (over a year ago) – and they are still organized!! – an amazing feat in this household.

By: The Great Refrigerator Cleanout- Before & After

The Great Refrigerator Cleanout- Before & After — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:34:56 +0000

[...] cleaned out my fridge yesterday, right on schedule. Some commenters asked for before and after pictures, and I’m glad to oblige! I’ll give [...]

By: Connie

Connie — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:56:38 +0000

For those of you with spice cabinet issues, here’s how I solved mine. First, empty it completely, throw out whatever is too old to be any good, and take stock of what you have. You probably have at least 4 bottles of oregano, right? Get it down to where you only have one open bottle of any given spice, whether that means throwing some out or combining the contents of bottles. Once that’s done, make a list of what you have. Tape that list to the inside of your spice cabinet door. My spice cabinet has three shelves, so I keep my most-used spices on the lowest shelf, next most-used on the middle shelf, and least-used on the top shelf. And my list is broken down by shelf. I can open the door of my spice cabinet and know by looking at the list if I have the spice or not. Once you do the legwork, it’s very easy to maintain, because you don’t go through bottles of spices very quickly. Once a year or so I rewrite the list so I can start over with a piece of paper that doesn’t have things crossed out and written in. And yes, I have lazy susans on each of the shelves, but I think that only helps because it’s organized to begin with. It’s a system that’s worked for me for years. Then again, I’m a little OCD about some things. YMMV

By: Jenn

Jenn — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 23:52:49 +0000

Did the pantry clean-out a couple weeks ago. Best find: a partial box of raisins that expired in 2001. The fun fact is that we moved across the country in 2005, so I must have paid to move half a box of expired raisins or I bought them when they were already expired. The coupon on the box had an expiration date of 2002. Even better, it didn’t have a bar code!

By: katie

katie — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 22:58:45 +0000

Thanks for the inspiration! I’m going to start doing this tonight – it’s been bugging me for so long!!!

By: Rachel V.

Rachel V. — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:07:10 +0000

I’m definitely following along with you this week. We just moved…and I desperately need to get the kitchen finished. I’ve gotten immobilized by the fact that this kitchen has 5 fewer cabinets, 3 fewer drawers, and no pantry. But it’s time to quit being overwhelmed and start being creative about how to fit all this stuff in. Thanks for the push!!!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:07:59 +0000

“Is there anything you’d like to see me do this summer?” – Uh, do my place next?

By the way, is it any good to put contact paper or something on the cabinet shelves? I have an older house with old wooden cabinets, and I’m not up for painting them right now.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:16:39 +0000

awesome! pictures don’t lie!

By: Julie

Julie — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:09:08 +0000

My spice cabinet is unholy. I’d like to know how you solve that problem. I’ve been thinking of getting one of those small plastic lazy susan things for mine.