Orderly Conduct

1) That weird narrow space next to the fridge. This is a $1/yard strip of fabric that I made into a curtain about 7 years ago. I cheated and didn't even sew it. I folded the top down a couple of inches and ironed it stitch witchery, then slid it onto a little tension rod. It fits perfectly to cover that 10 inch wide gap between the end of our cabinets and our fridge. What's in there?

We don't have a pantry, so I store our broom, mop (correction, the BEST MOP EVER), and dustpan back there. I also have a few hooks attached to the wall in there, for fly swatters (even if you do have a pantry, do you want your fly swatter hanging out in there with your food? blech).

2) Pet food storage.

We quickly realized with the buggy/humidity/grossness of the Arkansan summer, that we would need a storage solution for the chicken food. Granted, our hennie pennies would have no complaints if their feed was full of bugs, but we don't exactly want to attract the bugs to the garage, which is exactly what a giant, open bag of pet food does, in Arkansas. One of these storage. Also, pet food just sort of smells funky. And if the bag was full and tipped over it would make a huge mess. And no one ever wanted to reach way down into the back when it got low, to fill the feed bowl, because it makes your whole arm smell like pet food. Here is my solution:

I knew a flip lid was the only way to go because a) the kids needed to be able to access it, and b) I knew that we would get lazy and not want to mess with snapping down a regular storage bin lid in the tightness that the space offered. Now, we flip the lid open, fill the bowl and close it back up before any bugs can get in there. The bin holds a 50lb bag of feed, so I only have to refill it once every six weeks. Functional and attractive and it makes great use out of what was once wasted space. I imagine a similar idea would work for you dog and cat owners out there. (That is, if I even have any cat lovers left reading this blog.)

3) Garage trash can. I love our trash can for a number of reasons, and was totally stoked to pick up a similar yet newer one at a garage sale for $5. The old one was moved to the garage. It is really helping us (ahem---"us" meaning everyone else in this family.) to keep the cars clean, because we no longer have to haul our garbage into the house. It gets tossed into the can that was stragetically placed along the path to the door inside.

4) The Lid Drawer. This is a silly one, but it dawned on me the other day, when I opened it to get a lid, that many people still store their pots and pans and serving dishes with the corresponding lids. Here's my beef with that: I don't have enough cabinet space and everything must be stacked up inside of them...but that isn't possible with the lids on the pots. Lids roll around and clutter up the cabinets so the other items don't fit easily. Also, lids are flat, so they get misplaced easily and that drives me crazy. I have been using a "lid drawer" for years and it is great! I don't have a problem finding the right lid to fit on the right pan, and it makes it easier for the kids to unload the dishwasher, because they can toss all the lids into one place, rather than attempting to match up the pots with the lids inside the cabinet.