TOP 10 KITCHEN ORGANIZING & PRODUCTIVITY HACKS

If you are looking for ways to organize your kitchen as well as be more productive while you cook then keep reading as in this post I'll be sharing my top 10 kitchen organizing and productivity hacks!

1 - BOWL FOR SCRAPS:

While I am cooking dinner I will often use a scrap bowl. Essentially what this is is just a bowl where you can put scraps into as you are cooking. This helps to keep your counters clear as you prep your meal as well as allow for easy clean up. If you are one to make your own stock you can also use this bowl to collect your vegetable scraps for your stock. If you don't want to utilize a bowl you could easily do the same concept with just having your trash can near by and dispose of your scraps right away in there.

2 - DIY $3 LAZY SUSAN:

This is one of my favorite hacks and for only $3 you cannot beat it! I did a simple DIY using two pie pans from the Dollar Tree and then a bag of marbles. All you do is add the marbles into one pan and then place the other pan on top and you have an instant lazy susan for only $3! I showed this hack in my $10 Under the Kitchen Sink Challenge post but I also use this in my spice cabinet to house all of my oils. This lazy susan works perfect in this location as with it being at the top of the cabinet it is hard to reach what is in the back. With the lazy susan I just turn it and can instantly reach what I need.

3 - WIRE HANGING BASKETS:

A great way to add extra storage space is through adding a wire hanging basket. I have utilized these in my pantry as well as my fridge. It is a great cheap way to add essentially another shelf. These shelves just slide onto your existing shelf.

I like to use one in my fridge to hold all of our yogurt and extra snacks. In our pantry I have two, one houses our extra trash bags and then other is where I keep all my onions. They work great and provide so much extra storage.

4 - DOLLAR TREE CONTAINERS:

Some of my favorite organizing products come from the Dollar Tree. One in particular that I really like is a small container I have been using in my fridge. These containers fit my daughters yogurt cups perfectly! It is nice to have them all super easy to access and the container also acts as a drawer as I can slide it out to access what I need.

5 - LEFTOVER BIN:

Do you tent to forget about your leftovers? In our fridge we typically always have a leftover bin. I simply use a clear bin from the Dollar Tree but anytime we have leftovers I will put them in that bin so we know to use them up first. Instead of the leftovers getting lost and forgotten about it is much more likely they will get eaten if they are in the leftover bin. Try it out and let me know if it works for you!

6 - PAN LID HOLDER:

Recently I moved my pots and pans around as I needed the lower cabinet they were in previously for my kids cabinet so I needed to find another solution. Now I have all of my pots, pans and their lids in our upper corner cabinet. I was trying to find a good way to store the lids so they would be easy to get to and I came across this lid organizer from IKEA. It works great to keep all of my lids easy to access and organized.

7- SILVERWARE DRAWER DIVIDERS:

Silverware drawers can get so cluttered so quickly unless if you have a functional silverware tray but those can be so expensive. I came up with an inexpensive alternative by utilizing the small office desk dividers form the Dollar Tree. These baskets come in packs of 3-4 depending on your Dollar Tree. The baskets fit perfectly in my drawer and I love how much they can hold.

One major perk I have liked with having these baskets is that I can just pull out the whole basket for example when I'm cooking I can pull out my whole measuring cup/spoons basket. I have also pulled out the silverware baskets for dinner party buffets.

8 - SHELF RISERS:

If you are needing more space in your cabinets a great item to look into is shelf risers. These are relatively cheap but can make a huge impact in doubling your storage space. I have one of these in my dishes cabinet as I wanted to be able to reach my two sets of plates without stacking them all on top of each other. I also use one of these in my coffee bar cabinet to stack my coffee cups, you can see how I have that organized in my farmhouse dining room video.

9 - SPICE CABINET SHELF:

Spice cabinets can be so tricky to organize, you want to be able to easily access what you need at a quick glance. Before I found the spice rack shelf I'm currently using (which hubby actually found so he gets the credit) I had all of my spices in bins and would have to dig to find what I needed.

This spice cabinet shelf has been a game changer! It was super easy to install and can be customized to your space. What I like about this divider is that at one glance I can see all of my spices and easily grab the one I need. Since the shelves surround the edge of the cabinet it leaves the middle of the cabinet open which I use to store my large bottle of avocado oil.

10 - TRASH BIN HACK:

Do you struggle to keep your trash bin in place? Do you throw something away and the whole trash bin just falls down into the basket? I have a quick/simple hack, this does require you have drawstring bags so make sure to grab some. All you do is tie a small knot in the strap before you put it in your bin, this will keep it sectioned around the basket and keep it from falling in. I told you it was simple.

PRODUCTS FEATURED:

IKEA pot lid holder: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/70154800/