Organize Under the Kitchen Sink on a Budget- Mini Refresh Pt.3

Do you have small spaces in your home that need organized or redone to better serve its purpose and look more appealing? So do I, and if your anything like me you don’t have a huge budget to spend on organizing these areas and making them aesthetically pleasing. However, with a little effort and creativity we can make these areas work better for us and look nice while maintaining a budget, one area at a time.

For this month Mini Refresh we will be tackling that cabinet under the kitchen sink, so that it’s easier to use and has plenty of storage. I’ve been putting this one off since we moved here a little over a year ago, because I just didn’t know how to make it work with the reverse osmosis stuff taking up a large portion of space. It also seems like whoever lived here before never really deep cleaned this cabinet and so it’s a little icky. But that all changes today, and I’m going to show you how you can do this too!

---

Step 1.

Set your budget. We all are different and have a different budget that works for our families so you will have to decide what you can spend on this project. If you have a little more to spend you’ll be able to get things that match your style but plain and simple things will work just fine. My budget was $20 and I spent under $15, and I was able to get everything I needed to make my under the sink cabinet easier to use and look nice.

Step 2.

Decide what you need and go shopping. Take into account what it is you want to keep in this cabinet, for me I’m keeping my basic cleaners, trash bags, used cleaning cloths, and cleaning accessories like brushes and gloves. Take some measurements and a picture of the cabinet to use for a reference while shopping. You can shop online or in person, just be especially mindful of your measurements. I recommend shopping around your home first to see if you already have something that will work or try to find what you need secondhand. I couldn’t find what I needed this way so I went to the Dollar Tree.

I went with all white items to match the shelf liner I picked out, which was really easy to find and ties everything together nicely.

Here are all of the things I got for my under the stink storage:

• Three rolls of Non-slip shelf liner. I picked this one because it can easily be wiped down if needed.
• A white rectangular bucket.
• A small white trash can.
• Two small white rectangular baskets.
• Stackable shelves.

Step 3.

Remove the cabinet contents and clean it out! While taking everything out of the cabinet, check and see if you need to get rid of anything or replace anything; it helps to keep a pad of paper with you so you can make a list of what it is you need to restock on.

I vacuumed my cabinet before spraying it down and wiping it out, this took care of all of the cob webs and powdered cleaners that spilled. After that I used a bleach cleaner that was very strong to clean all of the gunk that was in my cabinet, but an average all-purpose cleaner will work if it’s not too bad.

Step 4.

Add self liners. Before doing this step make sure you allow the cabinet to dry out from cleaning it, and since I used bleach I let it air out for a little while too, before going back at it. Once everything is dry, you can start putting the shelf liners in the cabinet by either measuring and cutting or you can unroll some of the liner, fold it over and crease it like you see here, to give a place where you can cut it to fit.

When going around the pipes, you can use a little double sided tape to connect the pieces together to keep everything in place. I used about 2 1/2 rolls of the self liner for my cabinet, and I tried my best to line up the pattern but it’s not perfect, which is okay.

Step 5.

Lay out how you want your organizers. If you have a system under your sink that takes up a lot of room like I do, this can be a little tricky but hopefully those measurements you took earlier helped.

This is how I used everything:

• The stackable shelves hold my cleaning accessories( brushes, gloves, steel wool) and most of my store bought cleaners.
• The first small rectangular basket will hold used cleaning cloths.
• The second basket holds my homemade everyday cleaners.
• The small trash can holds both large and regular sized trash bags, I really like how this keeps them contained!
• The rectangular bucket holds some larger items such as, dish soaps, dish washer detergent, and the window cleaner that wouldn’t fit into the shelves.

The only thing that’s left is the bleach bottle and the bleach spray bottle, which I don’t use very often so I put it in the back. Everything is easily removed if needed which is great, especially since it all can come out in the buckets and baskets rather than one item at a time.

Budget Breakdown:

This project only cost $13.75 + tax using things from the Dollar Tree.

• Stackable shelves- from the Dollar Tree Plus section- $5
• Three rolls of shelf liner- $3.75
• Two small baskets- $2.50
• One rectangular bucket- $1.25
• One small trash can- $1.25

The shelf liner wasn’t completely necessary, it just looks nice, so without it, this would have cost $10.

Now the cabinet under the sink has more storage space and is easier to use, making accessing my cleaners a little more pleasant. You can also use these steps for other areas in your home, like the bathroom sink, or a broom closet.

---

It is so much less stressful and overwhelming organizing this way, small sections at a time! I challenge you to make a list of small areas in your home that need to be redone and organized that you’ve been putting off doing for whatever reason, and pick one this month to focus on. Take your time and work at it either by setting aside a day or by making a little progress here and there throughout the month. You’ll be so happy you did!

Please feel free to share with me, those little areas you are working on or need to work on, and ask any questions, I’m here to help!