Cabinet Crashing

It is time for a 10 Minute Tuesday Project, where we try to conquer organizing a small space in only 10 minutes. Each week I will pose a new activity to accomplish in only 10 minutes. Please do it along with me and we’ll check things off our to-do lists together!

With 4 roommates coming and going on different schedules, it is vital to have supplies organized because communication is not always possible. We quickly found various cleaning supplies they didn’t even know were in there, including mystery items that had been left there by former roommates.

We also discovered three full bottles of Goo Gone, which is quite expensive, as well as 5 bottles of all purpose cleaner. Supplies were being purchased in duplicate (and triplicate) because they could not see what they already had stored under the kitchen sink. Being organized saves you money and time!

We were 4 minutes into the unearthing of the cleaning supplies when I discovered a leak at the back of the cabinet! The 10 minute Tuesday was halted as we surveyed the damage. We found some soaking wet towels, destroyed cardboard, and rusted WD-40. Here it is in real time!

There was so much junk (her word) in there, they didn’t know their pipe had been leaking. It could have caused greater (and very expensive) damage if we had not discovered it.

We were unconcerned with our 10 minute time limit as we cleaned up the water, located the source of the drip and placed a bowl to collect water until the landlord could be contacted. Once the leak was taken care of, we continued corralling the cleaning supplies by putting like with like (I am serious when I am organizing!).

Any supplies that were deemed unnecessary were placed in a separate trash bag to be taken in for hazardous waste disposal in an environmentally friendly way. We definitely did not want corroded batteries to be dumped into the landfill or chemicals flushed down the drain!

Once we’d finished sorting we gave all items a home. The cabinet was now a functional space instead of a catchall with things just thrown in.

The household cleaning supplies are all contained on the left of the cabinet with the most used items stored in the front for easier access. The small clear container on the right holds all dish washing accessories such as scrub brushes and gloves. Bulk cleaning refills are hidden behind the brushes, still accessible, but not in the front since they are only accessed when a container is empty and in need of a refill.

The total elapsed time was 20 minutes, but I wasn’t concerned about the extra time after all of our accomplishments; leaky pipe disaster averted and the discovery a lifetime supply of Goo Gone! Sounds like success to me!