Creating a Cleaning Closet

Saving money on natural cleaning supplies and having a nice place to store cleaning rags has helped cleaning  to be more enjoyable, but there is still something bothering me - the mess under the kitchen sink. All of our cleaning products get stored in that dark hole along with dishwasher detergent, a dish drying mat, pet shampoos, pet brushes, bug sprays, squeegees.... ugh, the list goes on and on. When I try to get out the furniture polish, I knock over three other bottles. It's just not working.

I mentioned here that our home is not lacking in storage space but that space is not being utilized as well as it could be. We have a pantry in our kitchen along with an ample amount of cabinet and drawer space. In addition, we have a nice closet with built in shelves that, up until now, has been stashed with a variety of miscellaneous items including plastic bags, reusable bags, dog food, small kitchen appliances, light bulbs, extra paper towel and bulk kitchen items, a mop, a fly swatter...ugh, again.

Our cleaning products were stashed under the sink, our cleaning rags were in the linen closet, our vacuum was in a closet in the living room, and our mop was in the kitchen closet. And I call myself organized....? A revamp was long overdue! I decided it made sense to store all of our cleaning products and supplies in the kitchen closet. It had the most space and it's located central to the rest of the house. Here is a before picture of the space:

Again, not completely a disaster, but not efficient. I started by emptying the closet completely. I wiped down the shelves and hand-washed the floor. It was looking better already! Then I attacked the organization of it all. I sorted through the light bulbs, many of which were left to us by the previous owners, and put all the ones that we'd never use into a donate pile. The rest got put into a long, flat plastic tote and stashed in the bottom of the linen closet, under the basket of paper products.

The bread maker got moved downstairs because we NEVER use it. I couldn't quite convince myself to donate it yet because I'd like to use it, but if it sits downstairs unnoticed for a bit, I will commit to getting rid of it. A couple other kitchen appliances got moved elsewhere in the kitchen. I decided to leave the crock pot in the closet because it's the easiest place to access it. It's heavy and bulky and I use it often, so storing it up high or deep in a cabinet doesn't make sense.

Next, I pulled out all of cleaning supplies from under the sink. I was so excited to get this space cleaned out that I forgot to take a before picture (sorry!). But here is what was stored in that dark hole:

I sorted through the products and consolidated them accordingly. I cleaned out the cleaning caddy and put the products I wanted to keep (and use often) inside. Then I stashed the cleaning caddy on a shelf in the closet. It fit perfectly! The extra paper towel went back in the cabinet and the mop and broom were hung on existing nails. This left the perfect spot for the vacuum!

Our cleaning schedule hangs on the door and all the products I need are right there! I grabbed the cleaning rags out of the linen closet and put them in this new cleaning closet instead. Take a look under the sink:

It's so bright and clean and happy now. It holds dish washing supplies and some larger rags along with a few miscellaneous cleaning products that don't get used often. The pet supplies got moved to the drawer of our pet food bin, which is working superbly.

This revamp was completely free and it has lessened my stress significantly. Those are the best projects, don't you think?

How do you wrangle your cleaning supplies? Is your under-the-kitchen-sink space a dark hole too?