Get ready. It's about that time. Put on your work gloves, tie your hair back (if need be), put on your old, holey jeans. It's time to Spring Clean! I dread this time every year. I know it needs to be done and yet it's always such a daunting task no matter how clean I keep things during the rest of the year. There comes a time every year when papers are overflowing, small objects are roaming freely, and closets are a disaster area! Don't take everything on at once. You'll just get burned out. Pick one area from each room in your house and tackle it. These goodies from The Container Store will help you on your way to a cleaner home. Let's start in the kitchen:





My number one problem in the Kitchen is overflowing cabinets and I bet most of you would agree. How do you find one tiny ingredient in a cabinet full of cans, bags, and boxes? The best investments (and small ones at that) I've made for my pantry are turntables. Pick double stacked or single turntables and nothing will be out of view again! So goodbye to buying those expensive little spices over and over again because they get lost in the cabinet chaos!




I don't have a whole lot of storage in my one bedroom apartment. What I do have is four teetering stacks of DVD's. Every time I try to pull one out of the stack, the rest come tumbling down. I'm heading to The Container Store to pick up an Overdoor Media Rack. My extensive film collection (does Office Space count?) will stay out of sight until I choose to pop some popcorn and lounge on the sofa for movie night.


Closets can be scary. Old clothes, stinky shoes, that renegade sock that lost its mate. When I buy my first house there is one investment that I can't wait to make. A custom Elfa closet system. You know they're serious when it's called a closet SYSTEM. I half expect it to be motorized! Bring in your measurements and create a whole labyrinth of storage to suit you. You'll never be stuck holding one lone shoe sans partner again.




If there's one thing I can't get enough of it's yummy smelling soaps and shampoos. For some reason Head & Shoulders just doesn't wake me up like Citrus Pomegranate Ylang-ylang Body Wash does. So, to stow all of these bathtime goodies, I use a Tension Pole Shower Caddy. It has tons of space for couples or, ahem, single people with an extreme bath product addiction.





Ah, kids. Wonderful, loving... messy, loud, home destroying. Put your kids in their places (or their stuff at least) with some bright and cheery drawers. If you have a place for everything, everything might make it to its place.*


* Will probably only last for a day or the amount of time your children are at summer camp.

You are so careful when you break out the good stuff that nobody clinks glasses during the toasts and you haven't invited Bob over since the Great Plate Crash of 1986. Take as much care when your china, glasses, and flatware are in storage as you do when they're in use. Get some storage cases to keep them safe until the next holiday. Just remember to give your clumsy sister a paper plate.