I Wasted Eight Dollars - What Did Surely Take Apart Now

 Much to Kevin's dismay, I have pulled apart another cupboard.  This time he walked into the house with a tired "NOW what are you doing?"

I've talked about the junk cupboard before.  I will try to find the post and link it here but we've met me so, please don't hold your breath.

Most people have a junk drawer.  Or a spare closet or a garage.  We have a junk cupboard.  It's a weird space next to the refrigerator, which oddly was a feature for the location of the telephone. I know, times have changed. The word you might be looking for is Quaint.

Previously, there were just two big plastic bins that held everything.  Poorly.  One of the bins was stuff we used frequently enough.  It held the label maker, tools, stuff to hang things.  The other was "I don't know what this is except if I throw it away, I will need it tomorrow."  Then there were the bigger items that don't fit into a bin: the backup thermostat, the toilet repair kit.

There's also one small basket that just holds batteries.  It worked perfectly until I heard on the radio about a battery daddy and now I want one.  I don't need it, I just want it.

Finally, there's the bottom shelf.  Like the other kitchen cupboards, these are deep.  So essentially, it's useless to me because I have to lay on the floor to reach anything in the back of it.  It holds candles.  As discussed previously, I have way too many candles.  And the air fresheners for the house that goes into outlets.  And the air fresheners that Kevin INSISTED he needed for the vehicles. (that now only I use so there's that)

I had hoped to do the same thing that was done in the main bathroom cupboards.  Same boxes, same general configuration.   After Friday Walkies, I stopped at the dollar store I don't go to near groceries, hoping to get the same style boxes.  Nope.  AND all of the storage bins were cleared out; probably because start of school.

Not to be thwarted and yes, a little impulsive, I bought something different.  They are more designed for shelving in a garage but I thought it could work.  I took out everything and put it onto the island.  That poor island has had a lot of attention lately.

What, you don't have a flamethrower in your house? 

The process actually went pretty quickly, it's one of my favorite things to do: sorting and organizing.

As I progressed though, I realized that there were more boxes needed than I had imagined.  I set that worry aside and continued.  Once everything was sorted, I started to put the boxes into the cupboard.  And, big surprise: fail.  They were too long.  The one reason that I liked these boxes is the reason it failed: they were too long.  I couldn't even alternate lengthwise and not-lengthwise.  They just wouldn't fit. 

Then I figured maybe I could utilize the stacking feature.  Well, no.  Shockingly enough, something from the dollar store Did Not Work.  They were supposed to be able to be interlocked, like legos.  Not so much.  Now I'm standing in the middle of the kitchen, frustrated.

Of course this is when Kevin comes inside.  Of course.  He reiterated what I just wrote: "Something from the dollar store isn't working? Who would have thought THAT?  Why don't you just go to the *bigboxstore*."  Sometimes I wonder if he knows me at all, lol.

Well, he had come in from the shop to tell me that he had to go into town.  Perfect timing, you just thought.  Except he needed to go the opposite direction of me.  Or at least of where I WANTED to go.  After a moment's thought, he took Lucy and headed one way and I got into my truck and headed the other way.

I walk into "my" dollar store confidently, knowing I'll find what I needed; many of which were there last week.  And, *sad clown music*, there was nothing.  Sigh.  I walked through the store because sometimes items will be placed randomly throughout the store.  I did eventually find some and...they were fluorescent PINK.  No.

You may have just thought "But you needed them, why does the color matter? They're just in a cupboard."  And you're not wrong.  Except, I am a child and know that I would be annoyed every time I opened that cupboard and felt the glow of neon pink bask back at me.

I wanted the blue ones.

I walked back to the Shelves of Disappointment to see if there was anything I could MacGyver together.  Of course there were the clear shoebox style boxes with the lids no one ever uses.  Reluctantly, I took four of those.  There was one box similar to what I wanted so I took it "just in case".  

Finally as I'm standing there, shifting from one foot to the other because now the a.d.d. is fighting with the anxiety in my head, it occurs to me over the din, that: The Boxes Don't Have to Be Uniform.  There is no law that states the boxes all have to be the same.  

So I grabbed two cubbie sized baskets to add with the shoebox ones. Then I chose multiple sizes of these baskets in black:

Now I'm feeling hope seep back into my body.  Then the universe nudged me to notice the desk organizers that were just sitting there on the shelf, where they didn't belong.  For some reason I am obsessed with these and have used them a few ways.  "THE SPICE CUPBOARD" my brain yelled at me.  So I grabbed three of them and off I went.

There are two kinds of cashiers at these stores: mute or chatty waitress style.  I had the chatty style.  She asked if I found everything I needed and even though I NEVER do this, I said "Well, not really.  I was hoping to find some boxes that were here about a week ago."  She looked at me with sympathy, as if to say "You silly, simple girl."  Instead she said "What kind?"   I explained what I wanted and she immediately turned and cast her eyes to the "clearance" part of the dollar store. (I know, right?)  I laughed and said "I saw those. Thanks but no thanks.  Pink is not my jam."  She laughed and said "I understand."

THEN she said  "You could go to the website."  I told her that I didn't ever think to look at their website.  So, here's the trick: you can only buy in bulk.  Remember that because the holidays are on their way before we know it.

Because it was raining, like really raining, and I had just suffered defeat and perhaps victory, I swung through the starbucks to get a treat for the drive home.  Coffee and chocolate can fix almost everything.

I returned home and basically started again.  At least this time, the junk that could be tossed was already gone and everything was generally sorted.

You can't see it well in photos but here.  I used three narrow bins in the rear of the cupboard for tools, extension cords, and nails & command strips.  The basket on top is the label maker that is currently being used incessantly so it's just perched there for now.

The battery box works so well that I didn't switch it, even though it doesn't match.  The box to the left is the plug-ins and air fresheners things and to the right is supplies for the wood stove.

Clearly, from the photo, I was over this project by the time I got to the candles.  I will return to that later. The sticks are anti-theft things for the windows that don't fit nicely into any place for storage, and the stuff behind is the larger items that won't fit into bins. And the slidy things that every house should have.

I will probably label everything eventually, more for Kevin's use than mine. I know where everything is because I put it together.  Also, it won't stop the "Where is the..." so we'll see. 

Right now I call it a win. Now we'll see if it works, it looks good in theory.