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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

Blog entries for the category Kitchens/Pantries

A Sleek Transformation

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, September 21, 2011

This was a recent organizing project I did in the city. Our main goal was to have a place for everything and at the end of the day we had just that. We created lots of zones for mail, shoes by the front door, loose change, books, cleaning products and kitchen items. I’m very proud of the individual that took iniative and has transformed their...

Kitchen Cabinet Organizers

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Corral Loose Items Inside Kitchen CabinetsToo often, kitchen cabinets and pantry shelves get littered with seasoning packets, leftover Halloween candy, bags of grains and beans, Kool Aid packets and granola bars. No one likes finding a old piece of Dove chocolate stuck to the back of their kitchen cabinet. If loose items get scattered about o...

The Most Difficult Area of the Kitchen

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, March 28, 2011

Maximizing the Cabinet Space Under the Sink The cabinets under the kitchen sink in my opinion are probably the hardest part of the kitchen to organize. Pipes and the garbage disposable always make it tricky to maximize the space. It’s always dark and sometimes damp. Nine times out of ten, it’s jam packed with plastic grocery bags and cl...

Hiding Your Command Center

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, February 28, 2011

Keeping Your Home Functional, Not UnrealisticFirst off, what’s a command center? I like to think of it as the paper hub or work station of the family. Ladies of the household (wives, moms, caregivers) are usually running these centers and are in charge of all the stuff that enters the house. It doesn’t surprise me that most women want t...

Organizing Coffee

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Here’s my kitchen cabinet Here’s my messy coffee Here’s my organized coffee ...

Kitchen Question from a Reader

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, February 7, 2011

I just found your site/blog and am loving it. I have a big problem with my messy kitchen. As you say, it is the place where EVERYTHING lands, kids’ papers, notes from phone conversations to be discussed with hubby later, forms to fill out and of course the mail, including periodicals. It has also become the place where I keep bags of m...

Answering a Reader

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Recently, a reader submitted this question: I want to organize my plastic containers and I have a very small kitchen; lids never match the bottoms. What can I do with all those extra lids that don’t have bottoms? Is there a way to repurpose them? These are great questions. I struggle with keeping all my plastic containers from topplin...

Sorting Mail

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, September 2, 2010

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Storing Cereal

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, July 28, 2010

 So I was shopping for cereal today at Jewel. That’s all my husband eats for breakfast day after day. I get bored with it, but never the less, there I was thinking of cereal and I was reminded of cereal containers to organize your cereal. The containers help keep the cereal fresh and can save space if you buy cereal in bulk or have …

Organizing Coupons

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, June 30, 2010

From Clipping Coupons to Acutally Using Them....So you’re a coupon clipper? Do you clip for groceries? tolietries? or resturants and experiences? So many clients end up asking me how I organize my coupons so I thought I’d share that today with you in this blog post. First off, if you don’t really want to use coupons, don’t f…

Cleaning out the Pantry

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Cleaning out the pantryHow to read expiration dates …

Simple Kitchen Solutions

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, January 18, 2010

Rearranging and Tweaking Results in an Organized KitchenToday, I want you to take a closer look at your kitchen. Where are you wasting space? What is driving you nuts? How do you waste time in your kitchen instead of utilizing it? Many of the solutions lie in a few tips and tricks while outfiting and organizing your kitchen. Try these out of the bo…

Buying In Bulk

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, December 14, 2009

Buying in bulk- when does it make sense?-if you have a family of 4 or more-if you are buying paper goods- toliet paper, paper towels, etc.  -if you have enough SPACE to store the bulk items-if you know your family likes and consumes that product/brand. Don’t take chances. Only buy what you absolutely know they’ll eat up or use up.&…

A Clutter- Free Kitchen

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, August 24, 2009

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Organizing Recipes

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, August 21, 2009

Yesterday we talked about meal planning. Here’s some tips on organizing recipes.   Storage options for loose recipe pages or cards: For larger magazine recipe clippings or printed pages from websites, slip them into sheet protectors and then into a binder. They will be protected and you avoid the time spent rewriting them onto cards…

Meal Planning- Thumbs up or down?

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, August 20, 2009

On a pretty regular basis, I try to follow other organizing blogs to see what people are writing about around the country. Some of them I find pretty interesting. One topic I see on a regular basis is Monday Meal Planning. It is pretty popular and I can’t believe how many people really sit down and plan out meals for the week. I probably shou…

A Solution for Crowded Countertops

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, August 5, 2009

On my wesbite, I have a section to Ask Amber Anything. A reader recently wrote in to ask how to clear clutter off her countertops in her kitchen. Read her question and my answer here.…

Ditch the Junk Drawer

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, May 11, 2009

When we moved into our new home about 5 months ago, my sister was helping me unpack my kitchen. She asked which drawer would be my junk drawer. I replied- “None of them. I don’t do junk drawers. “ She was surprised but it’s true-I don’t like the idea of a junk drawer. So there’s no junk drawer in my kitchen.…