Easy Kitchen Organization Tips

I like pretty pictures of pretty things (which likely explains my pinterest obsession).  This post has neither of those things.  Wah waaaahh....

Anyway, what this post does have is two easy tips I used to make my kitchen - and brain - a little less cluttered:

(My new file system)

Can I ask, are we the only family that has an uncontrollable mail problem?  Each day, we receive thousands (okay, exageration) of pieces of new mail that have a way of taking over our kitchen counter and table top.  I had a file box that I kept in a kitchen cabinet that was a solution at one point.  It had a habit of staying in the cabinet and never coming out. 
I bought a pretty organizational system from Pottery Barn that sat on top of the counter.  Pretty, see?

It quickly overflowed with paper and I hid it under the kitchen cabinet.  Never ever to come out......
I was at a friends house one day, asking for a referrral for a contractor, when she said "Sure, I have the contract right here!"  She opened up one of her kitchen cabinets and out rolled a built in filling system with file folder after file folder of neatly typed labels and perfectly orgainzed papers.  It was a feast for my eyes.  (Dramatic much?  I know, I'm in a mood today).  After I saw this system, I HAD TO HAVE ONE. 
I went right to The Container Store to see what they offered in their kitchen organization section.  They had roll out drawers, but those only worked for dishes and such.  Nothing that had the specs for a file system:

See?  Pots.  No Files.

I searched the internet to see how I could turn my kitchen cabinet into a built in file system.  Nothing.  I called my friend desperately to see where she got hers.  It was there when they bought the place.  Darn!  I went to Home Depot and asked the kitchen experts how I could turn my Thomasville Cabinet into a file system.  I couldn't possibly be the first person to want to do this, could I?  The kitchen experts word's exactly "I've been doing this job for ten years, and never has a single person wanted to do this."

Well alright. 

Months went by and my papers kept piling up.  One day I became re-energized and went back to The Container Store determined to make what they had work.  My husband has tools.  I was sure there is something he could do to jigger it up.  What I didn't know, was that the answer was there all along, but the store didn't have it set up as an obvious solution, seeing as though no one has ever wanted to do this before?!?!?!  (Which would render this post useless, no?)

We simply had to buy two of the rollout mechanisims seen below (I can't find them sold on the website individually, but I know they are sold idividually at the store):

This mechanism works with the Elfa Mesh Drawers.  I didn't know that the first time around.  Luckly, the second time around I asked.....  Then, we purchased the Elfa Mesh Drawer that fit our cabinet:

And a set of the Elfa Drawer File Channels:

And there you go, your very own kitchen file system:

 

Not very pretty, but very useful.  You no longer have to have the forsight to build a file system into your kitchen design anymore.  :)

Finally, the other small addition I made to the kitchen is this:



My very real, and un-pretty, shopping list.  I used leftover chalkboard contact paper from this project, and applied it into the inside of our kitchen pantry.  Done.  I no longer forget anything at the store.  If I write it down.  And remember to take a picture.  And then actually look at the list as I shop. 

Do you have any kitchen organizational tips you want to share?  Post them here!