• Home
  • ABOUT
    • About Me
    • FEATURED
    • LINK PARTIES
  • Policies
    • PRIVACY POLICY
    • DISCLAIMER & TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
    • DISCLOSURE POLICY
    • COPYRIGHT POLICY
  • CONTACT
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube

Refined Rooms

Organize | Design | Inspire

  • BLOG
  • Organize
    • Organizing Project Gallery
    • By Space
      • Bathroom
      • Bedroom
      • Closet
      • Command Center
      • Craft Space
      • Dropzone
      • Garage
      • Home Office
      • Kitchen
      • Mudroom
      • Pantry
    • Organizing Process
    • Habits & Routines
    • Organizing Products & Tools
    • Paper
    • Photos
    • Information
    • Kids and Families
    • Holidays
    • Preparedness
  • Decorate
    • Decorating Project Gallery
      • Room Reveals
      • One Room Challenge
    • Tips & Tricks
    • Tools & Inspiration
    • Shopping Guides
    • Home Improvement
    • Home Staging
  • Be Productive
    • Productivity Processes
    • Productivity Tools
  • Challenges
    • The Organize and Refine Your Home Challenge
    • The 40 Bags In 40 Days Declutter Challenge
    • The 10-Week Digital Photo Organizing Challenge
    • The One Pile at a Time Paper Declutter Challenge
    • The Organize Your Holiday Challenge
  • SHOP
  • PRINTABLE VAULT

BECOME A VIP

GET ACCESS TO MY ORGANIZING PRINTABLES VAULT

By opting in, you agree to receive my newsletter and ongoing resources. Unsubscribe at any time.
You are here: Home / Organize / Organizing Process / ORGANIZING PLASTIC WARE: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

ORGANIZING PLASTIC WARE: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE

Today it’s all about organizing plastic ware. Oh yes. I’m going there. One of the most common scenarios I come across as a professional organizer is the cabinet/drawer filled with untamed plastic ware.

Raise your hand if you have one of these:

Organizing your kitchen? Use this step-by-step guide to organize your plastic ware via Refined Rooms

I’m not sure what is behind our obsession to hold onto every plastic container that we’ve ever come in contact with, but I’m here to tell you that EPWS (Excessive Plastic Ware Syndrome) is an all-too-common problem in our homes. If I had to offer just one piece of advice on the subject, it would be this:

Keep only the required number of containers that you need to store one week’s worth of leftovers.

Since EPWS is such a common challenge in kitchen organization, I’ve developed 2 foolproof methods for tackling this problem in clients’ homes. Method 1 is to simply recycle all of the existing collection of plastic ware and invest in a new set (can you say instant gratification?). Method 2 is the less-expensive, but more time-consuming choice, and the one that I’m sharing with you today.

Organizing your kitchen? Use this step-by-step guide to organize your plastic ware via Refined Rooms

1. REMOVE ALL CONTAINERS FROM THE STORAGE AREA

As in any organizing project, clearing out the space to be organized is the first step in the process. As we began to tackle this space, the client stated that this was the first time in over 25 years that this cabinet had been emptied!

Organizing your kitchen? Use this step-by-step guide to organize your plastic ware via Refined Rooms

 

2. TOSS CONTAINERS THAT ARE ORPHANS, DAMAGED, “MYSTERY” & “UNI-TASK”

 Once the entire contents of the cabinet are sprawled out over a large flat surface, begin to match lids with containers. Look for lids that don’t fit any containers, and for containers without lids (i.e., Orphans).

You may come across containers that are cracked, cloudy, and/or scratched. These damaged containers should be recycled or repurposed for a function other than food storage, since damaged containers may enable harmful chemicals from the plastic to leech into food. Orphan containers can also be repurposed for containing small household items, or you can choose to recycle them.

Organizing your kitchen? Use this step-by-step guide to organize your plastic ware via Refined Rooms

I also recommend that you get rid of any container that is not clear (i.e., “Mystery Containers”). Too often, the leftovers contained in the recycled Country Crock container go uneaten because people mistakenly assume that there’s butter and not leftovers in this container. You greatly increase the likelihood of consuming your leftovers if they are able to be seen in clear containers.

As we examined the contents of my client’s cupboard, we chuckled when we came across some vintage containers. One was made specifically for storing a Velveeta cheese log, and the other was shaped like a piece of pie. Specialized “uni-task” containers such as these should be recycled, since you can just as easily store your Velveeta or pie slice in a plain rectangular container.

 

3. SORT LIKE A PRO

The next step in the organizing process is to sort the containers by size. Ultimately, your plastic ware collection should contain a variety of sizes to suit your food containment needs. Once you sort by small, medium, and large sizes, it’s easy to see where you may need to whittle down your current collection.

Organizing your kitchen? Use this step-by-step guide to organize your plastic ware via Refined Rooms

In the case of this particular client, she had only a couple of large size containers, but she had an excessive number of medium-size containers. We decided upon a reasonable number to keep for each size of container, selected the best of each category, and set the remaining containers aside to be repurposed.

 

4. CONTAINERIZE YOUR CONTAINERS

Once you have culled through the collection and have determined the “keepers”, the final step in the process is to determine how best to store your plastic ware. For this particular client, we decided to store the small, medium, and large containers separately in larger plastic bins (nested as much as possible to maximize space), along with the matching lids.

Depending on the number of containers in the collection, and the size/configuration of the drawer or cabinet that will house the collection, I have also set up systems in which containers are stored together in a nested fashion, with lids stored separately in a bin.

 

5. PLACE YOUR CONTAINERS BACK IN THE STORAGE AREA

This client’s plastic ware was located in a deep, lower corner cabinet. Now, when she needs to access her food storage containers, she simply grabs the appropriate bin (which is clearly labeled) and retrieves a container/lid that will accommodate that evening’s leftovers.

Organizing your kitchen? Use this step-by-step guide to organize your plastic ware via Refined Rooms

After the plastic ware was sorted, purged, and organized, there was plenty of room in the cabinet for additional small appliances, and a “baking kit” that we created during the kitchen organizing process. Since items tend to get lost in the far back area of deep corner cabinets, we placed labels inside the kitchen shelves to remind the client what was being stored in those areas.

Voila, EPWS no more!

Looking for more kitchen organization tips? Be sure to check out these posts:

Kitchen organization - organizing your kitchen countertops via Refined Rooms
Tips for Decluttering Kitchen Countertops
Check out these kitchen food storage organization tips on the Organize & Refine Your Home Challenge on the Refined Rooms blog
Food Storage Organization
Top 10 "No Brainer" items to toss during your kitchen declutter session via Refined Rooms
10 “No Brainer” Things to Toss During Your Kitchen Declutter
Kitchen Utensil Drawer Organization

home command center for household papers located in kitchen area.
Kitchen Command Center Organization
Person examining the expiration date on a spice bottle.
A Kitchen Speed Decluttering Tool
organizing recipes in the Summer Shred Paper Declutter Challlenge @ RefinedRoomsLLC.com
Organizing Recipes

 

Photo credit: Image © Depositphotos.com /design56

Ready to get epically organized?

Get access to 100+ printable pages to help you organize your home and life!

Welcome, Insider!! Look for a welcome email that includes the password for my free resource library full of organizational printables created just for my subscribers!! ** If you don't see it initially, please check your SPAM folder **

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

Kitchen// Organize// Organizing Process// Organizing Project Gallery1 Comment

« DON’T HAVE SPACE FOR A HOME OFFICE? THINK AGAIN!
What’s Behind That Door? »

Comments

  1. Braden Bills says

    March 27, 2020 at 11:46 am

    I want to make sure that I’m able to store all of my things properly. It makes sense that I would getting a plastic storage bins would be beneficial. I’ll make sure that I have ways to organize them properly. That way, I don’t have to worry about losing them.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?

Headshot and About description Natalie Gallagher and Refined Rooms.

FOLLOW ME ON BLOGLOVIN’

Follow

SEARCH BY CATEGORY

COPYRIGHT

I love it when you share my tips, ideas and inspiration! Please keep in mind that all images and text on this site are the property of Refined Rooms, unless otherwise stated (regardless of whether photos are watermarked or not). Feel free to use one image, provided that a link back to my original post is included. Please do not remove any watermarks, crop, or edit any of my images without first obtaining written permission from me. All free printables are for personal use only. Pinning is always welcome and appreciated! Thank you!

DISCLOSURE

This site contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience (which means if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission, but it won’t cost you a penny more). Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © Refined Rooms 2021 · Savory theme by Restored 316 | Site Designed by Courtney Kirkland

Privacy Policy