Organizing The No-Sew Shelf

Now that the kitchen bookshelf, which holds all-things-toddler, has been prettified... it needed organizing.  My original plan to trick it out with beautiful storage bins was nixed when I discovered that the kids could easily unload all three bottom shelves.  And when I calculated the cost of said bins.  So I did what I always did as a teacher.  I hit up Walmart and AC Moore.  At Walmart I got 18 coffee storage bins @ $1.97 each, which completely filled up an entire shelf, six across and three deep.  I hated to spend that much, but the bookshelf was free and I needed storage!  The beans, rice and pasta were starting to look comfy in my laundry room...  and I'd rather spend money on storage (which can be reused as the kids grow) than toys (which they have lots of already).  Plus I see us using all the manipulatives for a long time, in lots of ways.  Are you convinced yet?  Me neither.  My thrifty side never shuts up.  If I'd planned it all better I could have waited for a price rollback.  Or eaten a whoooooole lot of cous cous.  But I felt some better when I saw the plastic shoe boxes with lids go on sale at AC Moore @ $0.77 each.  I got 20, and so far I've only used 9 of them.  Lucky for me, there are more storage dilemmas yet to face around here.

With my storage containers bought, I next needed to reset my shelves to maximize space.  Option 1:  Wait for husband and work together.  Option 2:  "Mama do it".   Which I obviously had to do when I thought about little Addison singing it to me.  I broke out my husband's new drill and balanced the shelf with one hand while unscrewing, resetting and screwing it all back in place.  When I discovered how heavy the shelf was I immediately regretted not choosing Option 1.  But I managed to move the top shelf up a few notches and put the screw-top containers up high and the shoe boxes on the second shelf, which now fit them three-high just perfectly.  I also added two screws to the outside edge of the shelf to hang the kids' aprons on.  (Addison's already asking to wear them!)  Then after a little more sorting and rearranging I ended up giving everything a place I was happy with.  Now to think about how to organize those bottom shelves with kid-friendly storage.  Check out the before and afters!