Organize Your Home Through the Simple and Enjoyable Art of Canister Collecting

Organizing is Tough!
Household organization can be a tough task even under the best of circumstances. And it's doubly difficult to get organized when space is at a premium! The fact is that a lack of sufficient space seems to be the case these days for increasing numbers of families, who are struggling to make ends meet in an unpredictable economy, and too often finding it necessary to combat spiraling housing costs by cramming more people--and more possessions--into less space.

The Kitchen: A Special Challenge
The kitchen, in particular, presents a special challenge when space is tight and therefore cupboard and counter areas may be insufficient to allow for convenient food storage and efficient meal preparation. With a little imagination, however, the cramped kitchen can be transformed into a highly practical, efficiently functioning, and eminently livable place, at the same time creating a more homey atmosphere and enhancing the attractiveness of the existing decor. Better still, this can be accomplished at minimal expense, without costly renovations--very good news indeed to those of us whose budgets are as tight as our living quarters are!

A Multitude of Containers
When cabinet space is a problem--When isn't it?--many non-perishable foods can be attractively stored in an assortment of canisters, bottles, jars, tins, woven baskets, and nearly any other receptacle of appropriate size and shape that strikes the homemaker's fancy.

I once came across a tall, covered tin that had previously held a bottle of Irish Cream liqueur, and it proved to be the perfect size for storing spaghetti, holding about six pounds of pasta. I have also stored dried beans in two cognac bottles (VSOP, of course!) which, when filled, were heavy enough to double as bookends for my softcover cookbook collection. I've used covered stoneware soup/bean bowls for condiment packets and old-fashioned stoneware jam jars with wire-lock lids for popping corn.

Storing Your Stock of Staples
Other foods that are good candidates for this type of storage (besides the traditional "flour-sugar-coffee-tea" group featured on most canister sets) are such things as the following: corn meal, grits, powdered milk, pancake or biscuit mix, oatmeal or other hot cereals, rice, barley, split peas, lentils, macaroni, egg noodles, nuts, chips, candy, cookies, crackers, and more. You name it! The only limits to what can be done here are the boundaries of the imagination, the types of food in the diet, and the amount of time and degree of desire one possesses to hunt for both beauty and bargains.

Unusually attractive--or attractively unusual--containers can often be purchased (new) at great savings from discount stores or clearance sales or picked up even more cheaply (lightly used) at yard sales, thrift stores, or the local flea market. In fact, many of us will find we already own at least some containers that can be used in this way.

Organizing Your Canister Collection
When a good-sized collection has been accumulated, it may be necessary, in order to avoid confusion and facilitate even greater convenience, to secure a label to the bottom of each container indicating its contents. Also, when needed, directions for preparation may be clipped from packages and either placed inside or attached to the bottom of larger containers--or even filed away separately for later reference.

In most cases, the problem of where to store the receptacles themselves shouldn't be very difficult to overcome--even in smaller apartments. Since they are attractive, they can be prominently displayed on any available flat surface, with nary a hint, in most cases, of their varied--and sometimes less-than-inspiring--contents. Some examples of where to place them are as follows: countertops, open shelves, window sills, utility tables, inside or on top of hutches, and even atop the refrigerator (or microwave, if space allows.) They may even be used inside cupboards to help organize their contents.

Storing Non-Food Items
Needless to say, there are many other things besides food items that are right at home in the appropriate container. Cooking utensils, matches, proofs-of-purchase, coupons and store receipts, notions and other bric-a-brac can be dropped into beer mugs or steins, tea kettles or ceramic teapots, deep or covered baskets, and any number of widely-available and equally-popular tins, including cookie tins or even coffee cans, which may be spray-painted or covered with contact paper, if desired.

Cookie tins (like the ones that imported butter cookies come in) have the added advantage of being stackable, which can prove particularly valuable in little nooks that have lots of headroom but minimal surface area. Again, these can be inconspicuously labeled as necessary. Another tip: Store uncovered receptacles, the contents of which are not meant to be seen, on an upper shelf well above eye level (allowing for those who may be taller than you are!)--unless you have a clever way of masking their contents--or put them where they'll be less noticeable.

Better Organization = Brighter Outlook!
We've all heard the old adage, "a place for everything and everything in its place." Yet we know that living up to this ideal can be a real challenge--particularly in a crowded kitchen! But the good news is that the simple and enjoyable art of canister collecting can brighten the prospects...the atmosphere...and the outlook!

So, what've you got to lose?

Besides the clutter, that is!