Easily Organize Your Cleaning Supplies

Easily Organize Your Cleaning Supplies

Oh, cleaning. You are not my favorite task. Sometimes I wish little elves would just invade my house and take care of you for me. Okay, not really. That might be creepy. But it is true that cleaning is not my favorite thing ever. Organizing, yes. Cleaning, not so much.

One of the reasons I’ve been struggling with sticking to my cleaning schedule was because my cleaning “stuff” was scattered about the house in random cabinets, so when the lovely Jen over at I Heart Organizing issued a “Clean House!” mini-challenge, I took the opportunity to finally whip my cleaning supplies into shape. Here’s what I started with:

Cleaning Stuff Before

Yes, the area under my kitchen sink {bottom photo} was completely embarrassing. The sad thing was that I had all the supplies I needed on hand, but I had never taken the time to organize them, so every time I went to clean I ended up wandering all over the house looking for what I needed. Talk about a waste of time!

My mission was to organize, label, and redistribute my cleaning supplies in order to streamline my cleaning process so that I would be more motivated to stick to my cleaning schedule. I started by gathering up everything that I had on my dining room table so I could take inventory.

Cleaning Stuff Gathered

I used containers I had on hand to organize my supplies. If you don’t have cleaning caddies, you could use other plastic storage bins or even get creative and upcycle a cardboard box you have lying around. {Small diaper boxes would be perfect since they already have handles and would be easy to take with you while you’re cleaning!}

I then designated containers for each of the areas I wanted to store my supplies: under the kitchen sink {one for dishwashing supplies and one for general cleaning}, in the guest bathroom, and in the downstairs half bath. I made pretty little labels for each bin using washi tape and my beloved label-maker.

Cleaning Caddy Labeled

I then redistributed my cleaning supplies, making sure the items I needed for each area of the house were placed in the cleaning caddy closest to that area. I put a full set of bathroom cleaning supplies upstairs and another full set downstairs so I no longer have an excuse to procrastinate on cleaning the bathrooms. {Darn!} I made sure I had glass cleaner on each level of the house to take care of the windows and made sure each caddy was fully stocked with cleaning cloths and multi-purpose cleaners.

Then I went a little organizing-crazy. {I was on a roll, okay?! ;)} To try to ensure that my supplies remained in their newly-organized state, I made an inventory card listing what all belonged in each caddy and attached it to the sides of the bins.

Cleaning Caddy Inventory Card

A little much? Maybe, but if cute labels and tags will make me more motivated to whip out my cleansers and rubber gloves, so be it! And now that everything has its own little spot, I will no longer be running all over the house like a crazy person trying to find whatever cleaning supply I need at the moment. WIN!!

Organized Cleaning Caddies

Aaaaahhhh…. So. Much. Better!!! Let’s review, shall we?

Tips for Organizing Cleaning Supplies

This certainly isn’t the only way to organize cleaning supplies, but it has worked really well for me! I may even start to enjoy cleaning the toilets now that my bins are so pretty and organized. {Okay, probably not, but a girl can dream, right? ;)}

How do you keep your cleaning supplies organized and easily accessible?

New Sign Off

26 Comments

  1. now at home mom says:

    great tips and ideas Abby! I love your cleaning caddies! 🙂 I keep mine in baskets under the sink but not as organized as yours! I love the idea of labeling the caddy; I would need to get a new caddy now and I need to remember to put my rubber gloves inside the caddy too! 🙂 Hope you are having a great day Abby!

    1. abbylawson says:

      Thank you, Ingrid! There’s always something we can organize and label, right?! 🙂 Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  2. Liz Taylor says:

    Ok, I would be embarrassed for you to see how my cleaning supplies are organized. haha. Great ideas though. I’m new to the blogging world and came across yours; hope to read more soon. xoxo.

    1. abbylawson says:

      Lol! We all have our areas…you should see our garage right now. It is a total and utter disaster! Thanks for stopping by my blog, Liz! Have a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  3. Bethany the ngnrdgrl says:

    Abby, Great tips! I think I need a little help with my cleaning organization too. Although, being in an apartment makes it a harder excuse needing to round up the cleaning supplies. When your cleaning elves start, could you send them my way? I think I need their help more than the organization. Haha! 😀 hope you had a great weekend! Hugs, my friend!

    1. abbylawson says:

      I will definitely share my cleaning elves! 😉 I’m trying to teach the C’s to be my little cleaning elves, but they are just not having it. Actually, they are more like the disaster elves, lol. Thanks so much for stopping by, Bethany! Hope you’re having a great week! Hugs!

      ~Abby =)

  4. I think we’re on the same page here! Love organizing, hate cleaning. I took on Jen’s challenge too and created a mini cleaning schedule. Crossing my fingers it keeps me motivated to keep our house clean!

    1. abbylawson says:

      I totally hear ya–I can make list after list of the cleaning I need to do, but then procrastinate ’til the end of time on the actual cleaning! Here’s to hoping we can motivate ourselves enough to actually do it! 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by, Miss Chaney! Have a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  5. Great tips, Abby! I bet it feels much better to be organized.

    1. abbylawson says:

      Thanks, Brandi! It does, especially if my two little guys manage to leave things organized, lol! Thank you so much for stopping by. Have a great week!

      ~Abby =)

  6. Lauren @ The Thinking Closet says:

    Oooo, I feel ya girl. I would rather organize than clean any day…so organizing my cleaning supplies in order to motivate me to clean? Score! You should feel very proud of the finished product here, Abby. I think you’re in the .1% of people who have organized bins beneath their kitchen and bathroom cabinets. I want to join that .1% now thanks to you!

    1. abbylawson says:

      Lol! Thanks so much, Lauren! I will pretty much label anything that will sit still long enough, even if it’s toilet bowl cleaner. 🙂 Thanks so much for reading. Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  7. Pingback: A Happy Home is an Organized Home Part II- Under Kitchen Sink | Practical Happyness
  8. Katie Goldsworthy says:

    Great ideas! I have some cleaning supplies I need to organize. Thanks for linking it up at Monday Funday!

    1. abbylawson says:

      Thank YOU for hosting, Katie! I’m so glad you stopped by. Have a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  9. Christine says:

    I really have to do that.. and soon! I keep putting it off!

    Thanks so much for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer… From Dream To Reality last week! Looking forward to partying with you again tomorrow evening!

    1. abbylawson says:

      Lol…it is definitely one of those projects that you can just close the cabinet doors and ignore for a while, but I just couldn’t take it any longer! Thanks so much for stopping by, Christine! Have a great night!

      ~Abby =)

  10. Clean Popo says:

    Having your supplies organized and well labeled definitely helps to speed up the cleaning process. Nice pictures too! 🙂

    1. abbylawson says:

      If it has the Clean Popo stamp of approval, I must be doing something right! 😉 Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! Have a wonderful weekend!

      ~Abby =)

  11. Pingback: How I Organized My Whole Life | Just a Girl and Her Blog
  12. Louise Bruce says:

    Hi Abby

    I’ve written about your blog on our Facebook page today. Really fun page!

    Keep up the good work!

    Louise

    1. abbylawson says:

      Thanks so much, Loise! I’m flattered! Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

      ~Abby =)

  13. Excellent tips. I really need to spend some time and organize all the cleaning supplies cause I can hardly find anything in that mess.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks, Amanda! Happy organizing!

      ~Abby =)

  14. Barbara Harris says:

    hi Abby,

    Really great tips and I thorougly enjoyed your photography as well. I had no idea you could make cleaning products pretty. You have inspired me. I also really love the chalkboard cleaning schedule. Fantastic idea.

    Regards,
    Barbara Harris

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thanks so much, Barbara! So glad it was helpful for you. Hope you’re having a wonderful week! <3

      ~Abby =)

Comments are closed.