A Solution for Your Kitchen Baskets

Last week, after returning from Michigan, I finally got to one of those projects that’s been hanging over me for a while – tidying up the pantry.  As you have probably noticed in your own home things have to constantly be straightened or cleaned.

This is the second law of thermodynamics at work.  Now I was impressed when I learned about this law recently because it sounded so grandiose, like something only really smart people talked about or understood.  However, if you put it into everyday words as the book I’m reading called Better than Good did, it becomes something that makes complete sense and applies to everyone, even you.

The second law of thermodynamics simply means that everything will devolve into a state of disrepair or ruin if not kept up.  See?  Real easy definition. 🙂  For example, your house – if you cleaned it once and then left it and never cleaned again, the second law of thermodynamics which states that if we do not maintain something it will fall back or into a state of disrepair, would happen.

Pantries are subject to the second law of thermodynamics.  I clean mine, it gets messy, I clean it again and it still falls into a state of disorder.  It’s something that must be kept up especially if you have some type of work counter in there, as I do.  My work counter holds our grain mill so flour is constantly getting scattered around.  That’s understandable but then things get cluttered, too.

So as I was straightening it up once again, as part of my eat that frog project, I got the inspiration to do something with my pile of baskets which set on the uppermost shelf in my pantry. I have a few too many and they were sometimes quite awkward to get down because they didn’t all nestle into each other and some of the handles would get in the way.  Looking at this picture I can see that at least one basket had been taken down before I snapped this shot.

Maybe it was when we were in Michigan when the seed was planted.  My friend, Lucille had me get a skillet from her secret pantry.  In her pantry she has hung her skillets from nails.

So when I was looking at my basket dilemma, I thought, “Why not hang them on the wall?”

  Above the pantry door was really my only option.

I didn’t have hooks on hand but I did have some nails that were a good size, so I used those and voila!

I really like it!

Yes, I have to use a step-ladder to get them down, but I had to do that before when they were on the upper shelf. I have a step-ladder I keep in there all the time.  You can actually see where I hang it in this picture. I hang the handle on the 2 screws you see there on the left.

In my downstairs pantry I had hung things on the wall a few years ago but I added a couple more items.  After my baskets got a new home, I went around looking for anything else I could hang on the walls.

I was disappointed that I only found 2 more items to hang. 🙂

And a final shot of my baskets new home…

So as an encouragement, do not be discouraged if you clean and then have to do it again and again and again.  It’s the second law of thermodynamics in action and everything is subject to it.  It doesn’t make you a terrible housekeeper it’s just l.i.f.e.  At least that’s what I keep telling myself. 🙂