Day 3: Organization - Cabinets

I said she had to clean the table as 1 of her chores... I didn't say how! 

I'm still playing catch-up on the easy ways I've started organizing our home.  Today's topic?

The cabinet.

I don't have a before picture but I can paint a picture for you...

My mother-in-law divorced and, among other things, packed up her 20 year old fine china into storage.  4 years later, her job relocated to Texas and she decided to give me all kinds of stuff I didn't need, including the fine china.  1 year later, I had enough.

What was annoying:

Hubbs refused to eat off of the frilly china (which, by the way, was 20 sets!!) that cluttered my cabinet; it was just taking up space.  There was this loud bang every time someone had to dig a plate from under the stack of bowls.  It was a mess.  

I had black asian-inspired plates,  I had bowls from various sets, more than 30 mugs, all kinds of serveware for Munch and I was fed up!

Note to self:

Why do you have all of this crap in such a tiny space?

Will you ever have 30 people over for coffee?

Do you need 40 plates?

Should the bowls sit on top of plates? 

Dear self,

You're right. It's time.  When you're done, go reward yourself with shoes.

I decided to purchase 2 sets I had been eyeing and, just my luck, they were ON CLEARANCE for $8/each!  It was like a sign from God that it truly was time!  I also purchased 4 plates and 4 bowls for Munch.  She didn't need the 10-15 we had piled up.

When I returned home, I placed the old stuff in a box for donation and placed my new dishes in the cabinet.  Every item had a place and it was awesome.

1 year later, here it is (no prep before the photo because I keepS it realz:

Tips I can offer:

1.  Don't have more plates or bowls than seats around your table.  I didn't need to have SO many plates. I have 6 chairs around my table so 8 is perfect.  

2.  Place like items together.  My bowls on top of my plates made a simple task a noisy pain in the butt.

3.  Buy White... Not only are they pretty BUT it's proven that white plates make food more appealing!

4.  Find it on sale.  Search online for the items, find a coupon or even just "stalk" like I did.

Look, I'm not claiming to be perfect. I seem to clean out our cup cabinet and it just seems to fill up with RANDOMness almost immediately!

Maybe I'll get to that cabinet soon?

Then again, maybe not.

Do you have any tips to offer for cup organization?