Week 9 of the Weekly Organization Challenge

This is week 9 of The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenge! This week focused on creating a home recycling center (plus dealing with trash). 

I am a little stupid excited about this post (yes, which is AGAIN late). I haven't been this excited about something so small in a long time. I knew the topic of a recycling center and trash was coming up and I was dreading it. For the longest time I had a very disorganized way of dealing with recycling and trash. The Good Husband got a hand me down trash container from his uncle. Basically it is a large, very ugly wooden box that houses the garbage can. Previous to the ugly wooden box, I was begging TGH to build me something similar to this. But he refused and said that it couldn't be done or he didn't have the time or the space or the tools or something. So he brought home the fugly container and thought that would satisfy me. It didn't.

You notice no photo of the fugly thing? Yeah. B.c it is that fugly. I am ashamed it lives in our kitchen.

So for months our small trash can lived in the fugly box, taking up less than half the space in it, since it was built for another trash can which we didn't have. All of our recycling - paper and cans and plastic - were stored in paper bags next to the trash in the fugly box. And I hated that damn thing every time I had to throw something away.

I wanted a nicer container. Even better, I wanted a pull out one that all the nice homes have. So I lurked around the internet and found this baby. And she was beautiful and it was a happy day. But I am cheap and didn't want to spend that much money. Weeks went by and I wondered how I could get rid of the fugly container and trash can and have a recycle center.

Then it dawned on me to remove the last two shelves of the pantry, the ones that housed our pantry surplus, canning goods and 'taters and onions, and put the recycle center there. Yet, I waited to buy it. What would I do with the canning supplies? What would I do with the 'taters?

And then last weekend when it was Mother's Day and our anniversary, TGH took me on a romantic trip to Lowe's and we bought the containers using a 20% off coupon and he came home and installed them. And it was a beautiful and happy day.

On the bottom of my pantry, I now have a marvelous pull out recycle center - with lids!!

The white can I use for paper and cardboard. The green container I use for cans and plastic. We have to keep the glass in a trash can in the garage since the city only collects glass a few times a year.

But even with the awesomeness of the new recycle center, I had to deal with the problem of where to put the 'taters and the onions. Then a good friend pinned this on Pinterest and I found my answer.

I originally wanted all three to hang on the back of the pantry door, but there was no room for the onion and 'tater bag once we got the recycle center installed. So the garlic and shallot bag hangs on the pantry door.

And the onions (left) and 'taters (right) live inside the upper pantry that holds all the crackers and cereal and chips. I used Command hooks so I didn't even need to drill a hole.

I have solved the problem of a shitty recycle center, by replacing it with a new, efficient one and I found a great way to store my produce in my pantry.

The trash can, however, still lives in that fugly box until I can get TGH to make me a nicer one. We just ignore it for now.

Organize along with me in The Good Wife's Weekly Organization Challenges