I get lots of comments and questions on my social media accounts about my organizational abilities. Organizing is a hobby and a passion for me, as well as a survival standard. Many of you may not be aware that my husband and I are the parents of seven (yes, SEVEN!) children. We were foster parents and adopted several of the children we were caring for, as well as two biological sons. So, for many years we had six children that had a wide age spread and our household was very, very busy. We adopted one of our grandchildren a few years ago and she is now seven years old and the only one living at home with us as the others are all adults and some even have families of their own. If I hadn't been organized through those years I literally would have gone insane!
So, having five dogs now doesn't seem so bad, huh?
Because I get a lot of questions, I have decided that I will start an organizing series to share what I do to keep our house running smoothly, as well as not look like it is being run by the dogs.
Firstly, being organized is more for my sanity than the dogs. I have two great passions in my life: a clean, organized home and dogs. Those two battle each other on a daily basis.
To start this series, I am going to share with you a cupboard in our kitchen. This cupboard did not originally start out as The Dog Cupboard, but has evolved over the years.
It is an unassuming looking cupboard next to the trash compactor. (Please note the chewed corner of the cupboard to the left, proof that we have indeed been growing out three puppies in the last two years. There are several corners that look that way). Behind this door are three drawers that keep the bulk of our dog necessities.
Because I love to label things, and because we have a vinyl lettering machine, you will often see that there is rarely confusion over what goes where.
The first drawer is, obviously, the dog food. This is the kibble that is the base of our dogs' daily meals, to which I add various homemade supplements (that is a whole other blog post!). The kibble is stored in this drawer, while the homemade items are kept in the refrigerator.
This bank of drawers and cupboard were built by my husband, lovingly referred to as Shawn-the-Wonder Guy. This first drawer is divided into two sections. I am currently trying to treat a possible food allergy to chicken protein with two of our dogs, so they are eating a salmon based food, which is in the back section. The front holds the food that the two other adult dogs currently do well on. Usually the puppy food is in the back, but has been moved down to the next drawer until I can get this situation resolved.
This is the second drawer. Another thing I am greatly fond of is baskets. I like to corral things together and not have a drawer of chaos rolling all over. One doesn't have to spend a lot of money on baskets. These two came from the Target Dollar Spot and were $3 each. You can also find great ones at The Dollar Tree. A cut down to fit box works just as well also. The Baggie on the right has Finn's puppy kibble. The front basket holds everyone's go-to walking harnesses. Underneath them is a plastic box that holds my grooming supplies of brushes, nail clippers, scissors, etc.
The second basket has the tiny harnesses for Finn and Tallie. It has been a challenge to find ones that fit them, but I am very pleased with the Lil Pals brand! I believe Finn will mature into a size that fits the Puppia ones that the other adult dogs wear, but Tallie is only 3.2 pounds and the smallest size Puppia is still too large for her, so the Lil Pals is working great.
Within this basket is a smaller basket in the back that holds the tooth brushing supplies, the pill cutter, a travel pill box and various other items. The little oval blue basket holds some Cranberry pills left over from a bout of UTI that one of the dogs had last year as well as some tiny collars, again for Finn and Tallie. You will also see not one, but TWO bottles of Bitter Apple. Refer to earlier statement of three puppies in two years....
The last drawer holds clean dog blankets and potty pads (again, three puppies, two years. I should buy stock in these things).
We have a very large kitchen/dining room open floor plan and the dogs are primarily in this area, so to have all of these supplies there makes sense. I realize that I am very blessed to have a large enough kitchen that I can dedicate a whole cupboard to dog-related items, but if you think outside the box, you may find solutions for your needs. Free standing drawers that are available in anything from plastic to wood are available and can sit in a corner.
This is an idea from Pinterest. It looks like it might be in the garage. The supplied link on Pinterest goes to a dead address, so I cannot provide any other information, but I have seen similar type drawers at Ikea, Target, and Walmart.
This cupboard is located in a laundry room. The link for more info about it is below the picture.
Obviously, since I have five dogs, the amount of space I need to store their items is greater than a person with one dog. My hope is that this gives you some ideas, as well as an insight into how I have organized for our household.
As this is the first of a continuing series, I would love to hear from you on anything specific that you would like for me to address. I am always happy to talk dogs or organizing!
