I had a three drawer cart that we used in our bedroom when Ellison was in a pack and play in there. We used it for Diapers/Wipes, blankets and PJs. Well now, she is in her own room. I'm still wondering on the wisdom of that decision as I go up and down the hallway 10 times each night, but she is in her own room.
So, it left me with one of my favorite dilemmas....what to do with that fantastic, empty storage container. Hmm...The three drawer things are one of my favorites. I use one for my craft stuff (sewing in one drawer, paper crafts in another and labels/photo paper/ribbons/misc in the third). And I use one for Lillian's play kitchen extras. I use one under my bathroom sink (new/extra products in one drawer, haircutting/styling tools in one and cleaning products in the third). I use one in the girls' closet (too big clothes/shoes for Ellison in one drawer, the same for Lillian in the second and blankets in the other). I use one in my closet (handbags in one, regular shoes in one, special occasion shoes in the other).
Yes, I'm obsessed. Oh, I also have a tiny one under my bathroom sink with makeup/occasional products in it (face makeup in one, specialty eyeshadows/lipsticks in the second and nail polishes in the third). And another tiny one for meds for the girls (pain reliever in one, ointments in the second, and cough/allergy/specialty in the third). And yes, they're mostly all labelled. DUH.
But as you can see, I already use SEVERAL of these, and we are cram packed into this place, so the decision of where to put it now was a hard one. I let it sit empty for about a week while I pondered it. Then, it came to me, I wanted it in the kitchen. Ellison has started babyfood. Which of course means about 60 jars a month of the stuff as well as cheerios, puffs, mum-mum's, etc. I wanted it all in a drawer, rather than the shelf it was currently on. I took my life (and my eyeballs) into my own hands everytime I tried to grab one, and only one, jar down from the shelf that was above my head. No more!
But..as I said, we are cram packed into this place, kitchen/pantry included. However, I had the perfect use for these drawers so I was on a mission. I was literally ready to put these drawers on top of our counter if need be. But the man wasn't too thrilled with that idea.
But wait, the lowest shelf of our pantry looked like it was going to be perfect height to just slide the drawers under it. Well, almost. And by almost I mean, it was too tall, by about a quarter of an inch. Yes, really. I was SO mad. I tried at the ends of the shelf incase the middle was sagging down at all, nope, still 1/4inch too tall. I finally lifted and pushed and squeezed those drawers under there, but then the pressure and weight on the drawers made them unable to open.
Well that doesn't work. There was no place else. We have tons of wasted space on top of our washer/dryer but we can't set anything on top of them, as it will ruin the calibration or something and create an annoying noise and necessitate a service call. One day, in our own home, we will have a countertop above them.
Anywho, I decided to make it R's problem. I told him what I wanted and told him to "make it work" anywhere in the kitchen/pantry/even dining room area. He immediately became overcome by testosterone and started trying to tear apart my precious drawers. I may have gone a little nuts but he assured me, so lovingly, "its fine, go away, I'll do it."
Hrumph.
Except, in five minutes, he said, "come here, I did it". He had taken the top drawer off, (which I didn't know you could do without ruining the whole thing). Now, it fit under the bottom shelf but left a random drawer. Thankfully, I had just cleaned out and re-organized the pantry (shocker, huh?), so I had some shelf space up above.
So...without further ado, my life changing project.
Two drawers on the floor of the pantry, one for baby food stuff and one for Lillian. All of her snacks go in there, either in their individually wrapped packages or in my self divided (earth killing) Ziplock bags, holding one portion of things like animal crackers, teddy grahams and goldfish. I used the third drawer on the higher shelf for all of R's snacks...obviously completely lacking in nutritional value.
The life changing part....Lillian can get herself something. When we're running out the door and she's "STARVING". When I'm in the shower and she's "gonna die I so hungry". When its 5am and "its light so I hunnry, Mommy." She knows (and miraculously obeys) that she is not allowed to open the drawer unless I tell her it is okay. She is allowed to pick any one thing from the drawer. I do have things such as suckers and smartees in there, but for the most part she goes for graham crackers and cereal and granola bars.
I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how this has worked so well that I did the same thing in my fridge. Lillian now has a drawer all to herself. It has cheesesticks, apples, lunchables, baggies of grapes, ham cubes, etc. She LOVES yogurt but so much that I refuse to buy individual sizes so the big bucket is up top in the fridge.
Now, when she asks to get something from "my drawer", she can go to the fridge OR the pantry, and pick any one thing.
I LOVE IT and it works for me!
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