People tend to think the time of year to clean up and reorganize things in their house and kitchen to be in the spring. I’m starting a campaign for people to start reconsidering it for now as well. This is the time where it’s getting cool outside so we’re getting cozy in our homes and we start baking a lot more often. Here we are at the end of October/beginning of November. This is the perfect time before the real holiday craziness hits to take a look at your cabinets and see where you can improve things a bit so you can spend time quickly finding the ingredients and pots and pans you‘ll need easily, rather than being frustrated and cussing out your spice cabinet because you’ve spent the last 10 minutes looking for the dang nutmeg.

Here are a few really great, easy tips to get more storage out of your kitchen cabinets so everything is really visible and easy to find.

1. Make a spice rack with a tension rod.

Add an inexpensive tension rod close to the back of the cabinet and it instantly creates a shelf for small containers. This is most likely just dead space in the cupboard anyway so I think this is a brilliant idea.

2. Add Hooks to the Doors.

Now this one is no secret. I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures before the hooks on the inside of the cupboard door with measuring cups and spoons but this person added hooks for the attachments for the Kitchenaid, which is perfect for finding them quickly and easily for baking season. Bring on the pumpkin bread!

3. Steal File Holders From Your Home Office

File holders make great organizers in the kitchen. Use one to stack pans, platters, cutting boards, and more. What I thought was cool about this picture was using it horizontally! While all those would stack nicely within each other, it’s actually easier to have them separate like this so you don’t have to stack and unstack each and every time you need a Pyrex dish. Take that extra time you saved from finding and unstacking and play a game of real Jenga instead of playing it with your dishes. It’s much more fun playing it with your kids than your baking pans.

4. Adjust Your Shelves

When was the last time you adjusted your kitchen cabinets’ shelves? You don’t need to keep them where they are just because it’s where they’ve always been. If you have a lot of wasted space between the top of your items and the next shelf, consider moving the top one down. Or if you are storing bottles on their sides (or on the counter) because they don’t fit on a shelf, move some around so there’s room.

5. Use Shelf Risers

If you have that extra space described above and could really benefit from more shelves, consider shelf risers. They practically double the usable space on a single shelf.