A Little Van Organizing

Rosie McSweeney inspired me to go thru the drawers in my van and improve my organization.

Of course that meant a shopping trip!   Lowes of course, and Target.

I went intending only to pick up some drawer organizers, but a few other things ended up in my cart.

I wanted to get a bamboo cutlery organizer for the smaller drawer (10.25" x 13") and something big to organize the larger drawer (18.5" x 18.5") in my K.  The cutlery ones were all too long (14") for the smaller drawer, but I did find these smaller bins, so I thought I'd craft my own.  The larger one is for the big drawer - it was the right length depth-wise, and is expandable in the other direction, so it should be an excellent fit.

Next to this stuff, was shelf liner.  They had this nice material that was a soft vinyl on one side, a non-slip on the other.  7' x 12" rolls.  That should keep stuff in the lockers from jumping around.  The lockers on the street side are alittle narrower - around 11.25" deep, so you need to trim.  Oddly, on the curbside, 12" fits perfectly, so no need to trim.

To assemble the cutlery tray, I put some VHB tape on the pieces to hold them together.

Here it is together.  Doing it this way was only $2 more expensive than buying a pre-made, but this will fit the drawer nicely.

I then put some "exteme" velcro on the sides to hold them in place in the drawers.

So here is the large organizer in place.  By putting the velcro on the outer edges, it allows you to move the center section however you'd like to create compartments on the sides.  

On center:

To the right:

To the left:

Here is the cutlery tray in the lower drawer:

Now with all my junk in place.  I culled this alittle, but I still have way too much stuff.

The cutlery drawer.  My butter knives are too long. :(

Another thing I wanted to do was condense my tool bag.  It had alot of empty space inside, and was too big to fit in a cubby or locker.  It was riding around on the floor, which I detest.   So I found these neat canvas toolbags at Lowes.  The bigger bags came in a two-pack for $10.  The smaller, zipper "purses" came in a 3 pack for $10.   So I'm going to put my van tool kit in the black bag, and put sundries like spare fuses, extra screws and clips, some zip ties and spare led bulbs in the larger black purse.

So here it is all put together along with the big carabiner I use for the dog tether.

Fits nicely in the rear cubby now, but it will also fit in one of the overhead lockers.

Here are some other items I impulsed while shopping for the organizers.   At Target I found this cool ice tray, the toilet brush and these neat sheathed knives.  At Lowes I found the collapsible dish rack.  I like the toilet brush because it has a smooth curved finish that will be easy cleanup.   My last one had a metallic top which was starting to corrode already.   I stick it down next to the commode with "extreme" velcro.

I wanted to reduce the number of knives I was carrying.   I found these Faberware forged knives at Target with their own sheaths that have built-in ceramic sharpening blocks.  They seem heavy and well made from an otherwise awful brand, so I'm taking a chance on these.  Luckily they were pretty cheap ($15 and $9).  One is a general purpose knife, the other a paring knife.   For now, I'm keeping a Chicago Cutlery serrated knife of a length between these two.  So three knives for the van.  That's down from 12!

This is the first collapsible dish rack that I've found that is a manageable size for the van (at Lowes).  The others I've seen are huge in comparison and inappropriate for the space.   They also sell a plastic tray to use to collect the dripping water.

But as luck would have it, it fits perfectly in the K's sink!  Bonus!   You can set up the collapsible tub on the counter as a wash basin, and rinse and let your dishes drip in the sink.  Saves alot of counter space and jockeying things around doing the dishes.

I got this ice tray at Target.  What I like was that it was labeled as "dripless".  I guess for people that spill on the way to the freezer.

But the dimensions are what piqued my interest.  It's wide and long, but not very tall.  With the lid on, you could stack items on top and maximize the freezer space in the K.

With the depth of the freezer, this fits perfectly.  Wasn't sure it would, but again, another happy surprise!  Yes, I need to defrost.

The last thing I got at Lowes were these acrylic bins.  They are made to put in your freezer, but I thought they'd work to keep my dry goods organized in the overhead lockers.  Also, if you group like items, you can pull them out and set them on the counter.  I'll have to think about what will go in each.   They fit very well in the overhead and still leave a couple inches to place items you want to grab and go.  Plus I like that you can see thru them which may be handy, as in the upper lockers, they will be right at eye level.