Martha Stewart's Easy Trick For Keeping Coffee Mugs & Essentials Perfectly Organized

If you're like most people, you probably rely on a fresh cup of coffee to get your day started, and maybe even to give you that much-needed afternoon pick-me-up. And it's nice when all your coffee supplies are within reach and in the same vicinity, so you're not jumping from cabinet to cabinet or countertop to countertop trying to fulfill your caffeine needs. But if you're finding yourself doing exactly that, why not take a page from homemaking expert Martha Stewart and try her simple trick for keeping your coffee mugs and essentials perfectly organized? Ready for it? Stewart recommends keeping like items together, meaning your coffee mugs and coffeemaker should reside in the same space, right next to each other, like best buds.

This simple trick can make your morning coffee routine run much more smoothly, since it requires less moving around in the kitchen. Simply find a section of your kitchen that can realistically serve as home for your coffee maker, coffee (pods, bagged beans, or grounds), sugar, creamer, and mugs. In other words, your own personal coffee station. Mugs can go in the cabinet above where your coffee supplies are stored, or you can DIY a coffee mug organizer to hang on the wall. This works well if you have wall space behind the countertop where you brew and prep your coffee. If your kitchen is larger, you can DIY a coffee mug display rack or shelves on a bare wall, as long as there's an open countertop nearby to hold all your supplies. Because if you veer too far away, you're no longer following Stewart's words of wisdom.

There are a few easy ways to organize your coffee supplies so they're grouped together as Stewart suggests. One option is to declutter your coffee mugs and then store your favorites on a countertop rack, decorative tray, or shelf (with or without drawers) that fits right on your counter. Shelves and trays can be useful since they have room to hold syrups and other flavorful additives along with your creamer, coffee pods, and sugar. Smaller trays, like the Essentials plastic woven baskets from Dollar Tree, work great because you can organize items by type. The baskets can line up against the coffee maker. To spruce it up a bit, you could attach a cute chalkboard label to the outside of each basket.

If you don't have enough countertop space or don't want to overcrowd what you do have, you can dedicate one cabinet to hold everything. Labeling is key here since you'll be going in and out of it. You can hang or position mugs on the bottom shelf, then place your additives like sugar and cinnamon next to them. Above that, place small labeled containers to hold packets, stirring spoons, napkins, and even mini coffee creamer cups. On the shelf just above, you can store your coffee container, grinder, French press, and other small accessories used in your coffee-making process. Finally, any taller items, like flavored syrups and your milk frother, can go on a shelf high enough to fit them comfortably. Your coffee maker can remain on the countertop so you don't have to keep plugging and unplugging it.