More Organization Projects

To keep my momentum going, I’m trying to work on at least a couple of new organizational projects every week.

To truly appreciate how my breakfast closet has been transformed, you would have needed to see what it looked like before.  But since there’s no way I would have taken a photo of the chaos that was in there before, you’ll have to be satisfied with what it looks like post-reorganization.

 

    Cereal in ziploc bags in baskets     Poptarts labeled on edges in a basket

My husband is thrilled to have this all cleaned out, particularly since this closet is actually a utility closet that houses one of the hot water heaters and one of the air handler units.  When we had a leak a few months ago, it wasn’t pretty in there!

Oatmeal with soda and trash bags on shelves on the closet door

I also picked up some large silverware trays that I planned to use to better accommodate my silverware.  But when I got home, I realized they didn’t fit in my silverware drawers.  I was going to return them, but then my husband reminded me that we have some very large drawers (even larger than the trays) in our buffet where they could probably be used to tidy things up.  So I set right to work to make good use of them there.

 

These sectional trays worked so well in these large drawers that I’d like to get a couple more for the other two drawers there the next time I find myself near IKEA.  I just love browsing through that store for organizational ideas!  I really wanted their adjustable pot lid rack, but I literally walked the whole store and couldn’t find it.  Maybe next time!

January is Time to Get Organized!

Whenever a new year rolls around and all the Christmas decor is neatly packed away in the attic, I always feel motivated to reorganize the cabinets and drawers that slowly get into disarray over the course of the year.  And by taming it all annually, you can be sure not to let it get out of control.
One thing that got overrun and out of order was my pantry.  Now I do a LOT of home cooking, so an untidy, disorganized pantry drives me batty!  I had a system in there last year, but it got overly full and mixed up over the course of the year.  I decided this would be my first reorganization project of the new year.

I already had baskets in the pantry, but they were different sizes and didn’t really do the job.  So I started cleaning out one shelf at a time removing any foods past their freshness date and placing them into a box for donation.  I had quite a bit because we were doing a whole foods nutrition plan for most of last year and weren’t using any pre-packaged ingredients in anything at all, so everything just kind of sat there.  Getting all that cleaned out left a more manageable amount of products in there so it was easy to get organized once again.  After I started sorting by categories into baskets, I realized I needed quite a few more larger baskets, so I went and bought those at Dollar Tree.  No huge investment was needed.  I got it all set up over the course of two days, and I was thrilled with how it turned out!  The only thing I need now in order to finish it up are some more chalkboard clip-on labels to identify what’s in the baskets.  This is helpful for when I’m at the store and end up calling home and asking the kids if we have a can of “xyz” in the pantry.  While *I* know what’s in each basket, they do not.  So labels are helpful.  It also makes it super easy to put groceries away.  I even ended up with a little shelt on the floor to hold my pressure cooker with the accessories underneath.  Yay!

That evening, I started watching the first episode of the new Netflix show called “Tidying Up.”  Wow!  You might find Marie Kondo a bit strange or unorthodox, but she definitely offered up some practical tips for organization!  When she demonstrated a folding technique that allows you to store your clothing in your drawers vertically, I was inspired to pause the show and run to all the bedrooms to make it happen.  For real!  It was amazing.  Suddenly, I could see all the pants, tops, pajamas, etc. at one time, and everything looked so tidy!  I don’t know why I never thought of it before.  I was hooked, and I repeated the process in all the kids drawers and my own pajama drawer.  It made a huge difference!

 

Holden’s pants                             and his underclothes

 

Holden’s pajamas                                    and his socks

 

Haylee’s leggings/exercise pants                        and her pants

 

Haylee’s pajama sets and nightgowns

 

Hayden’s shorts                                   and his pants

As you can see, this has already made such a difference!  Holden loves it, because it seems he is always looking for his favorite pair of sweatpants, and now he can find them quite easily and pull them out without making a mess of the other folded clothes in the process.  Brilliant!  And it’s so easy to put their clothes away neatly.  I feel good every time I do it!

I’m working my way through the house, so I’ll post more projects as I complete them.  What are you inspired to organize in your home?

Happy 48th Birthday to My Dear Hubby!

I know it seems like all I’ve been writing about lately is birthdays, but alas, it’s that time of year for my family!  We have 3 birthdays in the 2 weeks after Christmas.  Crazy, I know!

This time around, we wrap up the winter birthday season with my dear husband, Steve, who has turned 48!  Happy Birthday, sweetheart! 

His birthday fell on Monday, so I set out to make some of his favorite foods on Sunday when he could be home to enjoy them, and then we did the cake after work on Monday.

  

We picked out a delicious carrot cake (his fave) with real cream cheese frosting, and I must say that it was really good!  He was acting like his usual goofball self before he realized that 3 of us were holding cell phones because we were taking video!  LOL  That’s what he gets.

Seriously, though, every year with this man is a blessing I treasure, and I hope to celebrate many more birthdays with him in the future.

Now that birthday season and the holiday season are over, we can stop eating cake and think about getting back to healthier eating again.  I am still nursing a shoulder injury, so I’m not prepared to return to my regular exercise routine yet (in fact, I just had a cortisone injection on Monday, and I had physical therapy twice this week…ugh!), but hopefully, I’m on the road to recovery, and I can get myself back in shape before pool season begins.  Yay!

Happy 47th Birthday to Me!

January 1st is not only New Year’s Day, but it’s also my birthday!  I’m officially 47!  Every year, I struggle to stay awake until midnight in the hopes of seeing the ball drop in Times Square, only to realize that I’ve somehow nodded off in the final seconds and then awoken minutes later to the sound of fireworks outside my window!  I kid you not…it’s an epic failure every year.  Well, this year, I knew I could do it.  I’ve been staying up late a lot through our holiday break, and I felt confident I could make it.  But then, shortly after 11 PM, Steve came into the bedroom and reminded me that now that we no longer live on the east coast, the ball actually drops at 11 PM central time, so I’d in fact already missed it!  UGH!  I never thought of that.  I just figured it was re-broadcast as appropriate by local channels in each time zone, but apparently not.  Blech!

So trying not to become convinced that the world was somehow conspiring against me, I decided to celebrate another way.  Indeed, I found some cute countdowns on Hulu that I watched just for fun, and then actually as midnight struck, I asked Alexa to countdown the new year on my Echo Show, and it worked out great!  It was quite festive, as it turns out, and it felt like my own little celebration after all.  Hooray!  Alexa saved the day. 

When I got up the next morning, I had a nice birthday phone call from my sister, and we have a lovely conversation.  When we finished, Steve and I went for our traditional free birthday breakfast together at Denny’s.  They were super busy, as usual for New Year’s Day, but we had a very nice time.

Steve made me a fire at home, and we relaxed with some tv.  He and Haylee brought me cards and a lovely bouquet of flowers, which I loved!  Steve gave me the cutest little opera glasses to use at the symphony, which I’d been wanting for a long time.  They fold up small into a cinch bag to keep in my purse.  They picked up the birthday cake I ordered and kept it cold for later.  Then Steve and I ran out to Starbucks in the afternoon for my free birthday coffee.  I treated myself to my favorite Skinny Peppermint Mocha while it’s still around.  Yum!  Then we hung out at home until Hayden got home from work.  We had leftovers for dinner, so no one had to cook or make a mess in the kitchen, and then they sang to me before we ate the delicious cake I’d ordered from Kroger.  It was my favorite…a double layer chocolate cake with whipped chocolate frosting and a layer of whole strawberries in gel on the top.  It was fabulous!  I love that it’s light and not too sweet.  I could eat that cake all day! 

I had hoped to use the hot tub, but the propane company forgot to deliver gas the day before, so we had to forgo the hot tub until the next day.  But all in all, it was a lovely, relaxing day, which I ended by soaking in a hot bath and reading my new book from the library.  It was just my kind of day!