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?