organization – A Half Hour a Day

Tidbits

May 19, 2012May 19, 2012kanniduba1 Comment

So this is the deep breath before the plunge as we wait with baited breath for a construction start date. As we wait, life goes on in it’s usual chaotic ordinary way. I’ve been doing more clean out….pulled two laundry baskets full of books out of our overloaded bookshelves to donate. In fact, the reorganization has left us with a very large nearly empty bookcase which may be repurposed elsewhere….or, more likely, will be filled up again with more acquisitions. (This family loves its books, even with the Kindles floating around on end tables.) I happened to be flipping through some of the books, and in the back of one was written the following. I found myself quite pensive after reading it, and so will share it with you to do with what you will.

Can’t write that on the back cover of a Kindle. A bit sad that these histories and treasures will be lost to the digital age.

Had our first thunderstorms of he season the other night, after which followed the most beautiful sunset. My iPhone captured the moment.

End of the year “stuff” has been happening…conferences and trips and concerts, oh my! Seems like there’s something going on every night between the usual baseball games and music lessons. Our school year won’t end until the third week of June, but the special events just keep coming! Truly enjoying every last one.

That is that for now…I still owe you a Perigee Moon post…and a few others are rattling round in my cage…like the one about a term I came across recently…”the Proverbs 31 Wife” and another about storms making us appreciate the calm all the more, and another about blessings within ordinary days, and another about all the things I WON’T miss when they rip out my old bathroom……and wait till you see the lights I just ordered for my hallways! Oolala!!!! But since I’m sitting at the Y while my daughter has her gymnastics class and I’m posting from my iPhone, those posts will have to wait.
I will leave you with the quote that just finished off my freshly painted kitchen walls:
“May the Blessings of light be upon you, Light without and light within. And in all your comings and goings.”

The Disgusting Dreaded Tupperware Cupboard

March 7, 2012March 7, 2012kanniduba2 Comments

So today I tackled the crazy disorganized Tupperware cupboard. I admit to letting this get WAY out of hand. These spaces used to be in much better shape. I can blame it partly on my back…getting down low to take care of these cabinets is a literal pain, so often I just shove things in and close the door which has resulted in a mess of mass proportion. However a bunch can be blamed on sheer laziness and an inability to think up alternative solutions to the madness.
But last night it dawned on me…what if I looked at allllll my lower cupboards? They were all a disaster, stacks tipping over…pots and pans in one, baking pans in another, Tupperware in another. I also read somewhere (I’m sorry I can’t remember where) that you should choose a small space to house your Tupperware because your collection will continue to grow to fill the space unchecked. Sooooooo, again I pulled EVERYTHING out of my lower cabinets, washed them out, and started looking at my collection. I started with a big garbage bag and started chucking into it everything I haven’t used in the past year. Then I matched containers and tops, throwing away any incomplete sets. I swear that right there cut my problem in half. I apologize for my poor iPhone photos, but here’s the embarrassing befores:

Crazy right???

And now the afters:

Pots, pans, and baking pans in the big cabinet, round containers in one, and square and rectangular in another. Ahhh…my nemesis is vanquished at last!!!!!

Order from Chaos

February 28, 2012February 28, 2012kanniduba3 Comments

So, I’m sure you’ve all been clamoring over here to see my organization progress!!! *crickets* (OK…so maybe not…just humor me.)

Take a look at yesterday’s post for my fridge “before” photo. And look at it NOW!

WHOO-to-the-HOO!!! Ain’t it grand?!?! I took EVERYTHING out, including shelves and drawers. Typically I take out one shelf at a time, wash it, put it back, and put everything back on that shelf only tidier. Not this time! I decided to go outside the box, and repurposed all my drawers! You know that drawer that says “deli?” Well, I’m being a real rebel, and I am no longer keeping my deli items in there!! I know!!! Extreme, isn’t it?! But wait, there’s more! I’m no longer using my crisper drawer for fruits and veggies. I’m using it for leftover containers…imagine that!! All leftovers in the same place! No more fuzzy green containers forgotten and lost in the back! Why did I never think of this before??? And those new white plastic containers will help keep it all organized…easy in and out, easy to get to the things seldom used and tucked in the back! I am in love! I keep opening the door just to peek inside! Wanna see some more?! I know you do….

So then, I was on a real roll. I decided to tackle my cupboards too. Here’s the “before”:

And the “after”:

Again, I moved EVERYTHING. Nothing is in it’s usual spot, but it makes much more sense…well to me anyway. And I’m loving the containers! I can’t tell you how much packaging I got rid of…it was all taking up so much space and everything was precariously perched on top of everything else. I want to have a party just so I can show off my cupboards! 😉

Next stop, the scary Tupperware cupboard. Stay tuned!

Lenten Goals

February 27, 2012February 27, 2012kanniduba7 Comments

So this year, I had a hard time bringing myself to give something up for Lent. After having to give up wine and wheat earlier in the year, and now having to cut way back on caffeine more recently, I felt like enough was enough with giving up my vice foods. Even though I am finding I can eat wheat in limited amounts, I still have to be careful. I gave up ice cream with my daughter, but since I rarely eat it anyway, it wasn’t much of a sacrifice.

So instead of giving something up, I decided to take something on. I am going through my house, one problem area at a time, and ORGANIZING it!!! And trust me when I say, there are MANY problem areas. Yesterday we tackled the closet under the stairs where we store our games…now it will also hold our coats (which were cluttering up the hooks in the front hall) and all our DVD’s (which were squeezed into a shelf in the bookcase, taking up much needed book space.)

We also tackled the Lego problem…before they were stacked on top of the toy cubbies in plastic shoeboxes. It always looked so cluttered. But now:

I’ve said before, I am good at organizing, not so good at STAYING organized. But thanks to a little newly discovered and very addictive website called Pinterest, I have been inspired to rethink how I organize. (If you haven’t yet discovered it, go check it out!) Usually I do one space at a time…for example, one cabinet. But what I see over and over is that you should take out EVERYTHING and rethink your space. My cupboards have not been rearranged since I moved in 15 years ago…they’ve been cleaned out and organized, but never rethought. Baking goods went on one shelf, and there they have stayed…I know for a fact that I am not using my abundant space efficiently. That’s probably why….my cupboard space is incredibly abundant, so I haven’t been forced to conserve space. Well, that’s about to change!

And my fridge??? ALWAYS a problem, with things shoved in willynilly. Every time I shop, I clean it out and tidy it up, but then within days, everything is crowded in and crazy once again. I saw this blog, and was inspired to redo my fridge. Off to Walmart I went yesterday to stock up on containers, and this morning I tackle the fridge first. It is fairly low on stock right now since I will need to shop early this week, so that should make my task a bit easier.

Here’s the “before” shot….later I will share the “after.”

Organization Time…Again.

September 3, 2008kannidubaLeave a comment

So, I’ve been busy. I went to visit a friend last week, and left her organized, neat home filled with envy and renewed purpose. Tired of tripping over toys…tired of plastic bins filled with this and that…tired of an overflowing toybox in which helpless toys sit in the bottom never seeing the light of day, I headed off to Target to find a solution. Here’s what I found:

SOOOO much better!! I reclaimed my living room!

I also managed to do the scary paperwork sort last week, and today I emptied the bookshelves, reorganized, cleaned, and reloaded. I’m on a roll! (Sorry, I am not for hire…)

I want it all done so I can start my naptime exercise routine tomorrow when school starts, without feeling like there’s a hundred other things I SHOULD be doing. We’ll see how it goes. (I’ll probably last a week.)