Question

To those of us who have been purging and cleaning spaces and organizing... are the places you've cleaned, still clean? I have to say sadly, no. My closet is slowly crawling back to a disaster and my desk is over flowing and one cabinet is yet again a wreck. Why can't I keep things neat? I want them neat. I'm pleased when they are tidy...

any thoughts?

Lame Post

I suppose this does not go along the 'rules' of Our 10 Things since I didn't get rid of anything. It's just an organizing picture...and a boring one at that! But since I'm hard at work in the kitchen, I just thought I'd share general progress.

This is one of two cabinets in our kitchen island. We keep platters and service ware here. It just needed a little shifting around. I wish I had a better system for storing this stuff!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Earth shattering, huh?

garage sale 1 (pictureless)

Well folks, the date is set. Next Friday the 23rd I'm having a garage sale. Last night I pulled three boxes/bags down from the attic. Two just full of stuffed animals and one full of... yarn. Seriously. Just yarn. Stuffed full of yarn. I'm like wow. That's doing me soooo much good up there. So, off it goes. Since I haven't needed any since we moved in here nearly three years ago, it's gone. My storage room off the kitchen is barely able to contain any more. You can't walk through there be/c I keep throwing bags of "sale" items that way.

I also organized/purged Matthew's books and am selling a decent stack of them. There are some that are just too baby-ish and some that he just doesn't ever read, so they are going. I love books, he's got a great collection going, but no sense in holding some he doesn't want or we don't need.

Hodge Podge

I think we all have one (at least one!) of these. This is our cabinet where a variety of things land. It holds baking ingredients, oil, vinegar, plastic outside 'glassware', baby bottles and sippies, baby meds, etc.

I sorted through and threw away old, unused, and duplicates. I also bought ($4.99 at Homegoods) a couple of tiered organizers so I can more easily see what's on the shelves now in the hope to help reduce buying duplicates and just plain old use what I have!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I found a couple of unsused baskets in the attic to help conceal some of the bottle/sippee/baby chaos. I even was able to find a home for my new dessert dishes (mini trifle bowls) that I bought for our 4th of July party (all 20 of them).

This isn't a dramatic visual change, but now I know where everything is and everything is more accessible!

Spicing Things Up

Today's project was painless. I enjoyed a big glass of wine while I organized my spice drawer and it was done in less than 15 minutes. I'm a bit of a spice addict: I also have a spice cabinet....but we will get to that another time. Anyway, without much fanfare, here is my newly organized spice drawer (sorry, no before photo):

They are in alphabetical order (we'll see how long that lasts) and in one of my new beloved Williams-Sonoma semi-annual clearance sale drawer organizers.

There is something so satisfying about having things in order. I have found that in being more organized makes my life feels less chaotic. Still, soooo much to do!

Back From Outer Space...and Cleaning Drawers!

Kate, you inspired me! So....I'm back!

I have still been doing small projects here and there, but haven't documented anything and didn't think it would be too exciting for you to read about organizing my expense reports, product information, and promotional materials in my new file cabinet. I've also had a slew of guests (the blessing and curse of a beach house!), my husband has been away quite often, and I just threw a mega 4th of July party. But hey, that's life! And it gets in the way sometimes!

I also have another inspiration: My new kitchen drawer organizers!

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/mahogany-expandable-drawer-tray/?pkey=cdeckitdrw

I'm a sucker for the semi-annual sale at Williams Sonoma and snagged these last week at 50% off. I LOVE them!

Here they are in practical use:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

AFTER (I forgot to take a before):

BEFORE:


AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Nothing too exciting, but I get a sense of satisfaction every time I open one of these drawers!

Top o Dresser

So this is the top of the chest of drawers/hutch in our room. It's most commonly reffered to as the "jewelry station." Even though there is a jewelry box right there, most things don't make it IN the box after wearing. It's also the "I want to save that little scrap of something but I don't know where to store it station." Anyone else have one of those? Yah... that yellow towel on the top was my great grandpa's. It's been up there for the past 3 years be/c I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it or just save it. I had a come to Jesus talk about that towel though. I decided everything on this shelf either needed to be relocated for USE or PITCHED! And I was pleased to fill a whole shopping bag nearly full of just the trash! My jewelry box is now accessible! I even found buried was my piano music box, I had forgotten I had.

Before:

After:

PS: Where is everyone?

my own kitchen cabinets

After posting the massive cleaning I did in my mom's kitchen, here are pictures I took of my own pantry cabinets ( I don't have a real pantry ). This started be/c I needed the blue food coloring and it wasn't in the box with the green red and yellow... so, while looking for it, I ended up emptying out my cabinets on the counter and pitching a LOT of old crap. Easter candy, Halloween candy, several open boxes/bags of crumbs, trash, empty boxes or wrappers (how does that happen!?), old this and thats. It's not that drastic maybe, but I am pleased with the makeover!

the reason for the hunt: the found blue food coloring.

the before:

the after. not too bad, huh? I purged a LOT from that bottom shelf of candy!

second cabinet before-- this is a tricky shelf, as you can see from the straws, the rest of the shel is behind the wall and I can't reach or see what's back there. So it was time to pull it ALL out and take inventory. I trashed a ton of yuck.

after--I did not know I had so many drink mix-in boxes stuffed into the corner.

A battery powered blender, with small screwdriver inside and two batteries, never been opened. Since we also have the magic bullet, I'm thinking this will be added to the yard sale pile.