Ours was a comedy of errors. First we had a sewer back up then no hot water! It all got fixed and worked out in the end but it was funny! HA HA - NOT. What a mess. Luckily our friends and family understand and didn't mind the washer and dryer in the family room. We could still play pool so that is what was important!
I got a new laptop for Christmas. This thing is so fast I'm hitting buttons and it is doing things and I'm like, 'NO! STOP!' but I love it! It won't take me 20 minutes to download pictures now. So watch out blogging world here I come faster and better than ever!
Is it just me or does everyone feel the need to purge after the holidays?
By purging I mean cleaning out. But yes I did eat too much.
I go through clothes, shoes, accessories, coats (hey may be this week I'll get my hall closet organized! It has only been on my list for 6 months). Don't judge!
I also go through dishes, kitchen items, nick-knacks, really anything that I haven't used or don't like any longer goes! GoodWill and the ARC love me this time of the year.
For some reason this year, the purging started early for me, the day after Christmas. I was itching to take down our tree, get everything boxed up and put away. To me, everything was looking cluttered and dirty. No, things weren't dirty, cluttered because yes I do have over 100 Santa's! I did put off the putting away until Saturday. Then I cleaned like crazy and got not only the house but the outside boxed up and away with the help of my husband.
I washed down walls, doors, baseboards and moldings. I got on my hands and knees and cleaned the hardwood floors as well as the grout in our master bathroom.
Now that everything is cleaner I am looking back and thinking I was crazy! I should have left Christmas up a bit longer. Everything looks so bare now. Normally I leave Christmas up until January 6 or there around. Epiphany. With my older daughter back at college and my younger one encouraging me I took it all down early.
Now comes the organizing. January equals organizing and purging for me.
Do you organize things in your house? Let's start with my kitchen.
I am very proud that I only have 1 junk drawer in my entire house. Yes, just one! It holds pencils, pens, scissors, tape measure, tie backs, address book, felt pads for chairs, a small flashlight, night light bulbs and a jar of thumb tacks.
I keep the pens and pencils in a small basket in the drawer along with the flashlight, scissors and the measuring tape. Everything else just kinda lays in the drawer.
Otherwise my kitchen is a mess, literally.
I don't have a large kitchen it is probably 8X10. I painted the cabinets white to make the kitchen look larger and personally, I don't like a white kitchen. I do not like white cabinets. The dirt that seems to always be on them drives me a bit crazy with cleaning them sometimes. I don't have a neat family. My husband tends to drip coffee, my kids put their dirty hands everywhere. My husband cleans fish in my kitchen sink! yes he does!!!
The doors always look dirty and you can tell where people touch them to open them. I thought if I got knobs and pulls that this would make a difference, nope.
All of my drawers feel unorganized and messy. I found this online and thought BRILLIANT!
This is one of those things where I said, "why haven't I thought of this before?" This simple change to a drawer makes so much sense to me. I am always cleaning the plastic bin where the silverware is because to me if that is dirty then your silverware is dirty.
This is something I have shown my husband and he even said it is a brilliant idea!
My silverware is in an odd place in my kitchen. It isn't in a drawer under the cupboard where the plates are, nooo, that would be a logical place for them. They are across the kitchen in one of only 2 large flat drawers. The other large flat drawer is next to the stove and that is where I keep cooking utensils I don't use every day. The odd whisk or spatula hides in that drawer.
I also really like this idea.
This is another organization tool that made sense to me. I don't have a basket, I have a lazy susan type of marble plate that I've got this sort of stuff on. Why, because I have it on hand, no buying anything extra. Though if I come across a basket like this and the price is right I may buy one.
When you Google 'kitchen organization ideas' and look at the images most of what you see is bins, clear bins to be exact. I don't have room for bins in my kitchen. Again, small... only 6 upper cabinets, really 3. The ones above the stove and refrigerator shouldn't count as cabinets. You can't access them and they are so small you really can't put anything in them. I also have a very narrow upper next to my refrigerator that I keep cookbooks and medicine in. Bottom cabinets I have 4. One is a lazy susan that holds all the small appliances and one by the stove holds cookie sheets, colander and baking pans. The other is where my can goods and other boxed good go. I do not have room for a pantry in my little kitchen so there is really no room for bins. On a side note, I do have a pot rack. A must otherwise I'd be storing pots in my oven.
I do like the idea of storing knives on a magnetic strip above the stove...
I don't know if I have the room to do this though.
I also see lots of ideas for storage on the countertops. Yeah, good idea but I don't have that much countertops so I try, yes try, to keep them clutter free.
Do you have any great kitchen storage ideas? I'd love to hear them!
Happy New Year! If you venture out please be safe. I'll be gone the rest of the week but I'll be back next Monday. Happy 2014.
Victoria
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