Day 9, Kitchen - part 2 - Cabinets

The good thing about decluttering my kitchen cabinets is that there aren't that many of them!  I finished all of the upper cabinets today. 

My baking/spice/coffee mug cabinet - before and after

I already had some good organization going on in this cabinet, it just got a little cluttered.  This cabinet is over the kitchen sink, so it's hard to reach the top shelf.  I have all my spices, seasoning packets, extracts, sprinkles and cake decorating stuff in plastic Gladware type containers so I can easily pull out a container to find what I need. The large white bin on the upper right has all my baking supplies (electric mixer, cocoa powder, baking powder, cupcake papers, powdered sugar) Now I have room for all my coffee mugs and big huge cups with lids!  I also purged a huge amount of duplicates spices, old baking soda, etc. 

My coffee/tea/sugar cabinet - before and after

We'll look at the after picture.  Top shelf holds kids lunch boxes, glass measuring cups and some serving dishes we only use for parties.  Second shelf holds tea bags, sugar, honey and coffee filters.  Third shelf has coffee, coffee and more coffee!  Whole beans, ground, instant, regular, decaf.  We are all about coffee around here.  From the pictures, it doesn't seem like a big difference but in reality it's a huge difference.  Everything is organized now and I did purge some stuff.

Dish cabinet - before and after

Again, looking at the after photo.  Top shelf now has a bin with medicines/vitamins and some empty Gladware containers.  Second shelf holds a bin of sippy cups, a bin of baby bottles, a bin of measuring spoons/cups, and a nifty Tupperware thing that holds bowls that press flat and their lids.  I also have some small plates in there.  Bottom shelf holds plates and bowls.  I purged some plates out of here as well as putting a lot of things that were in here into different places where they made more sense.  I love my wire shelving in this cabinet, which I purchased at Gabriel Brothers for $1.99 each!

Dry goods cabinet - before and after

This is the only cabinet we store food in.  As you can see, things like pasta, taco shells, popcorn, rice.  On the second shelf I have a cardboard box that I keep small items in so they don't get lost in the cabinet, like Jell-O and pudding mixes, bags of dried beans, and cornbread mix.  I keep my spaghetti and quick oats in Tupperware containers.  I am always trying to figure out how best to store bagged pasta.  Any ideas?

Stay tuned next time for the lower cabinets and the dreaded under-the-sink cabinet!

Day 8, Kitchen - part 1

I guess you've figured out that these days are not consecutive.  I only count the days I work on the Project.  SO, I've had to switch gears.  I realized there was no way I could finish the bedroom until a lot of other areas are finished because I have so much stuff that needs to go to these other areas that are just in limbo in the bedroom right now.  So I decided to move on to the kitchen.  Organizing things in my kitchen is very difficult.  We barely have any space to put anything.  Here is the extent of our kitchen cabinets:

Charming, aren't they?  Pure 1940's something, I'm sure.  So yeah, it's tough.  We also have a very tiny pantry closet for canned goods, paper towels, etc. but here's where we keep a lot of our food:

It was feeling a bit disorganized so I decided to work on it today.  Here's how it turned out:

Top shelf holds my most-used cookbooks & recipes, a jar of candy, a basket full of empty mason jars, bottles of juice.  Second shelf: Breakfast items - oatmeal, cereal, pancake mix and pancake syrup and the candy basket.  Third shelf: I love these yellow/orange/red baskets.  I got them from AVON a long time ago.  They snap together or lay flat for storage.  There are 3 sizes.  The smallest one holds bread.  The next size holds snacks (microwave popcorn, granola bars, etc).  Also on this shelf is bags of potatoes, peanut butter, and a box of crackers.  Can you tell we need to go shopping?  Fourth shelf: Ramen noodles (I buy a case for my 20-year-old every grocery day), another basket with chips, the green basket holds all of the lids to my pots and pans.  Bottom shelf: A big cardboard box full of reusable grocery bags, and a large plastic tote full of everyone's hats, gloves and scarves.  These live here because the tiny closet you can barely see to the right has nowhere to store them.  (It barely stores the coats.) 

I am also working on decluttering the rest of the kitchen, mainly the cabinets, so stay tuned for more on those tomorrow. 



Day 7, Bedroom - Part 1

Ugh.  I feel like I got nothing done in here today!  Now I did get a WHOLE bunch of laundry done and put away, educated the children, fixed 3 meals, did next week's school prep, and a host of other things.  But not a lot got done on the Project.  So here's what I DID do.  A little background info - my desk sits next to my nightstand.  I have a fab desk chair that rocks and reclines and is super comfy, which is important because I spend a lot of time in it.  Unfortunately, it takes up a whole lot of space on my already-space-limited side of the bed.  Because of the chair arms, you can't push it under the desk.

So a while back I bought a new desk chair.  It's been cluttering up the hallway for quite some time.  Today I decided to put it together and try it out.  I opened the box and found all the parts to the chair (hallelujah) as well as an assortment of toys, jewelry and other junk that small people around here apparently have been tossing in there on their way down the hall!  Anyway, here's what it looked like with the new chair:

Lots more space!  The only problem is, I don't like it.  I sat in it for awhile and it's a nice chair, good back support and great for sitting at the desk writing or typing.  But it doesn't recline!  It's not comfy!  How can I kick back and watch Netflix on my computer if I can't kick back???  So, I decided to compromise.

That's right, I'm keeping them both.  Someday when this decluttering is done, I hope to switch to a smaller desk which will take up less space on my side of the room.  When that happens, I'll make a decision.  For now, this works because the kids love to sit at the desk with me or sit together when they have their computer time. 

I also turned this...

into 3 full bags of laundry to take to the laundry room.  Pictures of that area will come once it's completely decluttered.  Stay tuned!

Day 6, Storage Cart

After I finished putting the bed back together, I felt like doing something else, but it's getting late so I didn't want to tackle another big project.  Next to my desk I have a small rolling storage cart with drawers.  I use it to house the supplies for my AVON business.  So I decided to declutter it! 

There are 4 small drawers on the top and 3 large drawers on the bottom.  Here's the top 4 drawers.  Mostly they were filled with expired catalogs.  I filled half a trash bag with them!  After that, there wasn't much left.  Now it's organized.

Top drawer has samples & supplies like my name & phone # stamps.  Second drawer has items that I need to return.  Third drawer is now EMPTY and will be used for current catalogs, once I get them out of boxes in the dining room.  Fourth drawer has calendars and money collection envelopes.  The large drawers on the bottom didn't need decluttering.  One keeps all my bags, one is empty, and the other has miscellaneous products in it for gifting or personal use.  Woo hoo - two projects in one day!

Day 6, Under the Bed

I was supposed to wait for my husband to help me with this project, because I felt that the only way to do it properly was to completely remove the mattress and box spring.  Well he wasn't home today, but it was next on my list, so I just jumped in and did it!  After moving the bed off the frame, here's what I found:

List of contents?  Let's see, shoes, books, pillows, dust pan, fire escape ladder, toys, underbed boxes w/sheets & blankets and box of stuff belonging to my oldest child (age 20).

Ok, so I went through the underbed boxes.  Turns out 95% of what was in there either doesn't fit our new bed or belongs in the kids rooms.  So I reorganized the boxes and put in them only what belonged:

Ha!  The only thing in there now is a few random pillowcases, one throw-size quilt and our 2 new pillow shams that I need to buy pillows for.  Woo hoo!  Now as I catch up on the laundry, we have storage for our clean sheets and blankets.  You may be wondering why we keep our linens under the bed?  Well, our house was not blessed with many closets.  No linen closet.  No bathroom closet.  You saw the size of the bedroom closet yesterday.  Our daughter's tiny room has no closet at all!  So, this is what works for us.  Or is going to work now that it's all cleaned out and organized!

Here's the after shot of the first picture I posted.  I tried to vacuum but my Shark stick vac doesn't work so great on carpet and the real vacuum was in the closet which was barricaded by the box spring!  Oops.  And another shot:

Complete with half a cute baby in the picture!  This picture makes the carpet look terrible, but it really is a nice dark green.  I think there were spots on the camera lens.  After this, I put the bed back together, fixed it all nice (except our quilt is in the wash) and put the underbed boxes and nothing else under the bed.

Ewww, the rest of the carpet needs vacuumed, but I'll take care of that once I finish the rest of the room, hopefully in the next few days.  Now to figure out what to do with the rest of the stuff I pulled out from under the bed...

Day 5, Master Bedroom Closet

I decided to tackle the master bedroom closet for a very selfish reason - it's small and I figured it wouldn't take long to finish!  This closet is my wonderful husband's closet.  He is the only family member who utilizes a closet, as everyone else's clothes are in the Family Closet/Laundry Room.  One reason he will not get on board with the Family Closet is that the laundry room is open to the kitchen, and he doesn't want to get dressed in there.  (Doesn't stop me!)  I think he just has the traditional notion that his clothes belong in his bedroom closet and that's that.  But for me, it means he does his own laundry, separately.  So no, I'm not complaining!  And don't worry, there's a Family Closet post coming in the future - I'm just nowhere near there yet.

My master plan is to start in my personal space (my side of the bedroom) and work my way through the bedroom, down the hall, down the stairs to the living room, dining room, kitchen and laundry room.  After that, I'll come back up and work on the 3rd floor (music/exercise/guest room), children's bedrooms, and finally, the dungeon basement (oldest son's room/school room).  When the weather breaks, the backyard and front porch will get thrown on the schedule too.

So, back to the closet.  Here's the before:



AFTER: First time this door
has been closed in years



AFTER: I organized hubby's t-shirts, sweats/pajama pants, and shorts amongst the wire dividers on the top shelf.  I pulled out about 50 empty hangers, half of them baby- and kid-sized hangers.  I organized his clothing, summer on the left and winter on the right.  I hung his belts, ties and bathrobe on the hook on the door.  I put the vacuum in here because this is the only room with carpet and the vacuum had been previously cluttering up the hallway.  I also keep my gift wrap and gift wrap accessories in here because this is where I wrap gifts.  The only other thing that went back in the closet was hubby's slippers.

NOW, lest anyone get jealous and think, "WOW, she's really got it together!  Who has time to organize everyday?" or feel inferior in anyway, let me nip that in the bud right now.  Here's what the rest of the bedroom looks like:

This is the box of junk I pulled out of the
closet and need to go through, ugh.

This is hubby's side of the room piled high
with laundry and Lord knows what

And this is the spot in front of my
dresser where I put all the stuff I
move when I declutter

Yes, this is desperation, folks.  This is pretty much what my house looks like in any given room on any given day.  And unfortunately, it has to get worse before it can get better!  But I am willing to persevere and work one step at a time, baby steps, to get this house in order, once and for all.  And when that happens, to God be the glory. 

Day 4, Personal Management Notebook

I really don't know what else to call this.  It's not a household notebook, where you would put information about things like utilities, credit cards, etc.  It's something I came up with because I am the type of person who cannot get anything done without a list.  Seriously.  If I don't write down "take meds" or "laundry", I will just forget to do it.  It started with my Daily Schedule, which is basically a list of things like "take meds" and "laundry".  For school, I was using a clipboard with my daily and weekly paperwork on it.  I felt like I needed to put those things together somehow, and in doing so, the project grew from there.  Let's take a peek. 



Just a simple Mead 3-ring Notebook w/a pocket inside the front cover



Inside the front cover, I have a spiral notebook for writing things down
The first item in the binder is a 2011 at-a-glance calendar



In the same page protector, on the back, is a montly calendar
The first pocket in the binder holds my Daily Schedule check-off sheet



The first section





The first Section includes:

• General To-Do List - things like "get a dog license" or "make doctor appointment"
• Master Decluttering List
• Contact sheet - where I transfer all those slips of paper with people's phone numbers and addresses written on them
• Allowance Record - I keep track of my kids' allowance kind of like a checkbook register, instead of giving them cash that they will lose. 



2nd Section - SCHOOL

2nd Section "SCHOOL" includes:

• Monthly  newsletter from our Homeschool Group
• Daily lesson plan grid clipped together with all paperwork needed for the week
• Brochures for field trip ideas
• Info sheets such as Episode Guide for the Schoolhouse Rock DVD's we have
• Timeline figures we will need for the rest of the school year
• State flag stickers we will need for the next 50 days of school
• A running list of books we need from the library



3rd Section: MEAL PLANNING



3rd Section "MEAL PLANNING" includes:

• A master list of all meals that we make
• Blank 2-week meal plan sheets w/a section for a grocery list
• Takeout menus



4th Section: Keepers of the Faith Club



4th Section "Keepers of the Faith" includes

• Monthly to-do list for the KOF Club
• Yearly schedule
• Lesson plans, meeting agendas, and any other pertinent info





5th Section - HOLIDAY PLANNING

5th Section "HOLIDAY PLANNING" includes:

• Nothing at the moment!  But I will use this for the endless lists that precede each holiday - gift lists, shopping lists, food lists, and planning ideas. 



6th Section: BIRTHDAY PLANNING

 6th Section "BIRTHDAY PLANNING" includes:

• A sheet for each upcoming birthday listing the person's name, age, theme of their party, and what design I will make their cake, plus space for party planning and gift planning. 
• Any printables for upcoming parties

7th Section "VACATION PLANNING" includes:

• Brochures on places we'd like to go
• All the lists that go along with planning a vacation!

8th Section - "AVON" includes:

• I am an AVON lady, so I have records to keep each month for my business, such as Sales and Expense records. 

 

9th Section - "Curriculum Planning" includes:

• Lists of what I need to look for at the curriculum fairs coming up
• Ideas on curriculum I'd like to look at or implement
• Curriculum catalogs

10th Section "MEDICAL" includes:

• Forms for upcoming lab work and medical procedures
• Vaccine records and schedules for the children
• Prescriptions
• Health records relating to homeschooling (required checkups, etc)

So there you have it!  The way I've been using it is to open it immediately each morning and check my Daily Schedule and calendar to see what needs done that day.  Then I check the School section and take out our lesson plans.  After school and lunch, during my break time, I flip through the rest of the sections to see if there is anything else I could to do that day.  I also do anything that needs done for school the next day such as scanning or making copies.  So far it is really helping me stay organized and keep on top of things that need done!  How do you  keep yourself organized on a day-to-day basis?

Day 4, Desk revisited

When I posted the picture of my desk "clean and organized" it occurred to me that it was also really cluttered.  So after some thinking, I decided to put away all the office supplies, paper, etc. out of sight.  For now, that means it went into my empty dresser.  I have decided that the perfect substitute for the dresser would be our old hutch that is currently in the basement.  Just the bottom of it, that is.  It's got 2 drawers and two doors with shelves inside.  It will be a perfect stand for my dollhouse and perfect storage for the office supplies, without being a big overwhelming piece of furniture like the desk is.  In the meantime, here's the before and after of the desk.



BEFORE:  Clean and organized

AFTER:  Clean, organized AND clutter-free!



Day 3, Nightstand & Dresser

I mentioned before that my dresser is totally empty.  Well it is after Day 3's project!  My nightstand was not too difficult, but there was some clutter to deal with in the drawer as well as on the shelf underneath.  I had a lot of jewelry shoved in there as well as in the dresser.  Other things in the dresser included: pack 'n' play sheets that don't fit our pack 'n' play, clothes that don't fit anyone in this house, pantyhose that I will never wear, all the accessories to our pack 'n' play (the bassinet top, the toy bar, etc.), many miscellaneous items.  A few of the drawers actually were empty.  So the dresser is all cleaned out.  The only things I put back in it temporarily are diapers & wipes since I do a lot of diaper changing in my room.  I need to find an alternative spot for that stuff once I get the new stand to replace the dresser, but for now, it works.  Sorry I have no pictures, but it's just an empty dresser!  Here's the nightstand.  (We won't talk about the floor around it - that hasn't come up on the schedule yet!)