To get more organized. Specifically to organize my kitchen, laundry room and whatever room that is where all the tools are kept.
This is my only cupboard in the kitchen for food. My kitchen is tiny so everything has to go in there or on top of the fridge or in the basement in the “pantry”.
I put stuff down here that I don’t use often but then I forget about it and go out and get more of it because I think I am out of it. I also store the beer here because I don’t drink beer but it was taking up too much room in the fridge. I’d throw it out but that seems wasteful. I’d give it to my neighbor but he doesn’t drink ‘chick’ beer.
The laundry room doesn’t look that bad but you can’t see the cobwebs and is really necessary to have a printer in the laundry room? I think I can safely throw away the hermit crab cage and food. My house is tiny and what storage space I have I don’t utilize properly.
Those are not dead plants, they are geraniums which need to go dormant for the winter. I am not a hoarder.
I resolve to get this mess cleaned up and organized this weekend. I’m even going to clean out the fridge which I would show you but then no one would ever eat at my house again. Not that I have mold growing in the fridge or anything like that, it’s just a mess and there is some stuff in there from this past summer that should probably go.
I will be posting the ‘after’ pictures as soon as I finish.
From admission to resolution. I like all the goal-setting I’m seeing around the blogosphere. I have been inspired to clean up a few of my “problem areas”, starting with my desk. Now what to do with the box of stuff from my desk? Move it, as my Mom would have said, from pillar to post? It’s easy to clean up a particular space…not so easy to get rid of stuff all together. That’s what attics and basements are for, right? Those are in need of a major overhaul too.
Ha! Linda, it’s your fault that I got this organizing bug. I just went to
your site and your previous post of the comfy cat was the inspiration.
Thanks.
Yes, once you have organized and cleaned off one area you have to decide
what to do with the stuff. I’m not that far yet.
I absolutely love seeing before and after pictures but somehow it’s hard for me to apply that principle to my own house.
I need to work on that.
It’s not mold it’s penicillin and it has medicinal uses. Remember that.
Organization is good.
It the organIZING that I have trouble with.
Since starting my job a few weeks back, I have become a convert to organization. Suddenly, being able to do things quickly is an abject priority.
Girl, if I could clean my car, you can clean your everything else. Is that a Pac-Man blanket or something I see? Coolness. What is it exactly???
It’s my son’s hoodie. Yes it is Pac-Man. It’s covering his Legend of Zelda
hoodie.
Don’t even remind me of my car. I asked my son to clean it out for my
birthday next week. As in go take it to a detail car wash place and pay for
them to do it. It’s that or trade it in for another one.
Every cupboard we have starts out nicely organized with space to spare, and in a matter of weeks they are a mess! Tons of stuff pushed to the back that gets forgotten. Mo, for some reason still unknown to me, always opens two or three of the same thing, at the same time. Three bottles of bleach, three spice packs, three packs of tea, three…….. We have dozens of half used packets filling our cupboards. And that’s just the kitchen. She’s the same all over the house.
Back in 2010 (not last week), I bought a portable organizer cart for files. It’s still in the box in the garage. I intend to remove the parts from the box and assemble it and thus my life. I will set a target date this week to break open the box, spread the parts across the floor, without losing them, and read the instructions. Hopefully, I will be able to follow them. I hate reading instructions and miss sections of text, often using the picture on the box to guide me, as well as my engineering acumen, which falls well below the national average.
No matter how poor our organizational abilities are, we’ve got to keep trying to bring order to our lives.
Good luck! Don’t give up! Happy New Year!
You need to make beer bread. That will use up the beer. Or sear some bone in chicken breasts, and then braise them in beer with onions.
I cleaned my fridge the easy way…it bit the dust and I just threw everything out and had the neighbor dudes take the old one to the curb! Scavengers picked it up by 10am the next morning. Now I have a fresh start with a used fridge. Ok, that’s my POSITIVE take and that hellish experience!
I cleaned my fridge (finally) a month ago. I just used to move things around to cover up the big spills – if I can’t see it it aint there, right? The spilled maraschino syrup and caramel ice cream topping took a steam shovel to remove and the number of lids to containers (like mile, soda, etc) was ridiculous. When my oldest was two we used to have to lock the fridge cuz he liked climbing inside it – now I’m thinking about locking it again – why can’t kids take a pitcher of tea out of the fridge without spilling half of it? Why can’t people put lids back on tight so they don’t end up jamming up the drawers? Why does my husband ALWAYS put away every bite he doesn’t eat and say “I’ll eat it tomorrow” and when tomorrow never comes and the smell from that old chili becomes overwhelming I have to clean it out? Clean the fridge scares me – I’ll actually throw pots and containers away instead of opening them. Can you tell I’m STILL getting over my latest cleaning episode?
Now, Jen… how cluttered can your house possibly be if you can de-clutter in a mere weekend?
One suggestion for the kitchen is to search out recipes that use the ingredients in your pantry. When we moved a year ago I swore that after moving a whole pantry full of stuff that I would start using each and every ingredient. I now have days and weeks even where I clear out the freezer, pantry etc. We come up with some great meals.
Why don’t you drink beer? Why do you have beer if you don’t drink beer? I mean, good for you getting organized and all, but what’s up with owning beer but not drinking beer?
I drink beer occasionally in the summer. Beer is usually just too filling
for me and it makes me pee a lot. I have beer in the fridge because my ex
husband drinks beer and if I am going to ask him to fix something it’s nice
to reward him with a beer. The beer in the picture is from this past fall
when a friend visited from Seattle. She bought it because she wanted a beer
but didn’t want the kind that my ex drinks. She drank one.
I own vodka, gin, bourbon, rum and vermouth too but I don’t drink them
either. I’m just a really awesome hostess.
Well, it just so happens I plan on being in Minnesota this summer and may need a place to stay… a place with an awesome hostess 🙂
I’ve already got the guest room reserved for you.
Good for you. Getting organized rocks. You probably have more space than you think you do. And you are going to feel awesome once everything is neat, clean, and put away – where they belong.
I “What Not To Wear(ed)” my closet over the holidays. It was very liberating…and made more room for new clothes.
Ah-HA! I inspired you, didn’t I? I’m proud of you girlfriend. Just don’t try to do it all at once and then burn out. I’m still working my way through one shit-filled closet in my office. A veritable firetrap of saved paperwork from the eighties. Hey, I’ll trade you some old Frankie Avalon records for the beer.
I can’t wait to see the newly organized space! Feel free to share any tips too.
I keep my little area at work as nice and neat as I can, but unfortunately it is a shared space and my coworkers have a different concept of orderliness.
At home, it is much easier because I am married to Princess Gail. She’s a terrific organizer. And when it’s all organized, she has to re-organize. And when that’s done, she re-re-organizes. The upside is that everything is always in good order so when I’m off, we can just play. The down is that since everything is re-re-organized, I can never find a damn thing! LOL
I love before and after pics! I am such a sucker for those home makeover shows (that I’ll never be like) and how pretty they arrange everything (like I’ll never do). Come to think of it, HGTV is almost as bad as airbrushed magazines. I feel worse every time I watch.
Hey, remember The Swan? Now that was a makeover show. Like 500 plastic surgery procedures a show.
That’s what I’m talking about!
and you were worried about being a Hoarder….
But if you clean it all up this weekend, what will you do the rest of the year?
Also, what is “chick” beer? Are they in pink bottles with frilly pink lace tutus or something?