2010 Organization-The Kitchen & Pantry

I love to organize, I really do. I love the challenge of it. What I don't like is the upkeep. It is much easier for me to spend hours cleaning out a cabinet or a closet, than to spend a few minutes every day keeping it up. What is the deal w/ that? Mark was out of town all week, and I have been reading lots of decorating and organizing blogs. The combination of the 2 inspired me to clear out the clutter! Project #1 is the kitchen. I took EVERYTHING out of the cabinets. Vacuumed, scrubbed, purged, and then put it all back together. The kids were pretty sure I had lost it and warned me Dad would not like the mess I was making! Mark does not understand to make things look better, there is a huge mess in the process!


This would be the mess the children were talking about. And yes, my Christmas decor is ALL up still. But that is a 2 adult job and so I was not tackling that on my own. See my cute new lap top, LOVE it. Oh I really really do!
This is the tupperware cabinet before. Love this has the roll out drawers. Also home of the 5 crock pots I own. One can never have to many crock pots if you ask me!



And one of the cabinets. The sippy cup cabinet that used to attack me when I opened the door! Much better, though I think we could still stand to get rid of a few more cups!



A tip I am sure you have all heard of. Empty out all your utensils. As you need one, put it back into the drawer. Those you have not used after a certain time, get rid of. This is my bag of spoons, spatulas, pampered chef gadgets, (not that I would ever get rid of those since my sister in law sells that!) Some things I know I might only use once a year, but once a year, I like them! so they have already been put back in the drawer. There are many things I doubt I will ever use unless I become a gourmet cook. And I promise you that is not happening in this lifetime. I took this theory with alot of my kitchen gadgets.. Quesadilla maker? Wok? 2 ice cream makers? Waffle Maker? I put them in the bin & if I have not used it by this summer, out of here




And this is the last cabinet I still need to do. My recipe cabinet. I did have it all nice at one time. And then with all the empty space I made I filled it with more junk. And most of those cookbooks, I do not use! Though they are fun to browse through at times. I hope to have it done this weekend. Unless I put up the Christmas stuff. Which would probably make more sense.

My favorite of the kitchen organizing. I found this idea on those great organizing blogs I have been reading. I have always had a hard time figuring out what to do with the spices. They are in my pantry, thrown in a basket, and anytime I need to find one, it takes a very long time. I had one of those merry go round thingys at one time, but those don't work for me. Do not hold enough, etc.. I was looking for a shelf to hang on my wall when I saw this great idea. Label the TOPS of each bottle, then keep them together alphabetically. GENIUS idea! One person actually used their label maker and labeled each thing, but I was to lazy to go on the hunt for mine. So I just grabbed a sharpie, and some masking tape for the dark colors.


So I went from complete chaos of having to pull out every spice to find what I needed, to knowing what it was, just by glancing at the top! I also realized I had 3 jars of cumin, 2 jars of poppy seeds among other doubles. Poppy seeds, I think some yummy ham sandwiches are on the menu soon!

Close up view, makes me happy all over again just to see how nice it looks!

Now the trick is, how long can it stay this way? Happy Organizing!