Friday, January 31, 2014

Organizing in the New Year (ONY) kitchens



Welcome to our final post in our series
Organizing in the New Year
(ONY).
We hope the series has gotten your year
off to a good start by challenging you to rethink
the way you use your space,
ridding yourself of unnecessary items, 
and allowing you to appreciate the satisfaction of a job well done.

Organizing in the New Year
 focuses on one area each week,
keeping these intentions in mind:

~Purge if necessary,
because you can't create your dream
if it's cluttered with things you don't use.
Keep in mind, one object in, one object out.
If it doesn't do something for you, 
pass it on to someone else who can use it.  
It's all good.

~Use what you have to create a more streamlined home 
that still has your special touch.
Repurposing functional items adds to their value.
If they make your life easier or help you feel more comfortable, 
they are worth keeping.

~Try moving everyday items to different rooms
and use your creativity to use them in a new way.
The worst that can happen is that 
you find it doesn't quite work in the new application.  
Just start over!

If you are working toward more order in your life,
I hope these posts will help you jump start your vision.

The best advice I can give you is to
just start somewhere

*******
The kitchen is the heart of the home
and where we focus our time today.





It's vital to have a well-stocked kitchen
if you're going to cook from scratch.
We do our food shopping once a week
so that we save gas, money and time.
This door rack is a good use of otherwise wasted space.
It hangs on the pantry door and adds tons of storage.
If you only do one thing, find a place
where you can add one of these.
You'll thank me later!




We use mason jars to keep everything from soup
to nuts fresh and easily identifiable.
It's another simple, inexpensive way to organize.
Aside from being so versatile, I enjoy the uniform look.

 

Larger jars can be found at most discount stores
and are fantastic for containing a whole bag of flour or sugar.
Not only do they look attractive, 
the wide mouth allows for easy access
and bugs don't stand a chance of finding their way in.



A baking station can easily be created out of one kitchen cabinet.
Sheet pans, molds, mixing bowls, measuring cups and anything else used
for baking is housed together to make quick work of your task.
It just makes sense to keep like things together.



Drawers are pared down to only those items used regularly.






We also keep our favorite family recipes amassed in one binder.




It's kept in a basket on the countertop
along with a few cookbooks used regularly, 
a cell phone and any outgoing mail or coupons to use up.
Anytime baskets or bins can be used, they should be,
as they not only corral like items,
but make cleaning easier by only having to remove one item,
instead of each individual one.

 Our monthly meals are planned ahead of time as well.
I created a system that worked for our family.
You can find our Menu-by-the-Month plan here.




We hope you have enjoyed this series.
It's still the beginning of the new year,
but anytime is a good time to get more order in one's life.
There will be additional upcoming posts on organizing,
because there is always room for improvement.
Start small, but just start.
A sense of accomplishment is the result.
I encourage you to begin today, 
in some small way,
to start taking control of  your stuff,
before your stuff starts taking control of you.
Are you up for the challenge?

Here are the other posts in this series:








barnhopimage







12 comments:

  1. LOVE,love, love the inside door rack! Where did you find it? I think I need to visit and ahem, borrow your turquoise vintage bowl. ;-) My daughter would love it. Thanks for all your great tips with this series. Tomorrow, I am moving my bedroom to the upstairs. There will be a ton of organizing going on here this weekend! :-D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wish I could help you with the organizing! Enjoy your new bedroom!
      I believe we got the rack at Wallyworld, but lots of places carry them. The Container Store is one of my favorite places to get inspired. Have a great weekend!

      Delete
  2. Another great post! I use mason jars for so many things. Even storing leftovers in the fridge. I have to have an organized kitchen. I can't stand wasting time searching for something.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm right there with ya. Thanks for visiting!

      Delete
  3. I really like the idea of a baking station! That would be so convenient. And I use mason jars for nearly everything as well. My grandma had tons of mason jars from her canning years that she wasn't using anymore so I got them!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. How cool that you have your grandma's jars. Love that! ;0)

      Delete
  4. I love the mason's jar and I use them in my pantry with the great label maker labels. I would love to have a pantry like that to even have the rack to go on but I have nothing like it. It holds so much!! I actually keep my flour in a tupperware container (just like my mother and grandmother) which holds about 20 pounds. My grandmother also kept her sugar in one of them but I only got one of them so I have one of her containers that holds about 8 pounds of sugar. I want to get more organized and I think that I am going to have to put out a sheet and put all of things that we need to get rid of :) Slightly overwhelming task but we need to do it soon if we are going to try to move!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It'll make your move so much easier because you'll have less to keep track of! Sounds like you are naturally organized. Best wishes!

      Delete
  5. Very wonderful ideas. I use canning jars for everything too. I like being able to see in them and they are easily labeled and dated. They work with the vacuum sealer also. Thanks for the ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I adore jars - so much easier to stack more items in the cupboard and be able to see what you have. Love the post!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't agree more. I think jars will be on my shopping list!

      Delete

Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts!