The Medicine Cabinet

I know, I've been in the kitchen lately, and it's a switch to do the medicine cabinet...but really it's not for me. 


When we moved to this house 5 1/2 years ago, there was absolutely no storage up high in my bathroom.  This made certain things difficult.  You see, I had a 5 year old, a 3 year old and twin 1 month olds.  Child-proofing the house was a must.  My kids are all climbers and curious...plus my son who has autism was barely verbal at the time.  The thing I realized was that I couldn't store anything in the bathroom that would harm anyone.  My cabinet under the sink in there was impossible to lock/childproof so it was basically useless for anything but towels and toilet paper (which were a mess daily for a while when the twins got old enough to become "explorers").  Child-proofing for a kid who picks locks (not kidding) and hacks computers (it started before he could talk) is pretty much impossible without a serious budget that I don't have.  The thing I found, however, is that my son is not much of a climber.  My daughters are all climbers, however, so that doesn't always help...but I wouldn't know that until quite a bit later.  Anyhoo, all this is to say that the highest cabinet in my house is in the kitchen, so that's where the medicine goes.  It's also not easy to climb to (but possible with twin power...fortunately I was faster than they were when I found my twins up there at 3...fortunately my mommy sense was working and I left the bathroom and found them before anything happened).

Okay, that's my long explanation for why my medicine is in my kitchen.  Let's get on with the show, shall we?

This shelf is above my spices, as you can see in the picture.  It's got doors and is pretty well hidden.  The kids know to keep their hands off...now.  Still, you can tell that if I want something in particular, I'm going to have to look a while.  This doesn't make me happy when I have a headache. 

A while ago I purchased these little baskets that were the perfect size for this shelf.  I figured I would sort and label everything so I could see what I wanted and what I was out of.  Unfortunately, the only time I thought about those baskets was when I couldn't find something and someone was sick, so I was busy.

Now is the time!  So I went through the medicine.  I threw away all the old prescriptions that nobody takes anymore, got rid of the expired stuff and found medicine that I could have used back when I had a cold!  I also found a couple of movie passes that were stuck up there for some reason...they are still good, so I'm going to have a cheap dates sometime soon!

My son has a lot of medicine that is just for him, so I knew he needed his own basket.  I also labeled the other baskets for cold/allergies, stomach, pain, first aid, and vitamins.  Looks good, doesn't it?  I can actually find stuff and just reach for the right basket when I'm looking for something for my headache! 

I don't know where my next project is going to be...I'm debating the pans, but I'm scared...what do you think?

Kitchen Chaos Continued: The Spices

This has been a crazy day.  I usually blog in the mornings, but today I couldn't because of appointments, phone calls, and everything else that is in my job description as a work at home mom.  Anyhoo, I still got the opportunity (after the kids were all tucked into bed) to organize something.

I've been meaning to reorganize my spices ever since I first moved into my house over 5 years ago...life has gotten in the way.  This also means, however, that I keep impulsively buying things to help organize those spices.

My biggest problem is my lack of uniformity in size and shape of spice containers.  In a perfect world, I would just go out and buy all new containers to put all the spices in so that they are all the same and well labeled. 

This is not a perfect world.

I am still sticking to my rule that I use only what I have and don't go out and buy anything.  Okay, so maybe I have a lot of containers on hand, mostly from my Clever Container business but also because they are my impulse buys far too often.

All that being said, this is what my spice "cabinet" looked like before I began.

Crazy, right?  I can't find anything in that mess.

So, first things first, I took out everything.  I scrubbed until I couldn't scrub anymore.  I went through all the spices and got rid of anything that was icky, too old, unlabeled, or just something I'll never use again because nobody liked it.  I put everything that has a home somewhere else in it's home. 

There was still a lot of stuff there.  There were a few items that I had duplicates of because, no doubt, I couldn't find it when I was looking for it one time and assumed that I didn't have any.

This is a pretty deep shelf.  Normally in a deep shelf I just put the stuff into bins so I don't lose anything.  The problem with that this time is that I want to see the label of every item and be able to just reach in and get it without looking forever. 

Also, my deep shelf has little side shelves that are angled in the back (basically a triangle because the whole thing is at an angle in my house).  I decided that I would put bins on the side if I could get something that fit to put in all the stuff that I don't use much.

All of the little things I have purchased in an effort to fix my spice space now come out to play.  I sort and figure out what fits in each organizer and where I want to put the organizer based on what will fit in it.  I'll want to put spices together that go in different dishes that I cook.  I ended up giving up on that in some cases because things just didn't fit together, but it worked out pretty well overall.

The end result looks a lot nicer.  I can actually see what is in each spice.  I also ended up with a little bin pull on the bottom right to hold all my spice packets that don't have a jar.  I also put all of the cake decorating stuff that I only use when it's time for birthday cakes or cookies in a Cabinet Cubby from Clever Container.  It helps to only have to pull that thing out when that time rolls around.  That went on the little side shelf as well.  I gave up on my rotating spice rack because it used up a lot of space for holding very little.

Overall I think it works nicely.  The thing I'm a little worried about is the fact that there is a lot of space that isn't used in front of my spices.  People (meaning my husband and I) have a tendency to set random things on spaces that empty.  Originally this shelf was designed for a microwave, but my microwave doesn't fit there, so we put it on a shelf below.  This place ended up being the only spot in my kitchen appropriate for spices.  It's nice that it's right next to the stove for easy access while seasoning things. 

One day I will completely renovate my kitchen and this organization will all be obsolete, but for now, this is good for me.  What do you think?

Kitchen Cabinets and Pantry Part 2

 Today I decided to tackle the pantry.  Timer set for 15 minutes, I opened the door to the pantry and began to take before pictures.  Right away I started seeing things that I didn't remember having in my pantry.  It was a mess.  I didn't have a clue where to begin.

I started by taking everything out.  My hallway was lined with stuff.  Some of those things I didn't remember ever buying.  I took down the pockets that hung over the door because they were starting to tear and I knew I had some Clever Pockets that I was planning on using in there anyway.  I brought out a trash can, a box, and my container stash.

Right away I found that I didn't own the containers that I wanted for the cereal...well, I had one.  I used that one and put on a list that I wanted to get some cereal containers.  Not just for the cereal, but also the instant rice and instant mashed potatoes (staples in this house). 

The shelf on the top had quite a few things shoved in the back that no one could get to, so I figured anything up there needed something to contain it.  I had a couple of mesh baskets and one that fit up there that I could easily label that wasn't clear.  I don't like using one that isn't clear, but I had to work with containers that I had on hand.

I also decided that I was going to move the kid's snacks in here instead of where they were in the kitchen (my pantry is in my hallway...it's not my favorite spot, but it's what I have). I like the kids being able to get their snacks themselves, and the twins couldn't reach them where they were in the kitchen without climbing on something.  I had these great stacking bins that I got in a dollar store one time thinking I was going to do something with them...I have no idea what it was, but I'm pretty sure this is going to be a better purpose for them.

Ready for my "end" result?

I'm not sure I like the way that I have the cans, but I don't have a way to stack them so I can see all of them.  I do have them in rows of items that are the same (all the tuna is together etc.) but I can't just see everything. 

Oh, I also moved the cans of soup into the kitchen.  I have all the other meals that are quick and easy in there and I had the snacks in there before, so it was an easy switch.  Want to see how that cabinet is after a week?  Plus I put in stuff from the pantry that should have been in there before too.

I moved a few things around, but that kind of movement is expected as I begin to organize each cabinet.

The one thing I'm debating is the idea of moving the pastas to the pantry.  They are a go-to meal around here, but I have to go to the pantry for the other things like sauces and such anyway.  I think it will depend on what my cereal containers look like when I get them.  If the pasta will fit easily with the rice and potatoes, it will make sense to me to put them together.  I don't have those containers yet, however, so I can't really do much about that.

So, what do you think?  Any suggestions?

Kitchen Cabinets and Pantry Part 1

Today I decided to clean out my kitchen cabinets.  I ended up stopping after just 2 cabinets.  The number one thing that I've learned in organizing stuff is that you have to set limits and do things a little at a time.  If you don't, you get overwhelmed by everything that has to be done.  I work in 15 minute intervals.  Today I did 2 with a break in between.  It was just enough to have a small miracle happen in my kitchen.

Let's start with the before picture.

See all the stuff crammed in there?  I don't really know what is there or really how I function with it that way.  All I know is, I'm tired of not being able to find stuff when I want to cook.

This cabinet is supposed to have baking things and quick stuff to make for lunch or breakfast (except cereals because the boxes don't fit in the shelves...one day I'll be remodeling and this problem will be solved, until then, cereal is in the pantry).

The baking stuff is in the kitchen because I bake all the time.  My son is gluten free (GF) and casien free (CF) because of his autism and I can't really do that diet without baking whenever he needs something.  Sure, there's pre-made stuff out there, but I can't afford it and I don't really want to feed him all the processed foods all the time anyway.

The GF/CF thing is important to my organization.  Why?  I don't have a totally GF/CF kitchen.  I have to make sure that the GF/CF stuff isn't with the wheat flour.  I don't want to contaminate anything.

The other thing that was important to my organization is my wallet.  I had to do this with containers and stuff that I already had on hand.  I just don't have the money to go out and buy a bunch of containers to make everything uniform and pretty.  This is where my pack rat mentality comes in handy.  I have a ton of containers.  That, along with the fact that I have Clever Container stuff in stock, makes me still be able to do this job.  Those containers that I'm "going to use one day" I'm actually going to use...weird, huh?  I will say that at the end of the year, when I've organized one area of my house a week and hopefully reached my goal of an organized house to be proud of, I'm going to have used or thrown away all of those things that "I'm going to use one day".  The day is now or it's gone.

Cleaning out all the junk in that cabinet was crazy.  There were things that had expired in 2007, mystery ingredients that were in bags but never labeled, and lots of stuff that I had no idea that I still had.

Want to see the "finished" product?

My goal in these cabinets was to only use containers that I could see if there was something in them and how many there were.  I hate it when I reach in to get something for the twins to have and only pull out one.  The Bin Pull from Clever Container as well as the Cabinet Cubby and Fridge Cube were awesome for this. 

I also tried to label everything as much as possible...until I ran out of labels.  It's on my to do list for today to go get some more and finish the job.  There's not many things that still need to be labeled, though.  I also found that I didn't have the right containers for everything and I'm going to need to order some more stuff from Clever Container to finish the job.  Fortunately, I just had an Open House this weekend and I still have not closed that party, so I'll get that order in quickly too.


So there you have it, part one of my organizational journey in my kitchen.

I'm back!

This year is a new start for me. I've been with Clever Container now for 6 months and I'm determined to make the next 6 months better.

One of the things I've decided to do was to write this blog weekly. I've decided that Tuesdays are the best days for me to get this stuff done, so it will probably be weekly on Tuesdays. So here goes, The first Tuesday blog of the year.

What I figured I would do was show you my route to organization this year in pictures. I'll show you my mess and how I cleaned it up, one area of my house at a time. When I'm done I'm determined to be able to take a video of my house and show you how everything has turned out.

I'll be posting before pictures...try not to judge me too harshly. I'm not a naturally organized person and I know it. I'm not a professional organizer, but working with Clever Container has introduced me to several of them online. I'm gleaning as I go.

Basically I just want to show you my struggle. I know that you all have at least one area where you struggle. Nobody is good at EVERYTHING. I'm just trying to be brave enough to show you what my problems are and show you how I'm working on them. With God's help, I'll beat this thing called chaos.

Ready to begin?

Today I'm going to show you what I've done to help me and the kids get a bit more organized in chores.
I admit, I found the idea from Pinterest. I followed the link here and found a blog about these awesome chore sticks.

I have to say, I'd had a pretty good chore system in place, but I'd been having trouble with the kids complaining. I had the house divided in sections and gave the kids the instructions for their section and the sections rotated every week. It kind of worked, but I kept having trouble with the kids just irritated with the same chore all week or not having time for their weekly chore to pass inspection.

This chore jar thing has worked pretty well. I've only done it for a couple of days, so we'll see how well it works later, but for now the kids are excited. The part they like best is that I give them a number of sticks that they pull out from the jar. The sticks have something on it like "rake leaves in front yard" or "unload dishwasher". There are also sticks that say "free chore" or "take an extra stick" to mix things up a bit and make it seem more like a game.

I'm using this together with my iRewardchart app on my phone. This gives the kids something to work for. If they complete a chore, they get a star. The app keeps track of the stars and allows the kids to redeem the stars for rewards. Sounds good, huh?

The thing my oldest daughter likes is that she isn't stuck in one area for a week, or even a day if she has 2 sticks in different areas of the house. She hates working in the bathroom, but if she gets one stick with a bathroom chore and one outside chore, she doesn't complain as much. Of course, since we are working on attitudes and complaining, they are getting extra stars (iRewardchart has a behavior section for stars too) for doing their chores without complaining or grumbling...and they have the opportunity to lose stars if they whine.

With those two ideas together, I've really gotten some things done with the kids home today. Sure, the kids' chores are spread out throughout the house and it looke like there is still a lot more work to do, but the kids did what they were told and I know I can just get out the chore jar when they all need something to do. Nobody wants to tell me they are bored, either....