Time to get Organized!
As anyone on our team will tell you, I am a very organized person. In my own home, everything has its place. But the longer we live in one place, the more we accumulate and the more disorganization creeps in. It’s why when a client has to face preparing to sell, the task can seem really daunting!
I recently undertook a couple of organizational projects on the home front that have brought me joy (Marie Kondo would definitely be impressed!), so I thought I would share. If your life is simply too busy to worry about stuff like this, don’t worry! But if you are feeling mired in clutter or feel like your kitchen isn’t functioning as well as it should, hear me out.
Sharing the Space – Project Number One
I share my kitchen with someone who is happy to live with things that change places. Me, not so much. We both like to cook and because we are mostly vegetarian, we use lots of spices in our recipes. After nearly ten years here, I realized my spice drawer was chaos. Who knew dried spices expire?! So one cold, snowy day, I decided to take on that drawer. First, I dumped the expired spices and ones I knew were many years old into the compost bin. Then, I measured my spice drawer and ordered a set of jars and labels that would fit in a way to maximize the limited space. I stocked up on spices I use the most and reviewed the spice labels to see what else I might want to add to my spice catalogue. I actually ended up ordering two sizes of jars – one for the spices I use most that fit in one particular spot, and smaller ones for the general spice population.
Washing all those jars, then transferring spices to them was time consuming, but oh the feeling when it was all done. To cap off the project, I placed my spices alphabetically. Please don’t judge me! My husband rolled his eyes and was skeptical they would stay that way, but it has been a couple of months, and guess what? They are still in order! I still get joy out of opening this drawer and we both agree that cooking is way easier when you know where to find what you’re after. Check out the finished product!
The Pileup – Project Number Two
The second project came up because we were running out of storage space! This I know to be a common problem. It’s amazing the result if you take some time – even if it’s half a day once a month – to go through and purge your storage space. In my case, our stuff piles up in the furnace room and before long, I knew it would become a fire hazard. I started by going through every item and removing most to another room. We created a donation pile, a try-to-sell pile and a recycle pile. (That pile is still sitting in the office, but we will get there!) The paint cans remain until that special day comes that the City accepts that type of “garbage”. I then organized some shelving and put back the items we are keeping. But this time, each shelf had a theme. One contains kitchen items, another sporting equipment. Cleaning supplies in another spot and the stuff we have to keep but never touch, well, that stuff is at the bottom. With extra space, we actually have a place for our window screens in winter now!
Together, these two projects have given me slightly more joy in my home, so I may not have to move so soon after all! Hopefully, you have found some kind of inspiration, too.
