On the Road to Organizing My Life, Pt.2

I really should have thought of a shorter title for my little series here. Oh well.

I managed to clean out my pantry and rearranged my kitchen to work a little better for me. I forgot to take before pictures because I was so excited to get started! But here are some after pictures just because.

My "After" Pantry

Cookbooks were a new addition. Freed up a really big cabinet where these were previously.

My most exciting move was for my pots and pans and plasticware. P&P are now above my stove! They may be slightly too high (or more like I am slightly too short) but we think it's going to work out a lot better than where they were before. Yay for problem solving! (Please ignore my almond colored stove hood. Grotty.)

So that all went down last Thursday. Shout out to my super organized friend Jamie for supplying an extra set of eyes to see outside of my box, and bringing me Starbucks. 

Saturday I tackled Kynnedy's room. We've had a big pink rug in there since before she was born. It would always get bunched up and easily tripped on. I was done with that mess so I rolled it up and put it away. Well I'm still looking for a place to store it. Then I rehung the curtains in her room because they have been bugging me for over a year. Now they don't touch the floor and her window looks a lot bigger than it really is, as does the room without the pink carpet! I win!

After that I dived into our office / dog room. I hate this room. I'm sitting in it right now and my skin is crawling. I like my dogs sometimes, but they...they're....they're just gross. They shed and they fart and they're just gross. Needless to say I avoid this room as much as possible. However my amazing iMac is in this office / dog room and I hate when it sets neglected day after day. And I'm sure my husband does too. And I have these two amazing printers, one of which isn't usable because it's covered in papers to be filed. The other is usable but usually has to be cleared off before retrieving something. It's a sad, pathetic room, I tell you. And the walls are white...not a room I want to be in for long. When the next baby comes around I want to paint it green. Another day...

I was storing Kynnedy's bassinet in here, along with an elliptical from 1996 and some other big toy parts that are just awkward. I finally broke down the bassinet and placed the pieces in big trash bags to store in the shed. I'm sure I'll regret that decision when the next kid comes around. The clutter is at least less tall than it was which makes it look somewhat manageable. This one's gonna take awhile. I'm too ashamed for photos right now. But in the midst of writing this I've cleared off a good portion of the desk area. I win again!

My aunt gave me one of her books on organizing (her and my mom could probably start a library of organizational books). It's called Organizing Magic by Sandra Felton (www.messies.com). Apparently she's been around awhile, so I apologize if I sound like newbie to all this....so what if I am. If the rules can still apply today then we've got a classic here.

I've read thru day 2 (including the intro and how to use sections!) in like less than 30m, so that's saying something...EASY PEASY.

Now this is for my own reference, so don't judge me. This organizer lady says to write down 3 habits to stop doing, 3 to start and 3 to continue. Here are mine for my own reference and reminder.

STOP
1. Wasting time watching tv on Thursday's (my working from home day each week).
2. Stuffing things where they don't belong.
3. Putting off cleaning dishes.

START
1. Run dishwasher every night (been attempting this for the last few weeks, but not consciously).
2. Fold clothes as soon as they're done.
3. Do one load of laundry a day.
4. Take out trash when it's full.

CONTINUE
1. Crafting for therapy.
2. Cooking dinner.
3. Weeding out old clothes. 

Rereading these makes me think two things: 1. These are really simple, maybe even silly no brainers to someone else. 2. I can do these things. Organizing my life doesn't have to be hard. I don't have to invest a ton of money in the fancy organizational tools that may or may not help (and more likely add to the clutter). Baby steps, as with any task or goal. I'll take some cues from my almost 16 month old on how to train (or retrain) my thinking and habits by analyzing what I've been doing to see if it's as beneficial as it could be. And changing when I need to. 

Heaven forbid I don't want to end up on Hoarders!