Ready … set … go! Here is my plan … to organize a bunch of “spaces” this month. I know, I say that all the time but really, this time … I am ready! And honestly, so far so good this week. See, now that I am officially not working (since Monday) it seems that I have lots more time. Go figure. It also has helped (somewhat) that Farmer Neal isn’t working right now so he can help with a few things here and there that this large pregnant body just shouldn’t do. I will share with you some of the projects in pictures. I am sure that you are very excited. Some projects are large, but most are small. I am tackling most of the small ones first since that just makes good sense.
Project #1 … we took down Christmas (as small as it was) and organized the upstairs storage room and entry way. It was a big project but took less than an hour.
Project # 2 … De-cluttering the Refrigerator. It was bad. I eliminated all the old pictures and replaced with the most current ones that I have. I also had to make a tough decision … “who exactly get’s to stay on the fridge”. Immediate family only won. Well, with the exception of my friend Martha … she is just too great not to keep a picture of. When we receive new pictures throughout the year they will make the fridge until the next great de-cluttering day. I also wanted to limit photos to the top section and leave the bottom section with “kid friendly” magnets.
before

after

Nice right? Yeah, it took like half an hour.
Project #3 … Limit the amount of utensils in the utensil drawers. Another “not pretty sight” were my TWO utensil drawers. Who the heck needs “two” … and these are big drawers. I also have a little caddy that holds all my “use all the time” utensils. Needless to say I am somewhat of a utensil junkie. I love them. I don’t use them, don’t need them, but I love them. Most of these I purchased but a few “came with the place”, and they were kept since we had the room.
before


during
the keep, maybe?, and your outa here piles

after


In the end, I still have two drawers since there is not an immediate need for another drawer, and honestly … there is still more than I need. Old habits are hard to break and I try to think ahead … for example … “do I need 4 types of rolling pins?”. The answer would be obviously ”no” since I have one set of hands. However, what happens when Evelyn’s two little hands, and the new babies two little hands join the kitchen prep in a few years. So yes, there is still more than I need, but not more than I “may need”. See how that works? I am great at justification. But don’t they look nice? Farmer Neal has yet to go through the “must go” box and plead a case for keeping them, but I only suspect a couple will be saved from the exiting of this great farm kitchen.
So there you go. I have a couple more projects in the works today and will share as the time presents itself. Here’s to hoping that I don’t get put on bed rest in the near future and my great organization challenge of 2010 goes down the drain. Speaking of drains, I really need to clean under that sink!