{Operation Reorganization: Kitchen Pantry}

Remember this post where I ranted about my pantry and told you that it was all going to change? Well, the next day I thought about how I was going to tackle the reorganization and when I got home from work, I emptied out the entire contents of my pantry, filled my dining room table and sat in the middle of my kitchen on a step stool trying to figure out how to put it back together. My first thought was that the contents in my dining room could not go back into the same cabinet they came out of so this is what happened.

I relocated my bake ware to the pantry and moved the pantry contents to where the bake ware was. It was closer to the stove microwave so it made sense to me. Also the cabinet is not as deep as the pantry so hopefully food won’t get lost in it’s new location.  :)

This is the contents AFTER I sifted through and pulled out the food that was expired. Forgot to take a picture of all that but I filled an entire garbage bag (and felt extremely guilty for throwing out that much food.) There were things in there that expired in 2006!! Eeewww!

Ok. So I did a little switcharoo and you would think that would be the end of it, right? Well, it wasn’t. I also had spices and ingredients for baking in the pantry and when I went to put those items in their proper places, I was again sickened by the lack of organization there too so I emptied the cabinets where I had the spices and baking stuff.

The before pic is after I sorted through my spices. I had 5 of some things! Seriously people, it was ridiculous! Those racks in the after pic pull out & down which is great because that cabinet is above our microwave that’s over the stove and I’m short so any little help I can get so I don’t have to use a step stool is wonderful!

Before I show you where the baking supplies and spices were mixed together, let’s check out the “overflow” pantry that we have in our laundry room.

Well, it looks just as crowded but it’s a little more organized than before. My hope was to move the doggie stuff to a cabinet above our dryer but those bins didn’t fit. Plan B is to put it all in the cabinet under the sink in our laundry room but hubsy is going to have to go through that stuff because well, it’s all his crap under there. Remember how I said the paper plates, cups & stuff was suppose to be in this cabinet? Do you notice in the after pic that it all made it to it’s originally designated place? :)

Ok, now let’s go back to the kitchen and check out that cabinet with all my baking supplies. Before, all my spices, baking supplies, some random dishes & disgusting bugs were residing in this cabinet. After a thorough cleaning, I managed to put it all back together. I so wish I had taken a pic of the before when it was all in the cabinet.

This is, hands down, my favorite part of the reorganization project (even though I had no intention to touch this cabinet originally).  In the after pic, on the top left are all my extracts, food coloring, baking spices (like nutmeg, pumpkin spice, etc), and cupcake liners. On the right are all my oils and cooking sprays. The middle shelf is all my dry goods like sugars & flours. If I had extras, I placed it behind the jars. The bottom isn’t baking stuff, it’s pasta, beans & tea bags. All my pasta was where the spices are now so I had to relocate them somewhere.

Ok, so if you follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my tweet about how giddy I was that I got to use some labels from my {embellish*ology} shop! Many of you wanted to see them in action so here ya go! All I did was add the ingredient of each jar, printed & cut them out and ran them through my Xyron. Want some customized labels for your organization project? Let me know, I’d be happy to customize some for you!

So what do you think of Operation Pantry Reorganization? I hope you are inspired to use {embellish*ology} products now.  :)

XOXO,

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{Meals for a Month, Part II}

Ok, so did everyone get their master list and recipes together? Did you try to schedule your meals on a calendar? Are you ready for the next steps? If you missed Part I, you can read it here.

(Letterpress Recipe Cards & Box by One Canoe Two)

Once I got my recipes together, I decided that I wanted to actually have recipe cards for each. This way, hubby can have exact instructions in case I have to work late or for some other reason, can’t get dinner started. There are several options online for recipe cards. I’ve seen some printable cards on Etsy.

(Stand Mixer Recipe Cards by Winifred Studios)

However, I used the free printable cards on Skip to My Lou. They have it set up perfectly! All you have to do is enter your ingredients and instructions and it puts in on the card for you to print. You can find them here.

So, I have my menu and my recipes, now it’s time to make the shopping list. I did this on a new tab in my Excel file that contained my menu. On my shopping list I had 3 columns, one for quantity, one for the item, and one to order the items by how they can be found in the store (you have to know your store pretty well for that last one). Then, I went online to the coupon sites that I frequent (couponsurfer & coupons.com) and printed off the coupons for the items I needed. I also went through my coupon organizer to see if I had any coupons there too (I actually ended up throwing all of them away because they were expired). I’m not very good at the coupon thing yet but that’s a goal of mine…..I’ve got to get our grocery bills down! Once I gathered my coupons, I noted next to the item on my list that I had a coupon and how much is was for. Once I had my shopping list complete, I placed a number in the 3rd column that indicated the order in which the store has these items then I did a sort to get all the like items together. Lastly, print your list and get to the store!

Qty	Item
1	Contact Solution (Coupon $1/1)	1
1	Milk	2
1	Dozen Eggs	2

I did my grocery shopping tonight and it went super quick with the way I organized my list. I got to the store and back in about an hour so I think I’ll be sticking with my shopping list format!

I haven’t quite decided how to display my menu and recipes cards for each week’s meals but I’ll definitely share once I do! For now, they are on the refrigerator….who knows, they may end up staying there.  ;)

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{Meals for a Month, Part I}

Let me start by saying that I am, in no way, an organization/planning guru. This is something that I have come up with by researching other methods and combing pieces to work for me and my style/personality.

Something that I absolutely hate to do is figure out what to have for dinner each night and my hubby is absolutely no help with this task either. Our conversations usually go a little something like this:

Hubby: What are we having for dinner?
Me: I don’t know, what sounds good?
Hubby: I don’t know, what do we have?
Me: I don’t know, go look?
Hubby:  Well I don’t know what we need to make anything?
Me:  Well what do you want?
Hubby: I don’t know, what sounds good?

Needless to say, we usually end up going out and grabbing fast food. Ugh!

In the past, I have actually created a menu for the week (in no organized fashion) and found that it made my life less stressful just knowing that I didn’t have to think about what to make for dinner. However, I’m no good at consistency so there have been weeks where we eat out all week.

Today, I actually sat down and was determined to plan some meals and my shopping list for the rest of the month.  About a year ago, I first attempted a meal planning system by making a Master list of meals that I typically make. When I started planning today, I referred to that list, did some recipe searches on the web and came up with my meal plan (in Excel).

	Week of March 14th		Week of March 21		Week of March 28
Sunday			Meatloaf		BBQ Brisket
Monday	Tex Mex Stir Fry		Hot Dogs		Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Tuesday	Hamburgers		Leftovers		Leftovers
Wednesday	MacNCheese with Smoked Sausage		Spaghetti		Taco Salad
Thursday	Grilled Chicken Salad		Leftovers		Leftovers
Friday	Beef Enchiladas		Meatball Subs		Out
Saturday	BBQ Monterey Chicken		Out		Garlic Basil Applesauce Pork chops

I started my list by reviewing what I already had and planning meals around that. Once I had my list together, I scheduled it out trying to alternate chicken and beef and mixing in some really easy quick meals. I’ve also added in some Leftover days which are when hubby has school so it’s easier to just heat something up since he’s only home for a very short time before heading off to school. You’ll also notice that I added in a couple of Eat Out days….everyone needs a break from cooking right? However one of those days I know we will be celebrating a birthday by eating out so that’s why I scheduled it for that particular day.

Stay tuned because on Tuesday I’ll be posting Part II which will include making a shopping list and collecting the recipes for the meals I’ve planned.

Until then, check out some of the Meal Planning finds I discovered on Etsy.

  

If you have questions, I’d be glad to answer them. You can ask in the comments or email me! Also, if you already have a meal planning system, I’d love to hear about that too!

Happy Planning!

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{Reorganization is a Slow Process}

Just wanted to give an update on how my total re-organization is going……sloooooowly.  I did an initial run through of our home office and decided that I had it fairly organized. There are a few areas that needed a little work and I needed some pretties to keep it looking so cluttered.

Here are some before pics:

This is looking in from the laundry room. Thankfully, the desk fit perfectly between the doors that go upstairs and out to the garage. My plan is to get some pretty boxes for storage to show through those glass doors.  I also have some canvas baskets that will be going up top that will store some supplies. And last but not least, the desk will be clutter free!

  This bookshelf is the first thing you see when you walk in from the garage. As you can see, the entrance into the laundry room is just to the left. (Before we added our garage, that doorway went to the outside).  The very top of the bookshelf will hold a charging station for our phones, keys & wallets (the ivy will stay). On the first shelf, I will have a prettier basket for the mail (I’m so tired of it landing on the kitchen counter!). The canvas baskets that I mentioned above, are the ones that will be going on top of the desk. In their place, I plan on putting actual books there! Currently, in that green box on the bottom shelf, are our warranties & instructions for all our appliances & gadgets. That and the other box will be replaced with a couple of file boxes that are more pleasing to the eye.

This file cabinet is on the other side of the entrance to the laundry room. I don’t like it’s current set up at all…who left those Christmas decorations out?! Oh yeah, that was me, hehe. Everything atop that cabinet is going! I want to put a lamp in the corner and leave the rest empty if possible. On the wall, I want to make a framed magnetic board like the one in my studio except I will cover it with coordinating material instead of leaving it silver.

To give the office a finished look, I am adding a new rug in front of the door coming in from the garage and will add some sort of window treatment to the windows (I’m thinking valances or cornices).

As for the stuff you can’t see (like the tons of paper inside that filing cabinet) well, I am slowly going through that. It is my LEAST favorite part of the whole process. So overwhelming!

I can’t wait to finish this room, so I can move on to the next!

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{Organizing the Chaos}

I’m tired. Tired of my life being nothing but chaos. After having a pretty rough week last week I decided it was time for change. It’s only been two days but I’m already feeling better.
First of all, I have decided to make God #1 in my life again. Hubby and I started going back to church a few months ago but after a near melt down last week, I’ve decided that’s just not enough. I am once again pursuing a relationship with God and I can tell you after only a few days, life has been so much better.
Another change I have made is making family and daily maintenance of my household a priority over my shop. So far, so good. I think this is actually allowing me to be more focused when I actually do have time to work in my studio. I feel like I’ve been getting much more accomplished in the last couple of days.
One last change I decided to make – it’s a big one – is to do a complete overhaul on my house. There are only two people living in a 2000+ square foot house and we have no room for anything. It’s ridiculous!  So starting this weekend, I am going to start by organizing drawers, cabinets and closets one room at a time. After all, we do plan on having kids . . . we have actually been working on that, but that’s a different post. My goal is to have everything organized by Summer . . . just being realistic. 
Another change that I am debating is my job. Here lately, I have had a bad attitude . . . I am bored and I think burned out. This is something I am praying about  and will keep you posted.
Now, for my lovely faithful readers, I am hoping that you can help keep me accountable to making these changes. If you are a praying person, I would appreciate that too!
P.S.  The picture above is NOT what my laundry room looks like now. That was taken a little over a year ago.  :)
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