Organized Pantry

Here is the pantry I was working on this weekend.
This might seem like a basic task at the start, but I was 2 1/2 hours fussing over these cupboard which were already partly done before I had started.

I had done a couple of shelves the week before, but decided that I didn't like where some of these jars of cooking sauces and condiments were because they were right in the middle of everything.  This is not what I wanted, I wanted the main shelf there to be for snacks and food for the family.

After much pushing and arranging things and letting go of some products that were hiding on the bottom shelf that were past their date, I have come up with an arrangement where you can see everything on each shelf and EASILY reach it.  I do believe this is a user friendly arrangement and products we buy won't get forgotten again.  (Please recall that I have another cupboard where I store my pasta, rice, & flours, and I also have another cupboard where I store the tea and coffee etc.  If I could ever figure out how to link one of my blog entries to another I will do that for you.  In the interim,   you'll have to check my older entry called Organized Shelf)

Here is the results of my work on the pantry:

The top three shelves hold snack foods, crackers, dried soups, etc.  The baskets and plastic storage containers really help keep things organized and easy to access.  The third shelf down is all our cooking  oils.  It's the tallest shelf and at easy to reach height for daily cooking.  

The next shelves you can see are directly under the cooking oils, but they have their own cupboard door.  

Under the oils we keep breads.  Again, fingertip access for the busy family.

The next shelf is canned goods.  When we do a big stock up of groceries this shelf can get very full.  We cook with diced tomatoes a lot, and when they go on sale I buy a case of 12.  Imagine squeezing 12  of those fat round cans into this cupboard!

The last shelf was the one that gave me the trouble.  It was full of beans, corn meal, etc.  I transferred most of these items to the pasta cupboard, and then the baskets of items you see on this shelf were formerly the 2nd from the top.  This is a much better use of the space here. 

There it is!  It still looks like a very full cupboard, but we are a busy and active family.  We have 3 adults and 2 teenage kids.  This requires a LOT of food, and we LOVE to cook, everything from scratch whenever possible.

You can make your pantry organized too.

 - put like items together as much as the space will allow

- use storage baskets from the dollar store to create organized spaces within each shelf

- check the expiry dates on products.  If they are past their date, let them go

- don't overstock your shelves.  We all tend to cook certain things on a fairly regular basis, so stock the pantry for those items.  Overstocked pantry shelves just lead to waste. 

- make sure you create an arrangement that meets your family needs

Thanks for reading,

Cassie

Pretty Labels.

Here are some lovely labels I found that you can customize your shelf with.
Check out the TOTALLY AWESOME Summer 2012 issue of STORAGE.  It's the Better Homes and Gardens Special Interest Publication.

Simply click on the link below and it will take you to the site.  You can also browse around for fantastic ideas of how to use the pretty little labels.    Below I have attached a picture of one of the labels for pantry.  It is saved here as a jpeg, so you won't want to print from that.  check out the website where they offer 27 different labels and each has a provided recommendation of whether to print in on an Avery type label, or cardstock.

There are just sooooo many creative ways to organize our home and work spaces, and improve their function, all the while making it pretty.  I love the colours and ribbon ties on the baskets in this entryway cupboard.

And one look at this pantry, and you'll be buying some storage containers and adding labels too!  My pantry is organized, but I plan to add these labels.  Later I will post pictures onto this entry to share it with you. (I couldn't wait to post this.  The labels are such pretty colours, and already designed for you!)

Click on the link below and you'll be on your way to some super easy to use, visually pleasing labels for your every need!

http://www.bhg.com/decorating/storage/organization-basics/free-printable-storage-labels/

- You can select colours you like.
- You can customize them to say anything you want them to.
- A variety of shapes, sizes and styles for different uses.
- You can print and/or hand write as needed.

Thanks for reading - Cassie

Organized Bathroom Vanity

Here is a free standing cupboard in our Master Bathroom that I recently arranged with some storage baskets.

This cupboard was in pretty good shape to begin with, but over time there was a few items that had somehow migrated to this place that did not belong.  I started by removing the extra make-up, first aid supplies, and odds and ends that didn't belong.

Next I arranged the top drawer again with all my hair clips toward the back, and the handheld mirror and brush towards the front of the drawer. 

I added a basket to my husband's shelf to make it easier to pull things in and out for use.  

I added a basket to my shelf for the same.  The smaller items, to keep them sorted and easy to use.

The next shelf is common, shared products like soap.  I need to re-stock on toothpaste!  When you make a designated place for common bathroom products, your family will always know where to find them when they need them. 

The last shelf, I must admit, I keep changing what I am using it for.  Presently it is holding a few cleaning supplies, and a toiletries travel bag.  That is part of organizing, if something is no longer working, you re-work the space to fit your present needs.  This shelf is tidy, but I will re-visit it at another time. 

There you have it!  An organized vanity in the bathroom makes it easy to locate the things you need.  

- Put like items together by category or who uses them

- Arrange neatly the items that will stand or stack on their own

- Place small or awkward shaped items in a basket, and you'll never again be knocking things over as you reach for something

- re-visit your spaces regularly and if you daily use and needs have changed, re-work the space to match

You can MAKE YOUR LIFE ORGANIZED!

Cassie

Calendar Fail!

No one is perfect.

Even the blogs that look like someone has everything perfect...its not.  Life happens and none of us can keep everything perfect.  Do you remember getting a gold star on a test in grade school if you got a perfect score?  Well, I don't get a gold star this time, but I did get through the situation.

I had a fail with my calendar management this week. 

 Here is the story of how this situation unfolded.  My kids are away at a youth camp this week.  All of last week as we were painting our livingroom, I was keenly aware that the packing for this trip was looming in the background.  If you have been following my blog, you will know that the painting was an all encompassing project.  In addition to the painting we had the party on Saturday for my birthday, which is actually on Thursday. 

In any event, I kept telling myself that I will get to the packing list for the kid's trip, and that I really only had to buy bug spray and sunscreen anyways.  Imagine my dismay when I realized the day before the trip that I had FAILED on 2 big things.

1. We needed sleeping bags to borrow.  Ours are old and jumbo sized.  Not suitable for a camping/portaging trip.
2. My son had outgrown all of his swim shorts.

I managed to borrow 2 sleeping bags from a friend (whew!), which saved us a very unnescessary expense of buying them.  So I managed to side step that emergency quite quickly.

The swim short problem was more difficult.  First of all, the last day before the trip my time became occupied with visits. We had family visiting, from the party the night before that slept over and stayed until almost noon. It was a real treat to have them there and I enjoyed every moment with them.
Then I had to borrow the sleeping bags, which had the added bonus of a cup of coffee with friends.  All of these events just take good honest time to do. The next thing I knew, it was late in the day on Sunday and the family and I headed to Wal-mart to try and find a swim suit and grab the other supplies.  By this time of the day there wasn't any other stores to shop from that would be open, so we were at the mercy of the inventory in one store only.

My son needs a mens small or waist 28-30.  This is not a size that they stock very many of at Wal-mart.  We searched the racks for what felt like forever, and finally found 2 pairs of swim shorts in his size.  Of these, only 1 pair fit.  That's right, my son had the choice of 1 pair of swim shorts, or have nothing at all.  He opted for the swim shorts, of course!

I was so upset with myself.  This is exactly the sort of problems I am working away from.   This is why I am working so hard to be organized, is so that I am no longer the Mom standing in the department store at the last minute with the emergency shopping and no choice on price or selection.

Let's look at how to fix this....what was going on here?

1. I was too ambitious with my calendar.  I honestly thought that painting would be done by Tuesday, or Wednesday.  It took until Friday to finish painting both our living room and Mom's.  This paint project, plus planning and hosting a party, and preparing for the camp trip was too much in one week.
2. I did not work back from my due date.  I already know this, and you probably do too, but if you work back from the due date, you can usually figure out when you need to start something on your calendar.  I should have started to look at that packing list on Wednesday or Thursday, and this trouble could have been avoided.
3. I didn't check my calendar daily while on holiday.  It was a working holiday week, as we were painting and I let the disruption cause my daily routine to de-rail.  You will save yourself so much heartache if you enter things in your calendar and then really, really....check it daily, and get your tasks done.
4. I didn't adjust my calendar.  If you refer to my page titled Organized Calendar you will see that I state there that you need to check your calendar each day and if you did not get something done, you need to transfer the task to a PLANNED date when you will complete it. 
When I realized the painting project was taking longer than anticipated I should have made a plan to move some of the painting to the next week so that I could still allow proper time for party preparations and packing for camping preparations.

This is how we learn to change.   We must stop and assess the situation and ask ourselves what is happening here.  If we can understand what is happening, then we can see the steps to change. 

I hope that sharing this story will encourage you to keep on learning and that with intentional changes and practice you can MAKE YOUR LIFE ORGANIZED! I'd love to hear from you if you have a story of how you have learned the value of being organized and how it can set you free to do the things that are important. 

Thanks for reading my blog!
Cassie