Organization!

I have been working on getting different areas of my home set up so they are easy to keep organized.  So far, I've done the laundry room and the pantry.

I finished the laundry room a couple of months ago.  Kudos to Peter for painting our laundryroom a nice bright blue.  Then, I got a shelf with a rod and a broom organizer as well as a wicker laundry basket to put kitchen rags, towels, bibs, etc in.  The final step was to make some curtains.  One for over the window and another (actually 3 parts) to hide the storage above the washer and dryer.  I have one finishing touch, some flowers for the vase.  I think it turned out great.  I actually don't mind going in there to do laundry.


Yesterday, I decided to tackle the pantry.  For me, this is one of the hardest rooms to keep neat and organized.  When I'm done shopping I'm tired.  I just want to get it all put away and not have to deal with it any more.  I also have trouble remembering what I have and what I don't.  I hate buying something at the store and coming home to realize I have three of them already behind the boxes!

So, I pulled everything out yesterday.  And I mean EVERYTHING.  I've tried organizing before by moving one thing and replacing it with another, not ideal.  Get everything out.  Poor Steve came home to counters, table, stove, and floor covered in cans, boxes, and bags.  Then I decided what would go on the top shelf, because that's the hardest to reach.  I then filled the two most convenient shelves with what I used most often, keeping like items with like.  Finally, I filled in the other areas with what was left over.  As I went, I entered into my phone app what I had and how much.  I'm hoping that I will have enough discipline to mark off what I use.  I have a couple of things that I need to get to make it complete.  A basket, hopefully with dividers, for my envelopes of seasonings.  You know- taco, fajita, chili seasonings?  I also have packets of gravy mix and ranch dressing mix.  They fall all over the place.  I also want to get a hook to hand up my aprons.  Right now they hang on the door knob.  In general, though, I think it looks pretty nice.  Let's hope I can keep it that way.

Our next project, Steve and I are working together on.  We bought some shelves to put in our garage so that we can get stuff up off the floor.  Steve hates having to scrape off his car during the winter.  We'll be working on getting that all set up next weekend!