Five Days to an Organized Pantry: Day 1

Do you want to have a more organized pantry? Stick with me. Let us take just five days to completely overhaul the pantry and develop an easy system of rules that will keep it that way. With an organized (and well-stocked pantry), you’ll never have to worry about missing an ingredient. Just open your pantry and find what you need to make your meal. Day 1: Know What You Use If your pantry is like mine used to be, there are probably several things in there that haven’t seen the light of day in months or maybe even years. At … Continue reading →

The Kitchen Saga, Part Four

Well, today is D Day. For those non history buffs, that means Demolition Day at My House. Ok, maybe not usually, but today it does. Today I’ll drop off my daughter at school, then head back home to meet with the contractors who will spend the day demolishing our kitchen space. Goodbye, cupboards. Goodbye, flaking and rotten counter. I must admit that I am not at all sad to see it go. I’m a little sorry that it’s not reusable. If we could, we would reuse it in our basement as storage cabinets. However, the kitchen is so rotten that … Continue reading →

Clutter Cutting Ideas

Are you spending too much time looking at your home and sighing because it isn’t as organized as you would like? Do you hurt yourself at least once a week stepping on a lego or bumping into a coffee table? Do you have at least one closet door or a drawer that won’t close or a precariously perched pile of paperwork. If you answered yes to at least one of these questions then it might be time to cut some of the clutter. You’ll be happy that you did. Get One but Toss Two Do you have a weakness for … Continue reading →

Three Hidden Benefits of an Organized Home

If you need more motivation to stay organized and put in some extra effort to have an organized home, just review the following. There are at least three hidden benefits to having an organized home. More Time with Friends and Family When your home is organized it takes less maintenance not more, believe it or not. A home where everything has its place and quick cleaning routines are established leaves plenty of extra time that might otherwise be spent looking for items or doing frantic marathon cleaning sessions. Also, organized homes will have less clutter to deal with. Fewer possessions … Continue reading →

How to Organize a Child’s Room

Organizing a child’s room can be a big challenge for a number of reasons. Children tend to live in the moment and love to move from activity to activity. They have special needs depending on their age and size, and let’s face it, it is sometimes tough trying to declutter a child’s room when every toy is a favorite. Get Down to the Child’s Level You’ll want to be able to put systems into place that are easy not only for you to use but also for your child to use. In order to do this, you need to get … Continue reading →

The Kitchen Saga, Part Two

Next week was supposed to be the week our kitchen renovation took place. The kitchen would be demolished, nasty cupboards with a whole lot of dry rot moved out, and lovely cupboards moved in. Ah, the bliss. Unfortunately, that is no longer next week. Now – with my fingers crossed – I’m hoping for the first full week of February. Why? Well, as per usual in renovation land, things change. What changed for us was the flooring. We would like to have flooring that is consistent across our kitchen and hallway. We’d like to stop ice skating as we slide … Continue reading →

Eco Countertops

Over the weekend, we visited the place of all things good and not too expensive. Yes, I’m talking about Ikea. We are not big consumers, so a trip to Ikea on a weekend was a little bit traumatic. However, the trip was necessary, because we were buying our cabinets. Now, the one thing that we didn’t buy was the counter tops. After years of living with cracking countertops, I’m looking for something hard, durable, and yes…eco friendly. What’s available in the eco countertop market? The choices are vast and increasing daily. If you’re looking for something that looks like granite, … Continue reading →

The Kitchen Saga, Part One

Our kitchen is sad. While the rest of our house was duly beautified when we moved in, we just didn’t have enough money to fix up the kitchen. It shows. Our kitchen has delighted us by spewing from the dishwasher the first week we moved in, having the range hood stop working the next week, and throwing various cupboard doors at us in the years after that. I vividly remember holding my baby daughter in one arm while balancing a cupboard door in the other, a door that had just come off in my hands due to dry rot. We’ll … Continue reading →

Easy Bathroom Organizing

Make a fresh start in your bathroom by tossing away the old (and disgusting) and organizing the new. You don’t have to completely overhaul your bathroom, but taking a few minutes to go through a few things will really make a difference. An organized bathroom is easier to clean and looks nice, too. Start with the hair accessories. Get rid of anything that is not working, such as stretched out elastics or broken clips. Why were we saving those anyway? If you are like me, you might even have a few scrunchies from the 80 or 90s laying around. Okay, … Continue reading →

Tending Your Home Calendar

As the new year gets going, I find myself drawn to my calendar. I love, love, love my calendar. It fills me with excitement, and sometimes it fills me with dread, but at least I always know what to expect.I love the care and maintenance of our calendar. Here are my routines. I vary when it comes to placing weekly activities on the calendar. My husband is not a calendar person, and I am. I know my daughter’s weekly schedule and I know mine, but often he’s left out of the loop. Having a weekly calendar on your paper or … Continue reading →