organizing spaces

Do you ever get spring fever when it really isn't the appropriate season for such a thing?

I'm not talking about the urge to be outside smelling dandelions,

rather the urge to tackle your kitchen cupboards, closets and every surface that is cluttered.

I remember my mom appreciating when I was sick with a bug of some kind.

As soon as I was feeling better .... I had at the kitchen cupboards ... organization central hit hard.

Maybe it is the fact that my present class ended Sunday and I was done with nearly everything Friday morning.

Maybe it is the fact that I don't have school work this week ... I actually have a week off between classes.

Maybe it is the fact that next week I am on vacation from work.

Maybe it is all of it put together.

Friday ... I started weeding through stuff and organizing.

Somewhere once upon a time I saw an idea for organizing kitchen cupboards using little bin things

purchased at the dollar store.

She used black baskets for hers ... unfortunately I didn't have the option.

Tia & I ran to the dollar store on Friday and picked up these ....

It didn't take too many minutes to realize that this was not going to be enough for what I wanted. It is also difficult to judge what fits best in each space and best holds the items you want to store in them until you start to play with them.

Jari & Tia were gone Friday evening and I opted to stay home. As soon as they left, I was back at the dollar store buying more of these little treasures.

A good Sidney Sheldon book playing in my ears and a rag in my hands ... that is either a definite sign of age or a working mom when I choose to clean cupboards on a Friday nite. 

The baskets are a little on the cheap outside. Like, duh, they cost 99cents. They were cheap!
Canning Jar Lids? Right up there with Cake Decorating supplies. We really use the pressure cooker around here and those lids (the screw on part) end up everywhere! They sort of drive me crazy. I'm hoping to contain them a little with this basket. I'm not a cake decorator, but we do enjoy cookie decorating and those things were rolling lose all over the place as well.

Now this piece might prove challenging. I have no clue if it will work or not, but I left out the few things that I use all the time. The rest I placed in baskets. Seasonings in one ....

and baking things in another. Like, seriously. How often do you use your molasses?!

To be fair, I should have taken a before picture but I didn't. 

I didn't even think about it let alone consciously push the thought away.

I was having so much fun that I moved to my bedroom next. For a few years we managed to have a bedroom that wasn't a combination of sleeping quarters and office. For a few years. That time will come again, but it isn't here yet. My hubby makes serious piles of papers and all kinds of officey stuff. Clothing ... he puts where it belongs. I hit part of it and ignored part. The part I ignored is akin to cleaning out his tools in the garage. Ain't going to touch those with a ten foot pole. Not posting pictures of the part I did take care of, but suffice it to say that more of these bins made it onto a shelf in there and organization like activity happened. Enough so that the girls walked in and were impressed ... without my pointing it out to them!! 

My labels on the bins are a little hokey. My idea was to attach them with velcro stickies so I could change them as needed. I didn't want to put them on permanently. Problemo Uno: the velcro stickies I bought at the dollar store don't stick very well to the container. I might redo them and hang with a ribbon or just take a glue gun to them. It probably won't take long to get to that point either if they keep falling off just sitting there!

That would be my organization ideas for this week. In the next few weeks ... hopefully more cupboards and closets will be left with only what I use and need. The rest ... outta here!!