Time to tackle my kitchen…
Every day this week, we have had sunshine by the late morning. I’ve been wearing skirts, barefeet and short sleeved shirts- in February! In Vancouver! Spring is definitely in the air…
And with spring comes that insatiable urge to organize, de-clutter and clean (at least for me, it does). I’m feeling it already, and I actually can’t wait to start!
So today, I am starting Organizing Junkie’s Monthly Round-Up, which is currently focused on the kitchen. I sort of wish we could start somewhere else, like my kid’s bedroom or the hall closets or something.
See, we moved into this house 5 months ago, in the midst of a very stressful and tiring season of our lives. My thoughts were not on great organization, but mostly just on survival and getting stuff put away so that the house was livable. Now, after fumbling my way through all these months and getting a real feel for the house (which I think is somewhat necessary before you start to organize anyways), I am ready to tackle it.
I can’t believe I am going to do this, but I need the accountability badly. Today is supposed to be my organizing/house projects day in my new routine (which I am still loving, by the way). Yesterday I took some very, er, shall we say revealing photos of the inner workings of my kitchen.
They are not a pretty sight. This is not for the faint of heart. Org Junkie, you might not want to look at these pics until they are followed by the "after" shots, or you might just feel the urge to start looking at plane tickets to fly down to my neck of Canada and give this poor, unorganized, hopeless woman a hand (hey, you know, that’s not such a bad idea! 🙂
Before
Ack, I can’t even believe that I am posting these on the internet! Talk about humbling!
Take note of the haphazard baking/spices cupboard, the practically
empty spice rack, the dish towels with no rhyme or reason, the mildly
scary pantry, the tossed together food storage cupboard, and the
cluttered cookbook shelf.
This afternoon, I believe that I will hit up a good dollar store, in search of some nifty little baskets and other organizing gadgets, and then come home and spend an hour just taking the plunge and choosing one area to start with.
I don’t expect to be finished until next Friday (my next projects day), but hopefully I will have some beautiful pictures of a truly organized and lovely kitchen to show you!
There are more of us in common with you than you might realize, LOL! My pantry looks like that, too. It’s been a while since I organized it–I really need to get to that soon. I bet yours will look great when you’re done!
LOL, you can’t scare me! All I see is fun, fun, fun! Nothing a couple of well placed containers wouldn’t fix 🙂 Can’t wait to see the after!!
I’ve seen worse!! At my own house 🙂
Posting pictures is a great way to get motivated. It just makes you want to work hard to get an after shot! I did it with my garage.
Glad you have been enjoying some nice weather. Send some my way, won’t you?
Happy organizing,
Stacy
Oh, how I would love to help you tackle your kitchen! I love organizing. I’m glad that you posted pictures. It is easy for bloggers to look like we’ve got it all together–your blog is neat and tidy and pretty and you write such well-written posts. It is good to know that not everything is tidy and under control. 🙂 Good luck with your organizing–it will feel so good when it is done!
I’m with Pieces, I’m glad to see you’re not perfect!
I’ve got the bug too (spring-cleaning bug that is.) We are starting with my son’s closet, believe it or not. He is a collector of the worst kind and some of it has to go!
Ok, so it’s not too, too bad, but really, it needs a lot of work! On Friday I made some plans, watched some kitchen organization videos, and bought some dollar store containers. Today I started cleaning out the spice rack, writing new labels, and already organized the coffee/tea/towels cupboard- much better!
Now really, surely you knew I wasn’t perfect before I posted my terrible kitchen pics! 🙂 I’m glad that it reassures everyone to see my very human side, LOL!
And Pieces, you’d be welcome to come help organize anytime! I welcome people with this gift that I used to think I had, until I became a mother! Now my true colors have shown, and perhaps, deep down, I’m just not quite the organized person I thought (hoped?) I was.
But, it has begun and it will feel (and look!) so good when it’s done…