Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Goal #1 - DONE like Thanksgiving Dinner

Messy Messy Fail - so I only achieved ONE of my Goals for a Teacher's Christmas Vacation over my break - but I guess one is better than none, right?  :)

Tidy Victory - I'd say about half of our bedroom, aka my pre-maternity, maternity and post-maternity clothes strewn around the place, were cleaned up and packed away in drawers, the closet, bins in the basement.  We can see the floor now!



So, I did it - the spice "black hole" has been tamed!  No joke, it is literally so dark in the cabinet that you can't see the back of it, and it's not deep at all.  So sad.

Some friends on Facebook gave me some great suggestions for cabinet spice rack organizers, which I would LOVE to try.  However I was in such a hurry, and I wanted to cross at least ONE of my goals off of my list for my break, so no cabinet spice rack organizer for me.  Perhaps next Christmas?

Here are some thrilling before, during and after shots I took to document my journey.


I should have been getting dinner ready (notice the time) but I decided to do this instead.  

Randomness at its best.

The key word to this mess was SHOVE - I would SHOVE something here and SHOVE something there, SHOVE things where ever they would fit.



Here is the "black hole".

Absolutely no rhyme or reason.


Looks like it's feet deep, but it's probably only 12 inches.

Yes, that is Tung Hing Cinnamon from China that someone gave me as a gift, highly recommend it, from Penzey Spices.  Great for baking!


Flash on, there's the back of the cupboard!

So to start - I took everything out of the cabinet and gave it a good Dust Bust.


Anyone else want to admit they have as many spices as me?
Anything that was not already opened I separated and placed in the pantry downstairs (see Goal No. 3 from Goals for a Teacher's Christmas Vacation that has not quite happened yet).

Yes that is boxed wine back there.  Do not judge.

I also consolidated any spices from the cabinet that I had a container for into my counter top spice rack.  I'm not one for checking dates on spices - dried parsley is dried parsley.



Now it's hard to get the full effect, but here is the finished product!
  • I categorized everything that was left into one of three - hardly use, use sometimes, use often.
  • Hardly use - top shelf


  • Use sometimes - middle shelf


  • Use often - bottom shelf
  • I even had extra room now to take the economy size peanut butter and Carnation Instant Breakfast out of my lazy susan and put it on the bottom shelf!



Ta-da!  Beautiful, organized, goal accomplished!



One little change - my husband and I like to have soft butter ready when a recipe calls for it, but my two lovely cats have helped themselves to it several times when it was left out on a counter top, even a shattered butter dish.  Now it fits perfectly on the bottom shelf!



Don't forget to recycle your empty containers people!


Goal accomplished.  What next?  I think I'll watch an episode of the Pioneer Woman to treat myself!

Katie