Organization Weekend
I don’t know if it’s still the New Year spirit or just my slightly obsessive personality, but for whatever reason I had the urge to organize this past weekend. Most of the items in my house are now either neatly stacked or perfectly compartmentalized. Just the way I like it.
I started out with my pantry (I know…again). It didn’t need re-organizing per se, but I wanted to experiment with some chalkboard paint. Seth and I spent an hour or so adding these charming chalkboard labels to all of my jars. If you’re interested, I can post a tutorial for this project.
Then I turned my attention to my weekly calendar picture frame. It was tragically broken in the course of our move last fall, so it has been sitting in pieces in the closet for the past three months. I assembled all the pieces again, and Seth kindly hot glued them back together. I love how it adds a little extra color to our otherwise drab kitchen.
Remember how excited I was about my magnetic spice rack a few years ago? Well, it has served me well for two years, but it needed a little update. I went through and discarded the tins that were falling apart or non-functional (I couldn’t even get the top off the garlic salt), refilled the spices, and replaced the labels. I can already tell that the large text on the new labels is going to be time-saving—Seth no longer has an excuse to tell me “I can’t find anything in this spice rack!”
And, this last one has nothing to do with food or cooking, but it was another highly essential organization task—the cleaning supplies. I was getting really annoyed by the disorderliness of our laundry room (which is where I keep all our cleaning supplies). So I dug up a few baskets I already had ($2 from Target) and re-purposed them for organizing my three main types of cleaning products: bathroom (toilet cleaner, Windex, brushes, rubber gloves), stains (mostly pet stains from our ever-nauseous cat), and surfaces (for dusting, cleaning the cooktop, furniture polish).
Oh, the joys of organization!
Do you like to organize, or are you content with a little “organized chaos?”
Filed under: Craft, How To, Organization
Caroline Cohen, MS
Hi Caroline, as you mention your cat, a question occurred to me: how do Margot and the cat get along? How was it when they first met? We haven’t risked a cat encounter with our JRT yet, so your advice would be appreciated.
BroccoliHut Reply:
January 21st, 2013 at 10:08 pm
Margot first met Togo when she was just a puppy, so they knew each other for a while before having to cohabitate. Regardless, they tolerate each other, at best. Margot likes to play with him, but most of the time he ignores her or slaps her in the face (their interactions are usually quite hilarious).
So basically, they don’t get in serious fights, but they’ll never be friends, I’m afraid. i think my advice would be to make sure they are able to have separate spaces and perhaps introduce them in neutral territory if possible.
Hope that helps!
I’m also an organizer and am forever redoing the hall closet. Living in Manhattan, we have to get creative with lack of space so that closet serves as linen, photography props and overflow pantry. It’s an ongoing project… I’ve been thinking about getting those chalkboard labels but am concerned I won’t put them on straight and it will make my lovely steel canisters look sloppy. Your man can’t find stuff in plain sight either??
Thanks for your quick reply! It must have been a very good idea to introduce them early. It’s interesting, that Togo seems to be the less friendly of the two. Would you ever be comfortable leaving them alone in a room for say, 10 minutes? What about other cats that Margot doesn’t know?
Ours (3 years old) loves to play with dogs, but he wants to chase all other animals, especially hedgehogs. That’s why we’re so hesitant to introduce him to a cat in the family. If they got along supervised that would make things a lot easier to organize. Neutral space, good idea, it makes sense, thank you.
Oh, and sorry for commenting on a totally different topic, maybe you’ll post a pet update sometime?
I consider myself a very organized person, but recently, I not only want things organized, but simple. I used to be a pack rat, but now I just want as little “stuff” as possible! Getting more simplified and organized (ie decluttering) is a major goal of mine for 2013!
I m a chaos person … but it’s okay, leaves more room for surprises. Nietzsche said “you have to have chaos in yourself to be a dancing star” .. yep . I m just making up excuses cause I like it that way ^^