i have a little secret to tell you …
i’m a piler
yes … a piler
as in i make piles
…
but i don’t like piles
i loathe them actually
and i don’t want any more piles
like ever
i’ve deduced (is this a word?) from my own psychological analysis
that pilers are also people who are indecisive
right?
cause the reason the pile gets made is because
a. there’s no place to put said item
b. there is a place to put said item,
but the piler is not sure which of the many options should become the home of the said item
(ie: do receipts go in the receipt file or with the owner’s manual?)
(do flashlights go with the candles in case of a power outage,
or with electronics? … cause they’re electronic)
(right? … are they? i mean if they run on batteries, they’re electronic right?)
(if the hubs is reading this post he’s rolling his eyes)
(well he doesn’t like eye rolling, so he’s probably doing some other gesture of embarrassment)
see… my brain hurts now
back to the piles
for those of you just gettin’ here 🙂
i decided at the beginning of the year to really go through the house and purge
just get back to basics
and for you gals who have been following right along …
i haven’t jumped the “simplify your kitchen” bandwagon
i just left the kitchen for a while …
to face the basement
now that that’s done … i’m back on track
(no, there’s no fancy organizing pics of the dungeon …
what happens in basement … stays in the basement)
(it’s not pretty down there folks)
let’s get goin’!
and lots of fun areas to organize
off of the kitchen is a little built-in office area
home to our computer, printer and basically where all family household duties are managed
(finances, schedules, blogging, etc…)
come to think of it, this little area wears many hats
making it more of a challenge to keep clutter-free and organized
here is a short list:
– first aid supplies
– houses miscellaneous household items
– shipping area for my etsy shop
– bill pay
– meal planning & couponing
– household binder & files
my challenge:
to get this area out of the pile zone!
and into a functioning command center for our family
in comes my girlie girl
every month she throws out a challenge to organize a different area in your home
and i just love how she thinks everything through for you, making it that much easier to tackle your problem areas!
to my clipboard to keep me motivated … turned on some music
and was off to a running start 🙂
since there’s so much to cover in this little area of mine, i’m gonna break it down into a few posts
starting with the upper half of the cabinets next to the computer area
so the before really isn’t too bad …
i went through this cabinet last year and got things together
but after some time i realized the set-up would need some re-thinking
just a few things here that weren’t working right for us:
1. the baskets were much smaller than the space they were in
if you’ve got the space for storage … don’t waste it!
2. the baskets were pretty full
so the overflow was well … overflowing … everywhere else 🙂
3. we had to move or take some of the baskets out when we needed something in the baskets that were more towards the middle of the cabinet
4. the amount of candy canes that were in this cabinet was ridiculous
5. and yes those mini chalkboard apothecary jars are so stinkin’ cute, but they are for another project and don’t belong in there … so this cabinet started to become a catch-all!
to get this re-org in motion
i headed to my two favorite places and scoped out storage bins
(measure, measure, measure! before you go)
the wrapping paper & floral crates were from Target
(those crates are for the next post when i tackle the bottom portion of these cabinets)
and at Joanns i found the teal bins with the stripe and the mini chalkboards
aaaaaand the cute phone case is from here ♥
(very random and not needed … just wanted to tell you where to get a cute phone case)
since these bins would be holding heavier items
i cut cardboard to fit into the bottom, to make it heavy duty
then wrapped them in the paper for a little bit of cute factor 🙂
they fit nicely inside and i knew they would hold up better in the long run
i dumped all the first aid supplies & medicines (and gum?) on the counter
and got rid of anything old or expired
for all of what was left i separated into two parts
first aid items: band-aids, cremes, medical tape, gauze
and cough drops
i corralled the smaller items into mason jars with white plastic lids
then added some labels i made on the computer
(the white lids are sold right with the canning supplies)
the other bin holds the rest of the medicines: pills, cold & cough etc…
let’s take a peek inside the other two! 🙂
thank you cards & envelopes are always great to have on hand
(i need to be better about this!)
any extra grocery or notepads were put in here as well
the last bin holds water bottles and drink packets
the smaller baskets on top were from the dollar store … they hold all the miscellaneous things:
party candles, toothpicks, plastic containers, etc…
chalk markers work great on these minis
the clothespins were from the $1 bins at Target
… easy way to label and then change things up when needed
so that’s it! phew … a lot of function for one cupboard!
let’s do a before & after 🙂
next up! the lower half!
is your office area in your kitchen?
any organizing secrets to share?
let’s do some more … come back soon!
much gladness in my ♥
sweet parties! ♥
making your house a home 
