What's for dinner?

2011-01-28T10:14:00.000-08:00

-What's for dinner?
-I don't know, what do we have?
-I don't know......

Opening our pantry door was scary. Have you ever seen that episode of "Friends" about Monica's closet? Well, that was us (except the rest of the house isn't neat as a pin). We were literally at the point of just throwing something in and closing the door quickly. It was scary and horrible.

My project for this week was to FIX the pantry. It needed a complete overhaul. I decided that removing everything at one time would not work since I have to work in shifts when the kids are playing or napping. So, I opted to attack one shelf at a time. We had 6 boxes filled with wine bottles on the bottom. I decided the wine needed a new home, somewhere that we could actually see what we had and access it. Who wants wine hidden away anyway?? Who knew we had 7 bottles of sparkling wine packed away in there? Sounds like the perfect thing to celebrate!!

I then went on to each shelf individually and removed each item. Wow.....the stuff I found in there was borderline embarrassing. We're talking about bread flour that was "best if used by 11/07", among many other items with dates that made me cringe! After cleaning the shelves, I rearranged everything organized by what it's used for. The baking items are nestled in 2 little "half-boxes" (they actually are part of the packing material from our newly acquired wii, how's that for saving money!!). This way whenever I am going to bake, which isn't often, I just pull out the trays and have everything I need at hand. When I'm not using them they are contained and out of the way. How great is that?!?! I used to have all the canned goods clumped/piled together. I realized yesterday that storing a can of cream of chicken soup with a can of chicken noodle doesn't work for me. I would never eat a can of cream of chicken for lunch, it should be stored with the condiments/cooking ingredients. Makes more sense in my head. Now when I'm trying to decide what's for dinner, I can look in one spot and see what my options are. I've paired all the breakfast items together, snacks together, etc.

I have to say my FAVORITE part of the newly organized pantry is the door. I got an over-the-door shoe storage hanger. It has 24 clear pockets. I hung it on the door using command hooks rather than the hooks it came with cause I didn't want the hooks to show when the pantry is closed. It cost less than $10 at Walmart and I already had the Command hooks left over from some Christmas decorations. I filled each pocket with all those odd shaped things off the shelves. I also put the snacks for the kids in the bottom pockets so whenever they feel like a snack, they can grab one. Well, at least my 3 year old can help himself, all the 1 year old does at this point is take things out and throw them on the floor......but someday!

I also purchased 3 bins from the clearance section at Bed, Bath and Beyond. (Did you know you can use those coupons that come in the mail even after they expire and on clearance items as well? Also, you can use a coupon for each item you purchase! Wow....love that! I keep a file folder in my car with the coupons in it, so I have them each time I go!) The bins will house things that are rarely used but needed. One is for paper products, one for tools for baking like the rolling pin--remember, I rarely use them-- and the third will be specialty pans for cooking/baking, ie. muffin pan, springform pans, etc.

I've included a picture of the finished pantry! I still can't bring myself to take the "before" picture on anything so you'll have to imagine the worst pantry you can think of.....

So, what's for dinner?----Well, I don't know yet, but at least I know the options!

Enough is enough!

2011-01-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

Today I felt completely overwhelmed by all the STUFF that we have stashed in our house. The combination of Christmas and both of my kids' birthdays within 3 weeks has made it seem like a toy store exploded in our house. They actually do play with these toys. Yes not each of them, everyday, but in the course of a week, most of the toys have had their 15 minutes of fame and will be shelved until their turn comes again the following week. And my boys truly do have fun playing with each of them. Yes, it's excessive but most of the gifts came from their grandparents, many from their aunt and uncles, and still more from my friends whose kids are older than mine and were probably going through the same "toy store explosion" feeling when they asked if we wanted them.

But while the toys take up their fair share of space in our house, I realized that the toys are NOT the problem. It's the stuff that never found a home and was shoved into a closet, it's the clothes I still have from my days in the working world (and even before that), it's the stuff that got pushed to the back of the pantry and replaced with a duplicate cause we couldn't see the original anymore. It's the countless kitchen gadgets and accessories that we registered for our wedding that have rarely, if ever been used. I mean really, does anyone actually buy a strawberry huller for themselves or are they all purchased as a gift off of someones wedding registry? And does anyone use that thing more than once? I tried it on 2 strawberries and quickly realized that my paring knife does the trick better and quicker!

Problem is this.....when I realized that the dumb strawberry huller is useless, it should've been purged from my house. But, I can tell you with certainty, that 3 years later, the strawberry huller is still in the utensils drawer in the kitchen. This is the pattern for me. It happens with many, many of the things that we own. The shoes in my closet are another great example. I have several pairs that the only time they have ever been worn is for about 10 minutes while I'm getting ready to run out the door and then decide the shoes are uncomfortable and change into a different pair that I favor more. Shouldn't those shoes find a new home?

So today I've made a New Year's Resolution (yes, I know I'm a bit late). I will purge my home of the things that I don't need, use, love or in some cases, even like. I am going to strive to be decluttered and fairly organized by 2012. I am going to blog about it to hold myself accountable and to be able to track my own progress. Along the way, I will probably have some funny stories to share and hope that the blog process makes it a little fun, not just work!

mommy, etc

What's for dinner?

Enough is enough!