Clean Freezer

Day 11 - Freezer

Before:

I took everything out and sorted it. And gave the freezer a deep scrubbing.

After:
I really liked the idea that Toni from "A Bowl Full of Lemon's" had of using bins in the freezer and creating more drawers. So I implemented it and now Dan says he feels like he's living with Monk. We'll see if it works.

I also cleaned the refrigerator.
Before:

After:

Still plugging away... - days 8,9,10

I know your sitting on the edge of your seat wondering if I've failed the challenge & quit because I haven't been posting. WRONG! We're still at it. You wouldn't be able to tell if you walked in my door anytime this week or maybe the entire month or at least during the 21 day challenge.

I feel like we're doing major renovations and all we're doing is organizing. Why does cleaning make such a mess? I've never figured that one out or maybe it's just me. We've got organizing containers, give away piles, and stuff that got moved and still needs a new home piles. Just remember I gave you fair warning if you decide to stop by.

Seriously, I'm glad that we're doing this. It was VERY much needed at my house. I go along feeling like I'm caught up with a lot of stuff and then I get behind on a few things and it snowballs to utter chaos and then there is just too much to do.

DAY 8 - Coat Closet

Mine wasn't too bad until the first snow and then all of the sudden it was madness. The kids pulled the tub that I had in the top of the closet out to find gloves, hats, etc. The tub didn't get put back and stuff has been falling off the shelf ever since. I was too busy in December to care much.

Before:

Best Find -
We've been looking for this step ladder for at least 6 months. I ask if anyone knows where it is all of the time. Especially over the last week as I've been completing these tasks. It was just tucked neatly away on the side of the closet - in plain sight.

Solution:

Looking for a mate. It is unbelievable that we have this many single gloves and most of them are for the right hand.

This bag was hanging on a hangar in between coats. All brand new painting supplies for who knows what project (that didn't get done). It looks like I was planning on a faux finish for something.

After shots:

Day 9 - Toys or Craft cupboard

Been there done that with the toys and decided many kids ago that by being super organized I was actually creating more work for myself. It took twice as long to clean up because of all the sorting involved. My kids are older now so maybe I'll give it another try but not this month. I chose the craft cabinet.

I didn't get a before shot but it was already pretty organized. Only problem was I had most things in big tubs so whenever anyone got anything out it would create a mess.

I have been loving the shoe boxes from Costco so I filled the cabinet with them. The ones they have now are actually bigger than the standard width. They worked great.

Day 10 - Laundry Room

I was glad this was on the list because just yesterday before I knew that this would be my challenge for the day I was thinking that I needed to move a cabinet into the laundry room from my office.

We don't have much of a laundry room. It is more like an extension on the guest bathroom. With 9 people in the house I do a lot of laundry! Just before Christmas we purchased a new washer/dryer set. I've been wanting these forever so that I could have extra large capacity and be able to stack them so that eventually I could put two sets side by side.

Purchasing another set is not an option right now and after using this one set I don't think it's necessary anymore. This larger capacity has made laundry time go much more quickly. I LOVE it.

Anyway, here's before:

After:

I bought this a couple of years ago and couldn't get it to the top of my hubby's to do list but today he was home and voila!

Hey! Don't touch! Those are Mom's Laundry Treasure! If you don't empty your pockets too bad.

Tomorrow FREEZER!

"La Madre de Las Salsas"

For Christmas Dan got me an electric pressure cooker from Costco. I know super practical right? ... but I LOVE it! We have been using it almost every day for some sort of meal.

Last night (while we were organizing the pantry) I put a roast in it so I could have some shredded taco meat. I looked up a couple of recipe ideas but didn't find one that sounded great so I just started putting some things in the pressure cooker. After sauteing onions and garlic I added a can of diced tomatoes and a can of green chilies. But the real trick was a can of Chipotle peppers that I had Dan buy a couple of days ago for a different recipe. I only put a couple in and then realized that I was using a fork that I had been using on the raw meat so I dumped the entire can in. Anyway this is how I came up with what my husband calls "La Madre de Las Salsas"

I wasn't sure how long to cook the meat so I set the pressure cooker for 75 minutes. When we opened it up it was VERY hot, spicy hot. Dan was instantly in love but I knew that wouldn't do for the average Joe much less my kids. So we took the meat out and he bottled & labeled his new favorite sauce. I put the roast back in with another can of tomatoes & a few spoonfuls of the sauce and set the cooker for another 60 minutes.

It was perfect! This was my lunch today for only 6 points.

Did I mention I joined Weight Watcher's last week? Last year my body decided that yes, I was closer to 40 than 30 and that it had carried 7 children. It was a reality check and no I don't have an enormous amount to lose but I would like to feel like I want to get dressed everyday because things fit. So I took the plunge and joined. So far so good....

Label Maker, Organizing & Sick!

The weekend was great but I'm still not completely caught up with the organizing challenge.

Day 6 was the dresser! My room is the last place I clean because I never have enough time to get to everything so when I saw this assignment I trembled slightly. I usually keep the drawers fairly organized but with Christmas and packing for a trip they got extra messy.

Three of my dresser drawers are devoted to my baby and the last time I set out to organize I was taking out clothes that no longer fit and stacking them in piles on the dresser but never finished. Further I seem incapable of doing the simple assignment of just organizing the dresser. I also did the nightstands, and drawers and cubbies in the closet so the assignment took me Friday & Saturday. It didn't help that I've been sick and several of my kids as well.

Anyway - - - yadayada - here's the goods:

I didn't get a before picture but here's the after...

Sock Drawer - I actually thought - there is no way I'm organizing my sock drawer. That's plain silliness. Who care's?!? Right?

But then I had an idea when I saw these triple storage bin. I stacked two on top of each other with the bottom one having my nylon's & tights. It actually is my favorite drawer! Ha ha!

Here's one of my husband's drawers.
Before:

Its' just short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts and a bin with Biking stuff.
After:

On to the pantry ... when I saw that this was the challenge, I thought perfect because my husband just barely did this so it will give me more time to work in my room. Anyway I saved it until last night and of course I couldn't just leave the pantry the way my husband had organized it. No that would be to easy. Instead we (yes he helped & happily) took EVERYTHING out and put together his "cansolidator" he'd gotten for Christmas. Oh and I got a new label maker to solve my label maker dilemma and we had a lot of fun with that. We thought we were hilarious but I'm sure that was just because it was 2 AM before we finished.

I didn't get a before but here are some pictures in the middle of the process.

Our little helper until it got too late.

Cansolidator

After shots:

Lunch Station - we've been using this system for a few years. It's works wonder's when 5 kids are making lunches in the morning before school. My 1st grader always asks how come they have to make their own lunches because everyone else's mom's make theirs. I told her it's because she can do hard things as her preschool teacher taught her & we've made it pretty easy. All they have to do is grab one thing out of each lunch bin. Last night we added a "sandwich fixin" bin and labeled them all. Our dessert bin is empty right now so I added a HAHA! label on the bottom of the bin (this is where we thought we were hilarious!).

Anyway we had a very productive weekend and enjoyed labeling everything in past and present organizing jobs. Now on to today's challenge - the coat closet! Watch out this might be scary!

Day 4 - Linen Closet

I paid my daughter to organize this a few months ago but things don't last long around here with 7 kids digging around looking for the perfect towel or cute sheet set!

Before:

Look at all the towels on the floor. This would be because the kids can't pull a towel off the top of the pile they have to look for the "perfect" towel that is usually in the middle of the pile. And Whooo (adding emphasis) would ever think of picking up the towels that drop in the process.

I can't blame everything entirely on the kids. I really dislike putting away laundry. I usually assign a child to take the neatly folded and stacked towels, sheets, etc. and put them away. Since the linen closet is in the kid's bathroom I don't check very often.

Here are some interesting finds from the closet:
A "Zupe Dude" - my oldest (now 14) used to ask to go to Denny's a lot as a toddler because they had these toys. We've only lived in this house 5 years so I'm not sure how this made its way to the closet.

And not sure why this was hiding under the towels. His grades are pretty good. He can pull those B's up no problem.

Alright - here's the finished product.

Looks pretty good and hopefully the bins will help it stay that way. It will be perfect once I get my label maker (long story) up and running! Oh and I am putting away the swim towels and getting towels all the same color with the kids names embroidered on them. No more digging for towels!

Day 5 - Under Kitchen Sink

Okay - I am still playing catch up but should be on track by the end of the weekend. I was gone all morning for a birthday lunch for my wonderful mom, but got to work when I got home.

Believe it or not this was organized at one point or another but the bags have decided to overtake the cabinet.

This was a good excuse to get the bags under control so I went to Walmart and bought a bag holder which really helped control the chaos of the cabinet.
After:

I won't take a picture of my counter! We're creating piles of things that we're getting rid of and I also have a tub of tools for my husband to take back out to the garage.

My oldest came home from school and told me he was going to need a tour of the kitchen --- it's his chore this week! Funny

Organizing - Day 1 & 3

This was  a busy day.  I realized I needed to go out and get supplies so I would be armed before I entered the war zone that is my house.  :)   Since I am playing catch-up I decided to stay in the kitchen and do the junk drawer & the tupperware cupboard & save the desk top for another day. (... really, that will be an all day job and it wasn't the right day for me...)  To take it another step further I did many more drawers and an extra cupboard in the kitchen.

Here are the before and afters:

Junk drawer At one point this entire drawer was organized and full of those bamboo dividers BUT they all broke from the kids digging around for pencils and various treasures.

After - I went with a hard plastic with less joints to rip apart

Junk Cupboard Before

After

Silverware drawer - this was already organized but I still cleaned it out.

Utensil DrawerBefore

  
After

Knife drawerBefore

After

The Tupperware Cupboard - Dan organizes this very regularly so I only had to re-stack

After

Organizing Challenge! Seriously needed!!

I was just telling my mother-n-law over Christmas Break that I needed to fly my sister-in-law out to my house to help me organize.  (Although with my giant brood it wouldn't last long!)  Then one night I lay in bed and told my husband that it is very obvious that I can't keep up with everything and that we should hire a maid .... which I still haven't done yet. I say this often but never do it even though I feel like I am constantly swimming upstream. 

A few weeks ago my husband was at home for the day and decided to deep clean the kitchen and keep it that way all day.   I watched as he diligently worked throughout the day to keep up with the demand that our kitchen takes.  After his third load of dishes and constant care throughout the day I mentioned how exhausting it is and that just that one room in the house is a full-time job.  He couldn't believe it but agreed.  He tried to stay ahead of it for a few days but then his enthusiasm failed.  I told him I just have to pick up in the morning and then at night or I would spend my entire day in the kitchen. 

Anyway all these stories are to tell that I'm feeling like I want to be more clean and organized but that it is often overwhelming in my house of kids.  Last night I saw that my cousin-in-law took a cleaning challenge and decided I'd do so too.  It is great because she just gives you one task a day for 21 days and it will help clear the clutter in the house in places that I don't get to as often.  Only problem is that I'm started on the 5th so I have to play catch up over the next few days!  I'll post pictures of my progress. 



I'll probably still hire a maid!!