Making Your Home A Haven Monday: Baking Cabinet

I have decided to get on the bandwagon and start Spring Cleaning, although there may also be a slight ulterior motive to this decision. My kitchen cabinets definitely need the yearly go-through. A monthly go-through would probably be better, but maybe I'll get to that someday. In the meantime, I decided to tackle my baking cabinet first. This is probably my most used cabinet, and as such, not only does it get extra messy it also makes my baking tasks more difficult to have wade through all the stuff. (Why is it the one small item I need every time I bake is the one that is hidden behind everything else?)

The top picture shows my cabinet before the cleaning. The pile on the bottom left is cookbooks/cooking magazines that get used on a regular basis. The top shelf is where a lot of craft things get stored. I pulled everything out, wiped down all the shelves, threw some things away, and then just started putting it all back in an organized way that makes sense for my needs. Here is what it looked like when I was done.

In all, it took probably 15 minutes, tops. Why is it that the jobs we just dread and assume they will take the longest amount of time to get clean never really take that long? Do you think I'll remember this fact in the future?

Here are the two cabinets I'm planning to tackle this week. But then again, it will probably take SO long to get them done I just won't have time to finish!

For more Making Your Home a Haven posts, please visit Crystal's blog at Biblical Womanhood.

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Making Your Home A Haven Monday: Aesthetically Pleasing Bean & Grain Storage

I love having a stocked and organized pantry. I love to unload groceries after our once-a-month grocery trip and look over my pantry. I've been known to open it up when it's full just to admire my work. One thing that always irritated me though was the little plastic bags of rice, beans, lentils, etc. They never stacked neatly, and I would invariably spill some every time I tried to pull out a bag if I hadn't put the twist tie on tight enough. It was always such a frustration to me. I always thought it would be nice to be able to put them in plastic containers like I have for flour and sugar. I do not have a large pantry or enough storage space in other parts of our home to buy things in large bulk buckets.

Finally, I came upon a solution that was aesthetically pleasing, a good use of space, easy to use, and a great way to recycle. I began washing out all of our large glass jars from applesauce and other products we buy occasionally. (Applesauce is a favorite food with all 4 kids though, so we have LOTS of those jars.) Now, I just cut a bag open when we get home from the store and transfer it right to a glass jar. It is so much easier to use these things now also because all I have to do is unscrew the top, pour out how much I need, rescrew the top, and put it back. No more messes at all! Not to mention, I just love the way all those glass jars look filled up with different kinds of beans and grains. If I had enough counter space, I'd almost like to store some of them there as a multi-purpose decoration.

(Not the prettiest selection in my pantry at the moment, but you get the idea.)

For more ideas on Making Your Home A Haven, please visit Crystal's blog at Biblical Womanhood.

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Piles of Toys

Making Our Homes a Haven Monday

with Biblical Womanhood

Our home is on the smallish side for 6 people (1000 sq. ft). However, even with 6 of us living here, it always seems big enough. We try to stay as organized as possible, and we are always finding ways to scale back, simplify, and get rid of things we just don't really need or use. One of the areas that had been a constant source of aggravation for me was the kid's play area in our great room. It was always overflowing with toys, and the kids seemed to pull stuff out just to make a mess. They never really picked just one thing to play with because there were too many options and pieces were never together. Here is what the play area used to look like. If you look behind Isabelle, to the right, you'll see the play area. This was the best picture I could find of how it used to look. I always made sure I didn't take pictures of it! Do you notice all the piles of toys? The only "toys" the kids are allowed to keep in their bedroom are a laundry basket of picture books, Isabelle's stack of books on the top of her wardrobe, and a couple bookshelves of stuffed animals. So, all the real toys got stored in this area.

Every time I would look at the play area I would groan. It was always such a mess. But every time I would start trying to weed them out, I just couldn't do it. Unbeknownst to me, I had developed a strange emotional attachment to almost every one of their toys. I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of any of them.

Finally, two weeks ago, after daily growing frustration, I reached my breaking point. I was done with the near constant mess, even with our 2-times-a-day-without-fail toy pick up times. I didn't mind the mess (messes are an inevitable part of raising kids after all), but I was so tired of nothing being played with and everything being pulled out just for the sake of mess making. I realized I had to come up with a plan of attack that would allow me to take the emotion out of the process.

Here are the rules I set for myself:

1. I would throw away all toys that were missing more than just 1 or 2 pieces, all broken toys, all electronic toys that no longer worked even with new batteries, and all little stuff that didn't have a home or purpose that I could figure out.


2. I would donate all toys that were only missing 1 or 2 pieces, all toys that just didn't get played with and that I couldn't really see getting played with in the future, all electronic toys that never got new batteries because they were just too annoying, all little "Happy Meal" type toys, and all duplicates.


3. I would keep all toys that otherwise would have fallen victim to rule 1 or 2 if the emotions/memories tied to them was strong enough, especially very special gifts from grandparents or aunts and uncles.


4. I would divide up all the toys in the two large laundry baskets so that they could be rotated, with only one of the baskets in the play area at a time.

Having those rules to stick to really helped me. It took about 3 hours, start to finish, and it was definitely time well spent. We ended up with 1 bag of garbage, 2 bags to donate, and a large laundry tub of toys being kept in the master bedroom until we clear a spot for it in either the laundry room or the attic. The new play area stays neater, picks up faster, and gives the kids opportunities to actually find what they are looking for and enjoy playing with their toys. The rule system worked so well for me that I plan on using it to reduce clutter in the closets by weeding out clothes, and in other areas where clutter always seems to just collect.

Here are a few after pictures of the play area. The difference may not be very noticeable, but believe me, it is noticed and felt every day by all of us. In a few months I should be able to weed out some more when Gracie outgrows the walker and other "baby" toys. The cabinet next to the couch holds Isabelle's toys and crafts on the bottom, and the top section holds all of our homeschooling supplies and a few board games.

For even more great tips on making our homes a haven, please visit Crystal's blog.

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