Sunday, March 03, 2013

Keep it simple, make it work

Welcome! I´m thrilled and a tiny bit nervous. Who am I kidding? I´m on the verge of stage panic and that´s ok. It´s a sign of the moving energy. Something exciting is starting today: the seconds series of decluttering and organizing your home spaces. 

 It´s all about real life (as opposed to magazine perfect) homes and the daily challenges we face as women who are also in search of  space/time for creativity.

We will take nine months to go around the house, room by room to declutter and organize our home spaces with one big task per week at my blog and daily {gentle} reminders, tips and cheering  on my Facebook fan page. Come for a visit and click on "Like" to receive those!

The project´s summary:
9 months to streamline your home spaces and systems
3 months for the practical spaces: kitchen, bathrooms, laundyroom
3 months for the shared areas: entry hall, livingroom, diningroom
3 months for the personal spaces: bedrooms, office, craftroom
1 big task each week and daily {gentle} reminders, tips and cheering at my Facebook page

Let´s start, crew! FIRST THEME: the practical
FIRST MONTH: the kitchen
FIRST WEEK: the fridge

Day 1: we will start at the top of the fridge. ONLY the top now, not the rest of the outside, not the inside. Baby steps, k?
What´s on top of your fridge? Bills? Keys? Fruit bowls? That would be me. :) 
Take everything off the top. Object by object decide what needs to stay there and what belongs somewhere else. Now you are there, clean the top of the fridge. Place what belongs there back on top. Find a home for the things that shouldn´t be there. 
End of day 1. Look at your fridge and smile. Well done!

Day 2: the fridge´s door. 
What´s on your fridge´s door? Bills to pay? Kid´s artwork? Old flyers from last year´s events? Magnets from shops that no longer exist? 
Take everything off your door and the sides of the fridge. Clean the surfaces. Object by object decide what needs to stay there, what belongs somewhere else and what to throw away. Want some new ideas for magnets? Read this post by Denise from the blog Denthe. 

Day 3:  the condiments.
Take all your condiments out of the fridge. Check the "best by" date and throw away those that are no longer edible. You may want to check this table from WebMD to know how long you can keep each condiment. Put all your condiments together in the fridge again.

Day 4: the rest of the food. 
Old containers? Empty ones? Throw away what is no longer safe to eat. Put similar food categories together. , with the most used on the upper shelves. Take this chance, now that you are moving things around to wipe the shelves clean. Wash and dry the drawers. 

Day 5: the freezer
How long have you had those ice trays? Is it time to replace them? 
Check what you have. Throw away the things that are past their date. Make a list of what is left.

Day 6: lists day
*Make a list of lunches and dinners for the week.  A great source of inspiration is Menu Plan Monday at I´m an Organizing Junkie
*Make a shopping list for your menu. It will save time, as you will look only for what you need instead of roaming the aisles and it will also save you money as you won´t have anything that will go to waste.  I find it useful not to be tempted with snacks and "this looks yummy" extras. ;)

Day 7: Enjoy your day off! Come back here to read our next assignement. :) See you next week!

PS: I´ll show up in your feeds if you follow me with the Google connect gadget on the right hand side of this blog. And you may get daily {gentle} reminders, tips and cheering at my Facebook page
Fridge at a Patagonian log cabin

Want to be a guest here? You can show me your space or illustrate the week´s number. Send me a message to paulabuenosairesblog@gmail.com !

6 comments:

Carolyn Dube said...

What a fabulous post! Doable steps and clear goals! I love it! So generous of you to take the time to share this with everyone!

Anne Butera said...

Hooray, hooray!! Don't panic, you're doing wonderfully so far. What a great idea to break everything down into such small, easily accomplished tasks!

Best of luck in the next 9 months!!

Beverley Baird said...

Great idea paula! I'm in. Perfect place to start - I was just despairing about my kitchen this morning!
Easy doable steps - thanks for organizing this.

Ginny said...

This was a great first post. No reason to be scared. You did a wonderful job. Now, to my refrigerator!!

Sacred Ordinary Moments said...

You have laid this out in such a way that it is impossible to get overwhelmed. Beautiful! I think I may finally get this job done if I follow along with you until the end. I'm in! xo

denthe said...

Wow Paula, this sounds so simple and organized! And those links are great too! With your help I might finally be able to manage this whole organisation business ... ;-)

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