Monthly Archives: September 2018

Like wine?  Belong to a few wine clubs?  Shop wine sales?  Collect fine wines?  I see many homes where wine is abundant and everywhere throughout the kitchen, pantry, counter tops.  Some dusty, some open, some standing and some laying.  While wine is meant to be enjoyed, corral the cheer and invest in a wine refrigerator or a rack and then organize the wines!  Organized by vintage, varietal or both works well. 

Take it one step further… with a silver, Sharpie marker on the bottom of the bottle write the year it is to be opened or a small dot means this bottle is not your Tuesday night dinner wine, but a special birthday or anniversary wine.  With this done, a toast to you!  

Your home or office didn’t get this way overnight!  Perhaps you had to move in a hurry and threw everything randomly in boxes.  Those boxes sat in a garage or corner until now. Maybe, you inherited items from a relative who has passed away.  You used to be organized and then the twins arrived.  Health problems arose and you don’t have the energy or physical ability to deal with the piles. 

Whatever the reason… decluttering is a process.  Peel the onion one layer at a time. One drawer, one closet, one shelf at a time. Set aside two hours of de-clutter time and set a timer. STOP when it goes off and you won’t “hit that wall”. 

When you decide to donate or throw… follow through.  Be careful of putting it in another pile, like “to be donated”… take it to the drop box the day you purge. 

There are professionals who can help, like organiZare and sometimes it takes that extra shove.

Follow these tips and you will stay inspired and push ahead with the process. 

Plasticware, the most common form for food storage.  With all the disposable brands we have every size, and shape one can imagine.  If you enjoy your plasticware (and many have moved over to glass storage’s health benefits), only keep the containers which have lids to match.  Only keep the lids that have containers to match.  And those disposables?  They get a little funky after microwave heat-ups and dishwashers.  Don’t be afraid to toss them… they are DISPOSABLE. 

A word about shapes.  Round containers never make sense because our refrigerators and shelves are not round.  Round takes up valuable space.  Choose square or rectangle and nest them.  Keep lids in a separate container standing up and don’t store these items in a bottom cabinet that you must get on hands and knees to access.

We don’t want a 911 call… ”Help! I’m on the floor and I can’t get up!”  Store them accessible to your lifestyle.  

Believe it or not, I have now logged my oldest expired food item as 2004.  So far, that’s the record.  This spice had moved two states, three houses and multiple cupboards and pantries.

I moved it to the trash. 

Take inventory of your freezer and pantry… the forgotten abyss.  Do you keep moving that cut of meat from the top shelf to the middle shelf then bury it on the bottom shelf of the freezer?  Ewww.  The freezer burn alone has to be 3rd degree!  Set a goal that you don’t bring any more freezer items home until you eat what’s already in yours.

The pantry is another abyss.  Doesn’t smell like cinnamon?  It isn’t anymore.  Tah Tah.

Regular monthly organization and clean out will take just a few minutes instead of hours to sort.

If I come to clean it out, I keep records… 2004 and counting… backwards