Kitchen Organization: A beginning

The weekend before I went back to work, the boyfriend and I had to hunker down for Hurricane Irene. If I had managed to clean the apartment, I could no longer tell because all the "free" space was covered with hurricane supplies. Since then, I've been living with that chaos and it has been driving me nuts. A rainy Saturday afternoon was the perfect time to tackle this project.

I started with my pots and pans cabinets. It was in such a bad state (sorry, no before pic! I know. I know. So bad). The cabinet doors were bulging out, so I sat down on the kitchen floor and pulled out everything. Seeing everything on the floor really helped me get a grasp on this out of control situation. I had Corningware dishes mixed in with my stainless steel pots and pans. Somehow I ended up with 2 or 3 lids that didn't match any of the dishes/pots I had, so those had to go. I also removed some of my smaller Corningware dishes and lids because I've never used them. Before I put everything back, I asked Steve to help with the organization. Since he's the main cook in this apartment, I figured it was only fair. He suggested that I group the dishes together that we use on a regular basis. I did and I think it's going to be a big help in our small kitchen.

On the top shelf from left to right: Stainless steel lids, casserole dishes, mixing bowls, box of lids
On the bottom shelf from left to right: The pans we use the most, stainless steel dishes we don't use that often

It's not perfect, but I'm amazed at the transformation. Removing excess dishes and lids and organizing it according to how we use the space is definitely a step in the right direction. Eventually I will need to go back and put in another container to hold the stainless steel lids (2 more were in the dishwasher when I snapped the picture), but for now, it works.

The next space I had to work on was the "pantry." These 2 upper cabinets to the right of the sink store our non-perishable items and cooking spices/flavorings. Again, I emptied both cabinets, tossed out the expired items and the items I hadn't used since the last time I reorganized this space. I think I've managed to organize this space in a way that we can both use it.
On the top shelf from left to right: Spices/rubs/seasonings, canned/bottled baking items, boxed baking items (i.e pudding, cake mix)
Second shelf from left to right: Drink mixes, canned veggies, seasonings/marinades, condiments, "leftover Hurricane survival food (i.e. Ramen, baked beans, and beef stew).
Bottom shelf from left to right: Canned food that we use regularly (tuna, soups), pasta and pasta sauce, and breakfast/snack items)

Ideally, I would like to get items in nice storage containers and that will come one day. For right now I'm excited I can navigate my way around the kitchen again.

Friday Financial Fun

Don't you just love my use of alliteration in today's blog post title? I couldn't help myself. I'm taking a sick day and being away from my English classroom makes me more prone to use literary terms in everyday life.

After a healthy dose of Nyquil and a good night's sleep, my fever broke and I was motivated to get a lot of things done. First, my cell phone stopped working yesterday and I needed to get a new one as well as cancel my TMobile plan because I had already switched to WalMart's Family Mobile plan. After I finished paying some bills, I got in my car to drop the payments off at the post office. (Yes, I still write checks for most of my bills...more about that later). As soon as I turned on my car, the "change oil" signal was going off for the millionth time and my low tire pressure signal turned on. Ugh! These things were just making my day more complicated than it needed to be. I'll spare you the details of stopping to get gas and cleaning out my car...you're welcome.

At TMobile, I learned that my phone had stopped working because the SD card and battery got wet. The salesperson also informed me that it appeared my account was already canceled once I switched companies. Whew! I was dreading having to talk to the corporate office or signing papers. That's the kind of hassle I had to go through when my ex-husband and I were splitting our cell phone plans.

On my Wal-Mart to pick up a new cell phone, I drove up to a oil change place and got that and my low-pressure tire(s) taken care of. Picking up a new cell phone from Walmart wasn't that difficult because there weren't a lot of choices. I went with the Samsung t369 and it only cost me $104.96. It's not the most "cool" phone on the market, but it does what I need it to do--call and text. Now that I'm on the Walmart plan, it's only $45 per month which is about $20 less than what I was paying before. Y'all know me. I'm all about saving a few bucks wherever I can. A savings of $240 a year on my cell phone plan is pretty awesome.

The only downside I can think of is that they don't do paper billing. To me, there's something that makes me feel financially in control with writing my checks and mailing them off. So I decided that since I was in the store, I would just get in line at the Money Center and pay my bill. Ugh. They couldn't do anything for me since I didn't know my account number. This was actually a good learning experience for me: standing in line at Walmart is not something I want to do every month. It's more beneficial to me and my sanity to pay online in this case. Who knows? Maybe I'll start paying ALL my bills online. Baby steps!