Thursday, September 20, 2012

Shelfish Behavior

I was feelin' punny...my apologies.

My kitchen is what I refer to as a "two butt kitchen."  Honestly, you're kinda crowded if you've got two butts in there.  (Of course it's not as crowded with our two smaller butts as it used to be when we had bigger motors in the back of our Hondas.)  There's no way I can fit all of my baking and supplies in the kitchen so we have an overflow shelf in the basement.  It was looking BAD.  See...


Yeah.  Craptastic fo' sho and certainly not inspiring for me to want to get in the kitchen.  The Mr will take stuff down and put it any ol' place.  I keep stuff upstairs until I can "get to" rearranging the shelf and therefore it stays upstairs stacking up until the Mr dumps it down there or looks at it woefully.  When the Mr was trying to ward off an attack of fruit flies from the bananas, I decided there was no time like the present to get the shelves in order.  I went through everything and I checked expiration dates.  I was kind of ticked because some of the things I'd bought not too long ago were long expired meaning they were either expired (Masa) or close to it (whole wheat flour) when I bought them.  So note to self (and to you all)...always check the expiration before you buy.  I was glad to see I didn't have to throw out more than a grocery bag full of stuff and that was more due to the size of the items to be tossed like a box of cereal, a bag of Masa, etc.

I grabbed those bamboo shelves I was crushing on from The Container Store so that I could utilize more vertical space on the bigger shelves.


I used both shelves on the two bigger shelves.  The top shelf is like my "supply" shelf.  It's got all of my flours on the top bamboo shelf and underneath them is powdered sugar, brown sugar, peanut and cookie butter, etc.  In front is a loaf pan doubling as a "chip bin."  I always have stray bags of chips of all kinds from cinnamon to dark chocolate to peanut butter so it's nice to have them all in one spot.  In front of that is Nutella, oats, raisins and stuff.  On the right is my 8 cans of pumpkin (that wasn't a typo), cake mixes for cupcakes or cake balls/truffles, a blondie mix from Trader Joe's I can't wait to try and some of the Mr's dressings.

The second shelf is like my "special projects/spices" shelf.  I try to group together things I know I need for upcoming recipes so I can grab and go.  I've got holiday flavors like Candy Corn Oreos, ginger snaps, Wilton Melts and stuff like that.  The black bowl has all of my spices, extracts and mini cupcake liners.  Beside that is a container that I stacked all of my cupcake liners in so they didn't get all warped out of shape.


The last shelf has all of my cookie cutters and sprinkles in the bin on the left with my new cooling rack ready to go for Christmas cookies this year and beside that stuff to pop our own popcorn.  On top of the shelf is my mini crock pot, parchment paper and press n' seal Christmas wrap and beside that are all of our Hawaii goodies that were scattered all over but are now in one spot so we can grab them when we want them.  Then on the right is my bigger crock pot with Christmas Gladware bowls for treats at holiday time when I have to transport them to gatherings.

I didn't get to the very top shelf but it won't take much to get together.  Crossing this off the list is allowing me to breathe a bit.  It was just one of those swirling things in my head that was weighing me down mentally and depressing to look at because that's my background when I work out.  So, yay for forward progress!

What's on your to do list that you've been putting off?

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12 comments:

  1. Oooohhh, I LOVE it when things are organized! I've spent entire weekends organizing my house, much to hubby's dismay, lol! I also have a "2 butt kitchen" which can make things difficult at times. But on the other hand, everyone knows that when I'm in there, I'M the ONLY one that can be in there... SANCTUARY!!!

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  2. I am a huge procrastinator and when I do something like that I am always amazed at how easy it was to do and how dumb that it took me so long to do it. It feels fantastic and makes life so much easier! Good job!

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  3. Oh my gosh - so many things. Hubby and I spent 3 days this summer reorganizing my upstairs. Our room, little guys room, 2 hall closets, bathroom, living room and kitchen. Seriously, 3 full days. When we were done it felt amazing. Of course the clutter is slowly coming back but it's still so much better. Now we just have to find time to do the basement.

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  4. I continuously want to reorganize my pantry!
    It's a closet under the stairs and I've got three bookshleves in there of varying height. But I SOOOOOO badly want to install real shelves so I can organize it so much better. It's currently stacked and such fairly organized but still lol. I need to check the dates of some of my flours (I buy some of the specialty flours for gluten free baking for a coworker). I've gotten much better about checking dates recently. I hate throwing away food. A little while ago, I went through my pantry and gathered up what I wasn't going to use and was nearing the dates and donated them to the church across the street since someone there would use them before I could.

    What is Masa btw??

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  5. What DON'T I keep putting off? Pretty much nothing lately. I have a stack of papers probably the size of a toddler I need to go through & file or shred. I have laundry up the wazoo. I'm usually pretty okay with laundry, but I've had two loads to put away since this weekend. And even more to wash. I need to clear out my pantry, I do that every couple months & I am shocked by how much stuff expires before we use it. I need to go through my closets and get rid of the clothes that will never fit, or hope to never fit into again. :) See, you're not the only one!

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  6. Motor in your Honda!!!! Bwwwaahahahahahaaa!!! Throw Back!! :-) Couldn't stop smiling after reading that line. What were you talking about anyways...oh yeah!! Your awesome shelves! Look fantastic by the way.

    I've been putting off organizing my pantry too...I really think I want to do some kind of contact paper - not the gawdy crud from my Grandma's day...but my shelves are looking a little worn (white paint grade at the moment) and could use some sprucing up. Someday...

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  7. That looks great! I really need to do this to my pantry too but I keep putting it off. Another thing I keep putting off is painting the cabinets in our guest bathroom. It really needs to be done, but I just can't seem to make it as much of a priority as I should. Oh well...some day...

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  8. Great job! My upstairs pantry needs a do over - something stinks in there (probably a lost potato on the bottom). And my desk in the basement is an embarrasment - need to get on that too!

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  9. I can say with truth that my pantry always stays organized...now that I have a new kitchen compliments of my landlord. I even put pictures in one of my SP blogs. One thing that helps is the matched set of Tupperware canisters that my insurance paid for after a kitchen fire about 13 years ago. They are still going strong, and make the organization look really cool. Putting off? The stack of books on my desk that I should be listing in my Amazon bookseller account. I got bogged down on packaging and may just chuck the whole project and have a yard sale. They keep making book avalanches. Grr.

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  10. Nice organization! I have a couple of similar shelf units--one serves as my pantry storage and the other is in the closet of my home office. They were really good investments.

    I'm not putting things off so much these days as trying to scramble to get some projects done in between work travels.

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  11. It looks much better! And it's a good reminder that I need to tackle my pantry too. I always have it perfectly organized and then my husband puts things in random places. Like, can't you see that soup does not go on the baking shelf?!?!

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  12. I really like your shelves! I have some that are similar in the basement that I keep my holiday bins on. I have multiple procrastination projects that I want to tackle...and they all revolve around organizing. I have very little closet/storage space in my house, so it's in a constant state of clutter. My first chore is to tackle the spare room as it's become the drop off place for clothes bins. I want to make that a more peaceful room (aka my getaway room), so I'm planning steps on how best to do that. One option is just to pitch everything and start over! LOLOLOLOL!!

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