Cupboard Cleaning...

Another boring post about organizing our house - ho hum. Oh well. Getting organized makes me happy in a variety of ways!

My latest bout of purging and organization happened as a result of an unfortunate incident while we were on vacation. Last fall we installed a lovely new French door in our kitchen and during the blizzard this year, it leaked some water onto the kitchen floor. As soon as it was warm and dry enough, my husband caulked the corners that seemed to be the problem. When we came home from Florida, our house/dog-sitter told us that a large amount of water had come through the door during heavy rains and flooded the kitchen floor. The tiles buckled and cracked down the middle and popped at the grout line the entire length of the floor in two different places.

Crown Royal Construction built our home. Okay... so that just means that the fellow/previous homeowner that did many renovation projects on our house was sober in the morning and not so sober by the time the project was done. We can cite many projects that clearly lasted more than a half day and therefore whose execution is far less than perfect. For example... anyone with any sense knows that you install the cabinets on the sub-floor and THEN install the flooring so if you have to change the flooring for some reason like - oh - say - because it flooded and the tiles cracked - then you wouldn't have to tear out the cabinets to do it!

Yep, you get the idea. CRC installed the tile floor and THEN the crappy cabinets he made himself that are neither sturdy nor standard sizes.

So, after overcoming our tidal wave of nausea while inspecting the damage, we sat down and discussed the fact that we've WANTED a new kitchen and perhaps now is the time since to replace the flooring, the cabinets need to come out. After spending a few weeks mulling it over and designing what we would like, we finally went to Lowes to have them put our wishes into dollar signs. Nausea tsunamis passed through when we saw how many zeroes were at the end of that number and we decided that we have bigger goals (getting debt-free for instance) in the short-term and the kitchen will have to wait.

Hence the organization project!

We have an odd-shaped floor to ceiling closet that faces the dining room but is behind the refrigerator and has held cleaning products for the past 5.5 years that we've lived here. We decided that regardless of new or old kitchen, this would become a pantry for things like mixers, dog food, over-sized bowls - things that we need often enough but that don't need to be under our noses daily.

In addition, my husband and I have recently made a major change to our diets so that we are only eating fresh veggies and lean proteins almost exclusively. While assessing the shifting of pantry items I realized that we had tons of canned goods etc that we will never use. My step-son came and took about six grocery bags worth (really... I can't believe I was hoarding that many non-perishables!) and I gave another two bags to a homeless fellow that I see in town all the time. It made so much more room in our cupboards that several items that have been cluttering up the counter-top now have a home out of sight!

I did, of course, need shelving in the new pantry but realized that we already have a rolling wire shelf system that would fit perfectly with a few tweaks so that is now snugly in the new pantry. The old "pantry" has a few new shelf risers (seriously - who needs 22" between the bottom shelf and the next one up?) and a lot more room. And the stuff that was cluttering my view in various locations now has a home of its own inside the now nearly-empty upper cabinet!

The major bonus is that I've been looking for my Magic Bullet mixer for several months now and feared that I had given it away in my kitchen purge last year. But while on my hands and knees rib-cage deep into the corner cabinet (that we not-so-affectionately call "The Abyss") there it was! It now as its own spot in the upper cabinet because with our new eating plan, we make smoothies and shakes with it almost daily.

I am happy to say that my kitchen purge of last year really did get rid of tools and appliances that I NEVER use so this re-organization process did not get bogged down in decision-making on that level.

So... it's not a NEW kitchen but it does function more efficiently and hopefully we will hit the lottery and be able to get the kitchen we would really like... but I guess we need to play.