This is week #44 of our ongoing home organization project. This crazy weekly clean-out was our New Year’s Resolution for the year. My plan was to do several projects ahead of time and then write about them. What’s actually happening is that I’m completely scrambling on Fridays and spending the afternoon cleaning, organizing, and sorting while my ‘assistant’ takes pot-shots.
Who’s my assistant? My adorable husband. He works from home – and totally helps me with whatever I need. Just want to give him that shout-out before I share what he said today.
Brad: “So, how long do you think it’s been since you cleaned out these cabinets?
Me: “Oh, probably 8 or 10 years.”
Brad: “Wow, they’re really dusty. How does all that dirt and dust get inside the cabinets when the cabinet doors are closed all the time?”
Me: “I’m not sure how the dirt and dust gets inside the kitchen cabinets. How long has it been since you’ve cleaned out the cabinets?
Brad: Silence.
And, there you have it. Well, those cabinets are clean now. Of course I used the healthy and green all-purpose spray I made – and didn’t think twice about how after spraying it everywhere I was about to put our dishes back into the cabinets.
Home Organization Project 44
- This week’s project. Kitchen cabinets.
- Small. It took about an hour – or more. Kids came home from school and were trying to eat and Brad was trying to start dinner. I kept saying, “You’re in my shot!” and “Move, can you get out of my light.”
- Clear and clean. Everything came out of the cabinets and from the upper cabinets, too. While I always say that old houses have no storage, the upper cabinets are original and that’s where I stash holiday decorations. Easter and Halloween items are kept up top.
- Get set. We agreed to get rid of some wine glasses that we had registered for – 25-years ago. There are only 5 of them left and I don’t like them anymore. They also tip over. I’m better off drinking wine out of a glass jar. Remember when I broke two wine glasses on a home exchange? Clearly, fancy wine glasses and I don’t get along. We moved all of our other (Ikea) wine glasses to the top cabinets – with the decorations. We don’t use them enough – and they need cleaning before we do. Next time we host our dinner group, we’ll get them out and properly clean them.
- Stop buying. Here’s the thing: we’ve had the same dishes for almost 25-years and with two teenagers, they’re chipped and we have a lot fewer than when we got married. Once the kids move out (they’re both in high school so we have a few years yet), I plan to give them all of these dishes and I’m getting something new.
- Less is more. While the cabinets look – here’s how we added wood to the back of the cabinets and painted it – about the same, there is less in them. This “less stuff” business is something I’m really liking. I’m not buying and I’m also not picking up items from the corner sidewalk spot with signs that say, “Free.” Every time I drive by a pile and keep on going, I pat myself on the back. It’s not easy!
My plan is to get next week’s project done before Friday afternoon rolls around again. It’s been busy around our house lately – school meetings, fall sports coming to an end, and gardening/outdoor projects on hold until spring time, I hope to be napping next Friday – and not organizing. We’ll see…
How did your home organization project go this week?
52 weeks of home organization
As part of our New Year’s resolution, we’re cleaning out a different area of our house every week this year. Find all of the “weekly home organization projects” – or click the image below.
Go Gingham 
Your kitchen is gorgeous!
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Thanks, Janna! It’s small but totally works. All of the cabinets were in the house when we moved in 19-years ago. We just had new drawers, draw fronts put on them, added trim, and painted them white. The cabinet doors with glass came from a salvage store – $18.00 for all four of them! Oh, and we had new counter tops put on. The pantry door came from a dumpster! It was very inexpensive but I love it! 🙂
Thanks for noticing!!
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When you are done with your year-long challenge, I propose that it is past time to go on another home exchange. You have certainly earned it!
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Ahhhh…thanks, Karen! With a senior in high school, we’ve got college looming – and waiting to see what that brings us. I did just chat with a couple in France about a home exchange in France – after our sophomore in high school graduates and heads off to college….
That’s where we are right now in life and that’s ok. 🙂
Thanks, Karen! Also, got your email with suggestions. Thank you. I’m on it!
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Just wanted to say that I love how the blue background plays up your red, white & blue china/pottery/whatever.
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Thank you! I love red, white, and blue together – in any shade! The back of cabinet wood is inexpensive paneling that we cut, painted, and added white trim to. The glass doors are from a salvage store – I knew they’d fit but had to convince my husband. You don’t want to know how ugly the kitchen used to be! We haven’t spent a fortune on fixing it up and it totally fits our needs. 🙂
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Love your kitchen Sara! And I love the fact that your tell your kids to get out of your light. I think I’ve used those exact words myself! You are just so practical in the way you go about your organization projects and its completely endearing.
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Oh, the troubles that face the children of bloggers! 😉
My kids have zero patience for my taking photos of dinner before we eat. They get too hungry. Now, I simply cook the meal in the afternoon now that it’s too dark at dinner time for a photo shoot.
The organizing projects have burned me ~ I went to put on a pair of pants that I used to have and they were gone! Sometimes practicality doesn’t work…
Thanks, Julie!! Hope you’re well!
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I really need to do this! I also wonder how the dust gets in!
By the way I’m loving the quilted canister in your first photo– super cute!
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Laughed at the exchange between you and Brad … it reminds me of an incident in our early married days in which my husband wrote the words “dust me” on our dusty tv, rather than, you know, just dusting the thing! Why is it that so many men still seem to initially resort to the antiquated thinking that dusting and cleaning belong solely in the realm of women?!
My home organization … this weekend, in preparation for some upcoming flooring work, I made some brutal decisions on baby clothes and blankets. I had kept way too much, and while I probably still have an amount bordering on crazy-lady, at least it’s now all contained in one smaller specified area. (Of course, I still have to process all the stuff I purged – either cut up for rags, or bagged for Goodwill – without succumbing to the urge to slip items back into the keeping box!)
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