Organize Your Kitchen Countertops

Happy Thursday! It's time for more organizing...

If you are just joining us, we have been getting organized using Jennifer Ford Berry's Organize Now book.

It has some great info and tips on organizing various parts of our life and home. You can see past posts here:

Week 1 about Organizing Your Mind and Life Vision HERE,

Week 2 about Organizing Your Priorities HERE,

Week 3 about Organizing Your Schedule HERE

Week 4 about Organizing Your Cleaning Schedule HERE.

Week 5 about Organizing Your Personal Information HERE. 

Week 6 about Organizing Your Finances HERE. 

      Week 7 about Organizing Your Bill-paying System HERE.

        Week 8 about Organizing Your Receipts and Taxes HERE. 

Week 9 about Organizing Your Files HERE

                               Week 10 about Organizing your Magazines and Newspapers HERE.
                                               Week 11 about Organizing Your Email HERE
                                                Week 12 about Organizing Your Mail HERE
                                         Week 13 about Organizing Your Child's Toys HERE.

Week 14 about Organizing Your Crafts HERE.

Week 15 about Organizing Your Photographs HERE.

Week 16 about Organizing Your Purse or Wallet HERE. 

 Week 17 about Organizing Your Vehicle HERE.

                                                  Week 18 about Organizing Your Pet HERE.

Week 19 about Organizing Your Books, CDs and DVDs HERE.

Week 20 about Organizing Your Entryway or Mudroom HERE.

Week 21 about Organizing Your Family Room or Living Room HERE.

Today we are tackling the kitchen! Probably the most used and seen room in your house, right? Because it is such a big job to organize, we will break this room down over the next few weeks. We're starting with the countertops. Are you excited? :)

The kitchen is not only used for food prep and eating, but it also tends to be the place where guests gather when they visit or when you have a party. It is also the place, at least in my house, where clutter tends to gravitate. It can get pretty messy pretty fast. Doesn't it seem that when your kitchen is neat and clean, the rest of the house appears to be too? Don't you feel better and more relaxed when your kitchen is in order?

This Week's Goals:

1. Clear your kitchen of anything that does not involve cooking, baking, food prep, serving food, etc. Put all coats, backpacks, toys, sports stuff, etc in another place or put it away. If it is too overwhelming to put away right now, put it in a holding place like the garage until we get to it to organize later. Take out things you hardly ever use or seasonal items too. Go back to the basics! Less is more.

2. Put away appliances that you don't use daily. The only appliance I have out is my toaster. I am having a hard time deciding if I should store this in a cabinet or keep it on the counter. What do you think? Does it add to the clutter? We use it 3-4 times per week. Thoughts?

3. Clear the counters of all paperwork, magazines, mail, etc. Keep one "in-box" area to receive mail and process it at least weekly. We keep a basket on top of the refrigerator. My husband goes through it on Sunday nights when he pays bills. He recycles the junk mail, pays bills and files them away. (Thanks, honey!!)



Here is a before picture of how the top of our fridge looked. Embarrassing! We tend to put things up there to go through later or find a place for later. Problem is, later never comes. Until today! :)

And here is the after. Ideally, I would like to just have this basket for mail. I still need to find a home for some of the other items. Another work in progress. :)

Tips:

1. Jennifer says that the key to keeping your kitchen looking clean is to keep the front two-thirds of your countertops free from clutter.

2. Music makes people happy! (I am a music therapist after all, so I know this first hand:) Install a small radio beneath your cabinets to lift your mood while you cook and clean in the kitchen. My MIL has one in her kitchen. I have a radio in the adjacent room that I put on sometimes when I cook. The trouble is that I have to compete with 2 little boys who would rather listen to children's music then what I prefer. lol

I took some before and after pictures of my kitchen countertops.  Like I said, it's easy to allow clutter to take over your countertops.

 

And here is the after. Much better, don't you think? Ideally, I would love everything off of the counter tops. But when you use things daily, it is hard to do that and keep it there.

And here is a before picture of some counter space near the fridge. This always ends up having a lot of produce and bread on it for some reason. It is another area that clutters up fast.  

 

And here is the after picture. So much better!

So what do you think? Are you still with me? I hope many of you continue to read and participate as you have time. Please let me know what you think. What has been your favorite post so far? What's been the most beneficial? What tips can you share?

Thanks for reading!! Have a great day!!

Rebecca       

Zoo and Pool - Family Fun!!

 It's been awhile since I have posted some family pictures. We have had a great time visiting some zoos, going to the pool and just being silly! Enjoy!

Having fun at the local zoo

running at the zoo!

we went to the pool on Memorial day. It was a lot of fun

being silly as usual:)

They love playing together and are doing  a much better job of it lately:)

We also went to the Indy Zoo recently with our friends, The Roth family. We had a great time!

Our good friends: Laura, Josh, Jacqueline, Kendrick and Sebastian

Thanks for taking a look. I hope you enjoyed our silly boys:) We sure do!

Rebecca

Organizing Your Living Room or Family Room

Hello and welcome to another Thursday post! Time for more organizing....

If you are just joining us, we have been getting organized using Jennifer Ford Berry's Organize Now book.

It has some great info and tips on organizing various parts of our life and home. You can see past posts here:

Week 1 about Organizing Your Mind and Life Vision HERE,

Week 2 about Organizing Your Priorities HERE,

Week 3 about Organizing Your Schedule HERE

Week 4 about Organizing Your Cleaning Schedule HERE.

Week 5 about Organizing Your Personal Information HERE. 

Week 6 about Organizing Your Finances HERE. 

      Week 7 about Organizing Your Bill-paying System HERE.

        Week 8 about Organizing Your Receipts and Taxes HERE. 

Week 9 about Organizing Your Files HERE

                               Week 10 about Organizing your Magazines and Newspapers HERE.
                                               Week 11 about Organizing Your Email HERE
                                                Week 12 about Organizing Your Mail HERE
                                         Week 13 about Organizing Your Child's Toys HERE.

Week 14 about Organizing Your Crafts HERE.

Week 15 about Organizing Your Photographs HERE.

Week 16 about Organizing Your Purse or Wallet HERE. 

 Week 17 about Organizing Your Vehicle HERE.

                                                  Week 18 about Organizing Your Pet HERE.

Week 19 about Organizing Your Books, CDs and DVDs HERE.

Week 20 about Organizing Your Entryway or Mudroom HERE.

Last week we started a new section: organizing the high-traffic areas. Today we are continuing that in our living room or family room.

This is definitely a high-traffic area in my house. We spend a lot of time in this room. Jennifer talks about determining the function of the room for you. There is no wrong answer here. For my family, this room is a place to relax, watch TV, read and play. My husband and I often pray together, read together and talk here in the evenings once the kids are asleep. I also use it for exercise if I am using a video and I hold my Shaklee meetings and functions here. So for me, this room serves many purposes! What purpose does yours serve for you?

This Week's Goals:

1. Take out all items that do not belong in this room and put those items away. Jennifer suggests "zoning" the room. For example, put books in one zone, toys in another, movies in another, etc. Each zone should have a place for these items to go such as a drawer, shelf, built-in storage in a piece of furniture, etc.

2. Go through all drawers and cabinets and get rid of things that don't belong there. It is so easy to put something into a drawer and forget about it, isn't it? At least it is for me. Out of sight out of mind.

I went through the two drawers in our TV stand this week and was surprised at some of the items I found! There was old coupons, one of my son's art projects and a directory of the area that our realtor gave us when we moved in four years ago!! I put many things into the recycle bin, threw some other things away and sorted and put away the other things that did not belong there. I also found a few things for the garage sale box. Here is the before picture:

And here is the after. 

I do keep my cook books here because it is the closest place to the kitchen I have to store them. We don't have many movies but the ones that we do have go here too.

3. De-clutter the coffee table and end tables and mantel if you have one. Jennifer suggests getting tables with drawers if possible. It isn't a problem keeping these clear if you have small kids. lol. We don't even usually put our coffee table out right now because it just gets in the way of little ones playing and too many bumps on the head occur when it's there. 

4. Less is more. De-clutter old knick-knacks and fake house plants. Dust them off and only keep what you really enjoy. Also de-clutter your walls. Only keep what you love. If you have many things here, consider rotating them once in awhile. Jennifer also suggests making a wall of pictures to free up space on your entertainment stand, tables and mantel. I love this idea and am working on it in my home.

5. Replace lampshades if they are dirty or mismatched. We have had two of these lamps for a very long time. 

I have been looking for something to replace them but hadn't found anything I liked. So I decided to spray paint them bronze to match our living room better. 

The old lampshade no longer worked so I got two inexpensive ones from Walmart that matched better. I think it improved the look drastically and did not cost much! What do you think? 

 While I was at it, I decided to do the same to the lamp on my nightstand in our master bedroom. 

What do you think? I really like how it looks and it works so well with our bedroom furniture.

The old lampshade which is now in our garage sale box.

Tips:

Crafty? Consider keeping your working projects in a basket or storage container so it doesn't take over the room.

Have a small space? Don't put too much furniture in it. It will make the room look bigger and shows better if you plan to sell in the future.

I thought I would share a few before and after pictures of my living room. The before is after the kids got in there and tore it up with their toys. It pretty much looks like this daily after they have played there. :) 

And here is the after. I kept a small zone for toys but pretty much cleared all of the extras out and put them in a better place. We will still keep the coffee table out of the center of the room while the kids are small but will use it when we have guests.

That does it for another organizing post. How is it going for you? What tips can you share to improve the look and function of your family room? I would love to hear from you.

Remember that today is the LAST DAY to take advantage of the free membership with any order through Shaklee, the #1 natural nutrition company in the US!! I am so excited for many of you who took advantage of this already. For the rest of you who are interested in health, nutrition and green cleaning products for you and your family, you can look at the online product guide HERE and you will receive a free lifetime membership with any order through today! Members always save at least 15% on all products. Good stuff!  

I will be posting an additional one day special on my business facebook page today too. Check it out!

Shaklee's green cleaning products were featured on Oprah a few years back. you can see a clip of that here.

  

Thanks for reading! Have a terrific day!

Rebecca 

Memorial Day - A Day of Reflecting

What are your plans for Memorial Day? It is a wonderful time to reflect and spend time with family. Taking time to remember and pray for all of the service men and women who have, and continue to fight for our freedom is important. 

Enjoy your day and thank you to all of the military folks for doing what you do so well!

Rebecca

A Healthier Take on Brownies!

I LOVE sweets! I really do. It's always a struggle for me not eat too much. So when I came across this yummy brownie recipe in

 Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious book I knew I had to try it. (You can find a few others from this book if you click the recipe tab on the right side of my blog)

 

I made the brownies recently for a women's health event that I hosted and they were a big hit. Dark chocolate has a lot of antioxidants in it, so I thought it was the perfect choice to share with my girl friends. :)

So what makes them healthier, you may ask??

There are a couple of secret ingredients......

And...

That's right - Spinach and Carrots! And honestly, you could not tell that they were in there at all.

Jessica's book is all about adding in pureed fruits and veggies so your kiddos (and other picky eaters in your life) will get some good stuff in their food. I have used different recipes from this book and my family has always enjoyed them.

The recipe called for a 1/2 cup of each vegetable puree. I use my mini food processor that I used to use when I pureed baby food. It works really well for this. Be sure to cook or steam your veggies first, cut them up and add a little water if necessary.

Other ingredients included 3 oz of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate. (Dark chocolate is a healthier choice.) It also had unsweetened cocoa powder.

They tasted pretty good for being a healthy option! My sweet tooth was satisfied:) And I loved that they were loaded with antioxidants for eye health from the veggies and also had some good fiber and were low in calories and saturated fat. Perhaps a good option for your holiday weekend festivities. Feel free to contact me for the full recipe.

Thanks for reading! Have a healthy and safe Memorial Weekend!

And remember that there is less then a week left to take advantage of Shaklee's free membership promotion with any product order! (19.95 value) You can click HERE for more info about Shaklee or feel free to contact me.

Rebecca