Three unique ways to bust some clutter

Or,

How to use that wasted space inside cabinet drawers and closet doors.

Staying organized is a top priority for me. I’m constantly looking for better ways to keep the clutter down around my house and, ergo make my life more stress free.

One could go as far as to say that I am obsessed about it. And, it’s true.

I think I became a clutter buster after we moved from a 4,500+ square foot house to our little country shack of 1,560 square feet. This move required a major overhaul of our possessions. We had to suck it in and decide what things were really important to us and then, chuck a whole lot of stuff. Ultimately, I found the whole exercise to be very spiritually cleansing. And, in finding clever ways to store everything that we really wanted, I discovered that I had a knack for it, too.

So, now of course, spring cleaning is well underway, and I am at it at a fever pitch! So much to do and so little time left before my sisters come to my house for this year’s Sister Vacation!

My latest organizing trend is utilizing the wasted space inside cabinet drawers and closet doors.

I freed up some kitchen drawer space by hanging the hot mitts on the inside of a cabinet door near the oven.

I’ve added several organizers to other kitchen cabinets to gain back drawer space. I’ve added this one for food wraps and I added another in the spice cabinet, and another under the sink, and another for plastic lids, well, you get the picture! Oh, and yes, that is  Charlie Kitty on the left of the photo, curiously nosying the action in the kitchen.

And, this is my favorite use of utilizing the space inside a door! I bought a hanging shoe organizer and hung it on the inside of my linen closet next to the bathroom. I was able to clear out a whole lot of bathroom stuff crammed in the far nether regions under the sink or stuffed into the drawers with this maneuver. The clear pockets let me see everything at a glance. And, I have a few spare pockets for future use.

How about one of these in the coat closet for hats, gloves, keys? Or, in the mudroom/laundry room for cleaning supplies? Or for your craft supplies or sewing supplies? OMG, the possibilities make my head spin!

So, there you have it, just a few simple ways to get more organized this spring!

Gosh, I had such fun writing this.  And, I’ve got lots more tips and tricks to share with you down the road.

On a side note, I discovered a little trick recently and am amazed that I never knew!

Did you know that most of your wraps come with these little push tabs on the side to keep your rolls secure in their packaging?

 

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July 4th, 1980

I like writing stories for this blog, but sometimes, I’m stumped as to what to write about. Whenever that happens, I go to the hall closet and pull out the old photographs to peruse, because I always find something there! And, then I write about a thousand words. So here goes!  Today’s photo was taken on July 4, 1980.

 

Cindy, Pam, Bonnie, Linda, Dennis

  It’s a photo of me and my siblings, sitting from right to left in our birth order. Since I’m the youngest I am on the left wearing my ELO (Electric Light Orchestra) tee-shirt.

And, since I brought up the tee-shirt, I guess I’ll start this story with it. I got the ELO tee-shirt from my friend, Tina, who went to ELO’s famous “Big Night” concert tour in Pittsburgh in 1978 without me. I had wanted to go, and can’t remember now why I could not go, but Tina bought me a tee-shirt that I absolutely loved and that I only ever wore on special occasions.

Me, Pam, Bonnie, Linda and Dennis are sitting on the picnic table in my parents’ yard at their stone house. It was the 4th of July, which meant my parents were having a family picnic. In 1980, all five of us kids were married, and four of us had kids of our own, too. So, by then the picnics were not the same as when we were younger and all living at home.

But, back in the day, aunts, uncles, two grandmas and cousins from both mom and dad’s side of the families would come for the family picnic.  Us kids would play badminton or jarts (a game using huge darts with these dangerously long sharp points that you would throw and try to stick in a ring, that essentially would kill you or at least put your eye out if you were unluckily standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, or were in the path of an errant toss) or dodge ball or go gallivanting out in the woods at Devil’s Canyon (rock formations) and play hide and seek after it got dark. We also got to light sparklers after dark. Picture a handful of kids running around in the dark with an eight inch wand of pyrotechnic fuel reaching about 3000 degrees Farenheit in each hand! The men would drink beer, play horseshoes, then usually switch to poker after it got dark.  The women would set up all the eats, clean up all the messes, and finally retreat to the kitchen to chat (and laugh hysterically) about adult stuff after it got dark.

I remember one year my Uncle Bobby from the big city of Pittsburgh, knowledgeable in all big city things, spiked a watermelon with rum.

And, I remember snow flurries one year during the annual summer picnic, unusual even for Pennsylvanians.

So, back to the photo. I was 22 years old in 1980. And, I was married and already a mom, too.  Our cousins were grown with their own families and not too interested in our family 4th of July picnics anymore.  But, because of the photo, I can see that in 1980 all of us siblings were there together. I think Brian and I might have lived on a farm in a nearby community at the time. Pam and her husband Gary would be moving to Colorado soon. Bonnie and her husband lived just a few miles down the road. Linda was not too far away, living in Pittsburgh with her husband. I’m not sure where my brother Dennis was in his life in 1980.  He might have been living with his family in the old hometown, or home from Texas for a visit.  

There we all were, grown siblings with a long history of 4th of July gatherings posing for a picture for our mother on July 4, 1980.  My nephew, Dennis Jr, was 13. His sister, Lori was 11. My daughter Carrie was not quite four years old.  Her cousin, Shani was also three years old. Jason would be turning three in another month or so and Kara had recently celebrated her first birthday. My other nieces, Kelly and Shannon were not born yet.

We probably had hot dogs and hamburgers and pickled eggs, and potato salad, maybe some ham salad, corn on the cob and watermelon for this picnic fete.  My dad would have had the horse shoe pit set up. He and his son and the sons-in-law might have played some poker after it got dark. My sisters and I would have been sitting around the kitchen with our mom chatting (and laughing hysterically) after dark.

 

This picture was taken on the same day on the same picnic table. Cindy, Brian and Carrie.

 

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Dance Heads

It has taken a new computer, and then, finding the several year old CD, and then finding a program to convert it and upload it to You Tube, but here it is! Me and two of my sisters – Pam and Bonnie! Bonnie and Pam, you are so cute! Oh, and, sister Linda, you are not on this, but no worries, I have a photo I will upload soon to get you, too! Woohoo! (AND, if you have video buffering issues, PLEASE press pause for about five minutes before you play, so you can watch this wonderful talent without interruption!) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE6etxPgAtw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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