Habit #4: 15 Minute Pickup

So to help with keeping counters etc clean I've decided to start a nightly family 15 minute pickup. I think it will do the kids good to get involved in this. We can make it a game. And with TK being older maybe he'll realize that if he doesn't leave his things all over then we won't have to take so long to do it. What we will be doing is putting on upbeat music to clean up to. Things like putting jackets away. Taking blankets back to our rooms (kids), putting shoes away etc. Every night before bathtime/bedtime. I won't really be taking pictures for this so maybe I'll do a video and post it at the end of the week!

Weekend Cleanup: Kitchen Cabinets 1

The day I finally got over my sickness I came downstairs to a pretty clean kitchen! Dev swept and mopped and all that jazz. I went to get a drink and a cup flew out at me. Que organization overload. I had purchased a couple cabinet things so I went to work. My kids have their own cupboard and had a whole shelf in yet another one. This is how it went. Cupboard 1- bottom shelf- Adult plates/bowls; middle shelf- mugs, random items that belong to others or old sets; then mixing bowls and some pitchers on the top. Cupboard 2- bottom shelf- kids cups and adult plastic cups; middle shelf- glass cups and water bottles; top shelf- pitchers and water bottles. Cupboard 3- bottom shelf- kids snacks; middle shelf- kids plates and bowls; top shelf- baby bowls, old baby cereal (gross right?), and other CRAP.
Here it is now.




Cupboard 1- bottom=same, middle= Mixing bowls, etc. top= platters and plasticware



Cupboard 2- bottom= Plastic cups, mugs, frequently used water bottles, middle= glass cups and less frequent water bottles, top= pitchers.



Cupboard 3- botom= same (but cleaned up), middle= right-plates/bowls/cups, left- water bottles/sippys, top= snack bowls/ less frequent cups/candy.

 I am SOO happy with the way this looks. Trust me it was a horrible mess before pitchers with bowls and cups in random places platters on the TOP of the cupboards. HORRIBLE. Now all cups are in the same spot and all of the kids stuff is in the same spot. NICE.

I didn't tackle other cupboards, but I thought I would take before pictures of those ones as usually this tornado come through unexpectedly!

Cereal/Breakfast/Junk food cupboard

Tupperware/? cupboard

Pot/Pans cupboard

Under the kitchen sink

Also I found a little stacker for my spices so I can see and reach them better.



Spice rack/stacker



Habit #2 update/ Habit #3: Putting Laundry AWAY

Le sigh. My household has been a zoo these past few weeks. The kids got sick. Then I got sick and yeah a jumbled mess.
So week 2's habit of folding laundry and removing them from the baskets turned into just putting them on the bed which turned in to the chair (cause I couldn't put them on the dresser due to week 1's habit!), so yeah week 3's habit was to FULLY PUT LAUNDRY AWAY. I have no pictures because it was such a struggle just to put them away while being sick, let alone take pictures of the process. It was hard and for 2 days I didn't even go downstairs so the counters got a little messy and backed up in the kitchen, but all is well and right again!
For habit number 4. 15 min nightly pick-up!

Habit #2: Folding Laundry

I am HORRIBLE at putting my laundry away. I will wash all the clothes in the house and then we will live out of baskets for 3-4 days until I have to put them away in order to fill the basket with more clothes to be washed. Were do I get those dirty clothes from you ask? Oh just off my bathroom and bedroom floors. Gross I know. So this week I will be making sure to fold AND remove laundry from the basket when it's done. I will have to post before and after pictures tomorrow.

Weekend Clean up: Pantry

This past weekend I was doing something mundane like grabbing some TP to restock the bathrooms and the look of my pantry gave me a headache. Who knew something so small and everyday would turn into such a huge project. I ended up pretty much gutting my pantry and re-organizing everything. I threw out so much food it makes me sick. The way it was before was everything was just shoved in there willy nilly so I never knew what I had. I have TEN packs of Chedder Broccoli noodles because of this. So this is the end result. It is downstairs in my family room on the play area side so the bottom 4 shelves hold my kids toys etc.

The 2 shelves where the cans are were chock full of crap. I didn't even have cans down here before. They were all in the lazy susan pictured below. 

We went to IKEA and got these cute little spice jars. I will for sure be needing more, but I think I'm off to a good start!

These were both sitting in their torn bags inside of plastic bags, getting EVERYWHERE.

Up in the cabinet, in the back you can see that I need more jars!

The other side. Not so sure how to make this side look cute!

Habit #1

I think overall I faired pretty well at this habit. I made sure to put things away at night and keep things off all the surfaces. My fireplace mantle that is usually a disaster (I didn't take  before pictures) has been nice and empty and clean! It's actually so bare I think it warrants a trip to Ikea or Bed Bath & Beyond. :-)

Ignore all the empty frames please.

Now to see if I can just keep it that way! I think every 4-6 weeks I will post a revist to the previous 4-6 habits.

Habit #1 Before and After

Here are the main cluttered spaces in my house. Things rotate, but this is pretty much the norm. Lets change that! I still have to clean off my kids cluttered spaces in their rooms.

Craft stuff, Bread, and Random crap thrown in my decor table bowl.

All gone!

Bowl in it's rightful place

Dishes, Sugar (?) Steamer, and part of dinner 

I want to get rid of that salt shaker, but it still has so much salt in it! lol

Record Player in our living room.
We moved all of our pics for Xmas decor during the holidays. No clue where the all went!
There was a new shoebox sitting her for about 2 weeks before I cleaned it off.

Kids bathroom. It's bigger than mine so I do my hair in here. And leave that there EVERYDAY. No clue why there is a pen in here.

Extra Xmas gifts and a bunch more CRAP.

Laundry and my own PERSONAL crayons and coloring book. I am a kid at heart. :-)

New Habit #1 Keep Counterspace/Tables Clean

For my first habit I will be keeping my counterspaces and tables clear. This is a huge one for me. I usually dump my purse on the kitchen counter and it stays there until about 10:30 at night when I go to bed and move it into the livingroom in the drawer where it belongs. I sometimes do quick crafts in my kitchen and I then push all of the stuff to the side where it's not in the way and there it stays for a few weeks days. So my goal is kind of to put stuff in its place, but as there are several places I tend to just dump things I'll start small (in the grand scheme of things) and keep things off of the counters/tables. This includes the bathroom and my dressers. I said small not tiny. I'm usually pretty good with keeping things off the counter in our main bathroom, but the laundry room and my bedroom sinks are usually a giant HOT MESS. Mousse, dryer lint, broken vaccumm pet hair cleaners (whitsles off to the side)... Whatever shouldn't be on the counter usually IS on the counter. For my first day I will just make sure that EVERYTHING is cleaned off each space before I go to bed tonight. Of course I will take pictures so I will know where I came from and so I'll never want to go back. Pictures to come tomorrow!

50 New Habits and more.

Well, here I go again starting another blog. lol. I don't even keep up with my family blog so I wonder how I'm going to keep up with this one. I hope this blog will help me start to keep up on my other TWO blogs.
Part of this blog will be my 50 New Habits. The goal of that is to start a new habit each week. Be it sweep every other day or join a gym and work out like a made women 4 times a week. Some will be big habits and some will be small. You've gotta start somewhere right?


I wish I would've thought of this idea a few weeks ago then I could have 52 New Habits. :-)  Ah well...
Next up my first new habit of the year!