To Do
Image via Martha Stewart
I just finished taking down our Christmas decorations yesterday. We planned on taking it all down on Monday, but my Emma said “Oh Mom, it will ruin the end of our vacation!” “You don’t want to work?” I asked. “No that’s not it, I’ll help you tomorrow. I just want the tree and lights up til we go back to school.” Far be it for me to ruin vacations… so I waited until yesterday to take it all down.
Isn’t it amazing how dusty and dirty everything is underneath the garlands and ornaments! It felt so good to put it all away and to dust and wipe down and move furniture and vacuum.
When Ben came home from school yesterday, he said our home looked empty and sad.
Is that why I’m always inspired to want to decorate and paint in January? I’m always excited to start new projects? And forget Spring… I love to deep clean in January.
January is the month when I am most focused on my home.
Here are a few projects I’ve got on my to do list:
Photo via Chez Larsson
Just as soon as I pick up the DVD’s. I am so doing this with my photos. I love how she has organized them by year. My biggest challenge will be deleting all the photos I don’t want to keep.
It will give me such peace of mind to know I have an extra set of back up photos. I do have a backup hard drive that I use to back up my computer, but I keep feeling like it’s not enough… at least for my precious photos.
Image via Real Simple
Also high on my list is cleaning and organizing my pantry. I am seriously considering tearing out and redoing my shelves, which is a little scary. My pantry MUST have been designed by a man who never kept a pantry before in his life. My shelves are super deep. That means I constantly loose items in the back and even a thorough clean doesn’t last long. To make my pantry work for me, I need to think outside the box and come up with some solutions that don’t cost much, but keep things organized.
I’ll be sure to snap some before and after photos… that is if I don’t die of embarrassment first at the before photos.
Before you go gung-ho and tear out your shelves, have you considered baskets (for chips, snack foods, pasta) and the tiered shelves designed for cans? (Something along the lines of this: http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/pantryOrganizers/shelfOrganizers?productId=10028616&N=74108&Nao=40) Or perhaps you can put some of the bulky kitchen items like roasters, or even cookie sheets (in this: http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/pantryOrganizers/shelfOrganizers?productId=10027808&N=74108) in the panty, & moving food to other cabinets that would be better suited for food storage. Just some thoughts for you! : ) Happy organizing!!
Oh my gosh my pantry sounds very similar to your pantry. I would love to see how you solve the problem. My husband and I have talked several times about solutions and have yet to find one that will really work.
I just finished cleaning out and rearranging my pantry! All the Christmas baking had thrown it into major disarray. I also want to get my pics organized. I put them on my external hard drive, think I’ll take that over to my in-laws and save the pics on thier computer so I have back up in two places….just in case. Happy cleaning…I need to get back to that very thing right now!
I also file my computers on a yearly CD; it’s nice to know there’s a back up if required. I also can take the previous years CD with me on trips to visit family or friends overseas. Of course I don’t make them sit through the entire thing but simply show them the highlights of the dance recital, etc. I also have two children so rather than do one CD I actually do 2. That way one day my children can each have their own CD collection of their early lives.
I cleaned out my pantry on Tuesday – THE BEST FEELING!