2014 Top 5!

Wow, can you believe that we are already at the end of 2014?!  Seems impossible!  I want to take a minute to just thank you so very much for all of your support, likes, shares, comments, etc through out the past year!  I truly appreciate each and every one of you taking time to visit my little space on the internet.  Your presence here means the world to me.

I thought to wrap up the end of the year I would share the top 5 posts from 2014.  If you missed one of these be sure to check them out just by clicking on the pictures!  Here they are in order, starting with your most favorite:

Pantry Organization

Cookware Storage

Controlling Paper Clutter...an Update

House Number Post

Spicy Chicken Enchiladas

So there you have it!  I am looking forward to the new year and sharing some fun new things with you!  Hope you will join me in 2015!!

Ditch the Plastic Utensil Tray!

Happy Friday!  Today I am going to try to make you give in to a little peer pressure-the good kind though ;)  See, as much as I love things to be nice and organized, I also want them to look pretty.  That is why I am going to give you these five words of advice: DITCH THE PLASTIC UTENSIL TRAY!!  

As much as none of us want to admit it, we have all experienced the nasty and grimy plastic utensil trays.  And even for the cleanest person, those darn things somehow always seem to collect crumbs in the bottom (which I don't at all understand since you are putting clean utensils in them...If anyone can explain to me how this happens, please do!)

A couple years ago I finally had had enough and went on the search for a better option and found these metal mesh trays from The Container Store.  And while my drawer certainly does not look like it belongs in a magazine, it feels so much cleaner than my old plastic organizer.  I will say that my only complaint with these is that my continental sized knives do not fit in the typical knife section, so I had to put them in the longer slots.  But, I can live with that :) 

Since I have additional pieces in my set (appetizer forks, dessert forks, long tea spoons) I used two trays and just flipped them the opposite way and put them back to back.  Works great!

And my knife sharpener just hangs out at the back ;)

A quick and cheap change that makes a BIG difference.  I wish I had a picture of the before to show you what a change it really is, but just take my word for it ;)  And if you take the plunge and toss the plastic tray, I would love to see your before and after pics!

Linking up at:
http://cityofcreativedreams.blogspot.com/
http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/
http://www.nancherrow.com/
http://craftdictator.com/
http://kitchendreaming.com/
http://organized31.com/
http://www.lambertslately.com/
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/
http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/
http://saving4six.com/
http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/
http://www.allthingsheartandhome.com/
http://goldenreflectionsblog.com/
http://www.astrollthrulife.net/
http://loulougirls.blogspot.com/
http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/
http://www.frenchcountrycottage.net/
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/

Organizing Cookware

I am so lucky that our house has two pantries!  One for food and a smaller one that I use to store all of my cookware (you can see how I organize my food pantry here).  I spent many years battling lower cabinets and trying to fit everything in them just right.  And then when I wanted to get something out, it was a whole new battle!  I am so grateful for this space in my house!

Now I will say that this space is definitely in need of some TLC....I guess the previous owners decided to add the top shelf at a later time and didn't match it up to the other shelves.  There are nail holes, bad dry wall spots, and a whole lot of painting that needs to be done!  I wrestled with whether or not to share this with you before I got all of those things repaired or not, but what the heck, here it goes (just don't look too closely!)

 Here's a look at each shelf:

Right now I have 2 different sets of cookware, and yes, it drives me crazy that they don't all match!  But they have to work for now.  I dream of the day when I will open this pantry and everything will match :)

I must say that two of my favorite organizers ever are in this pantry.  The skillet and lid holders are amazing!!  You NEED them if you don't already have them :)  You can find them almost anywhere and they are usually only a few dollars, but make such a HUGE difference!

Here's another look at the whole thing.  The right side is just where I hang aprons.

So there you have it.  I absolutely love having this pantry and can never have another house without one!  Do you have a good spot to keep all of your cookware, or have you found a good solution for those dreaded lower cabinets?! I would love to see how you keep everything organized! Thanks for stopping by today!

-Emily 

Linking up at:

http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/

http://saving4six.com/

http://houseofroseblog.com/

http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/

http://organized31.com/

http://www.lambertslately.com/

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

http://craftdictator.com/

http://www.nancherrow.com/

http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/

http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

http://cityofcreativedreams.blogspot.com/

http://www.allthingsheartandhome.com/

http://goldenreflectionsblog.com/

http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

http://www.cleanandscentsible.com/

Spring Cleaning-The Microwave

Hi!  Welcome to the second post in our Spring Cleaning series!  Yesterday I talked about giving the inside of your oven a good cleaning and gave you my recipe for a homemade oven cleaner (only 3 ingredients that I'm sure you already have in your house!)  You can view that post here.

Today we will tackle the microwave-possibly the EASIEST kitchen appliance to clean ever!! Now, this is definitely a space that needs cleaning more than just once a year, but it is simple enough that you can incorporate it into your regular cleaning routine.  So even though it is not Spring specific, I did want to include it in this series (mainly because mine was in dire need of being cleaned anyways!)

-To start, mix equal parts water and white vinegar into a microwavable bowl or cup.  I used 1/2 Cup of each.  

-Microwave until the mixture is boiling-this was around 2 minutes for 1 total cup of liquid for me.  

-Leave the mixture in the microwave with the door closed for another couple of minutes.  

-Remove the mixture and simply wipe off all the nastiness that has splattered all around your microwave! 

I do take the turn table out and wash it with dish soap in the sink, but if you are short on time, just wipe it off with everything else. 

Here are my before pictures:

Add your 'magic' solution:

And Ta-Da!

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope you will stick around as we conquer some other areas of our homes this Spring!  

-Emily

Linking up at:

http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/
http://www.allthingsheartandhome.com/
www.astrollthrulife.net
www.ivyandelephants.blogspot.com
http://www.lambertslately.com/
http://saving4six.com/
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/
http://organized31.com/
http://craftdictator.com/
http://www.nancherrow.com/
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/
http://houseofroseblog.com/
http://www.cleanandscentsible.com/
http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/
http://cityofcreativedreams.blogspot.com/
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/

Spring Cleaning-The Oven

Happy Spring!  I always love the new life and sense of renewal that comes with Spring!  Grass starts greening back up, leaves come back to the trees, and flowers start to pop up all over the place!  I also love to spend this time of year doing the typical 'spring cleaning' around our house.  We generally stay very on top of cleaning through out the year, but something about Spring really makes me want to scrub the places that don't always see as much attention through out the rest of the year.

So this is going to be the first post in a series on Spring Cleaning!  I hope you will stick around and get some tips or ideas on getting things cleaned up for Spring around your house!

So to kick things off, we will tackle the oven!

The outside of my ovens gets cleaned weekly, but the insides don't get any love on a regular basis.

At first glance the insides of our ovens weren't in too bad of shape (that was until we removed the doors and the covers that go over the lower heating elements...which obviously have NEVER been cleaned since the ovens were installed by a previous owner.  You will unfortunately get a look at that later!)

I started off with making my own cleaner:

-2 C HOT Water

-1T Dawn dish soap

-1tsp Baking Soda

I sprayed the interior of the ovens and doors. 

I removed the racks and sprayed them down too.

(and of course say Hi to my firefighting minion that hangs out in my kitchen window) 

I let the spray sit for about 15 minutes, then took a cloth and wiped it up.  

Then we had the idea to go ahead and remove the doors so we could remove the bottom heating element covers and clean the ledge between the 2 ovens which I can never reach because the gap is so small.  Be warned-it was gross!

So we got the covers removed and cleaned under and the doors got an even deeper cleaning done.

It feels so good to get them cleaned out!  Can your oven use a good cleaning?  For an appliance that is used so frequently, I figured it deserved some TLC, and I think we are both happier now that it is done :)

Stay tuned, next up will be cleaning the microwave!

Linking up at:

www.nancherrow.com

www.frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com

http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

http://www.allthingsheartandhome.com/

www.astrollthrulife.net

www.ivyandelephants.com

http://www.lambertslately.com/

http://saving4six.com/

http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/

http://organized31.com/

http://craftdictator.com/

http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com/

http://houseofroseblog.com/

http://www.cleanandscentsible.com/

http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

http://cityofcreativedreams.blogspot.com/

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/

Pantry Organization

One of my favorite ways to keep things organized is by using baskets, bins, containers, and of course, LABELS!  The pantry is an important place to keep things organized.  Otherwise, you run the risk of double buying foods that you already have, or not using up what you have before it goes bad because you didn't know it was even in there.  Pantries typically have deep shelves but no lighting, so if you aren't careful you could end up with all sorts of stuff shoved in the back!  Baskets or bins are great because you can easily pull them out to reach things and won't waste all that extra space in the deep, dark back of the pantry!  We luckily have a wide and not terribly deep pantry.  But I still use bins to keep things together and organized so I can easily find what I am looking for. And they are especially helpful for reaching things on that top shelf :)

This is the overview of my pantry.  (There is a small recessed portion behind the wall to the right that you can't see.)  Now, this is far from my dream pantry, which would include beautiful baskets with labels hanging from ribbons and no cardboard or colorful logos in sight, but this works for us and is quite functional.  

I tried to sort things out per shelf so that like items are all together.  I also strategically placed breakfast items on the bottom and snack items one shelf up so kids can reach these things easily.  I have a space at the bottom where I keep multiples of things we use frequently.  I also have a large shelving unit in the basement for keeping extras (gotta stock up when sales and coupons collide!)  

Here's a look without all the words in the way:

Bins with labels-makes life so much easier!  Again, I would prefer beautiful baskets, but I had these dollar store bins already on hand so they are making the cut for now.

 I use a Lazy Susan to keep all my sprinkles on (right side of the photo).

I've been using this can organizer for a few years now.  We sort of have a love/hate relationship.  When all the cans are in it I love it.  It utilizes space well and keeps the cans organized.  But when I have to take a can out or refill the shelves I sort of hate it.  In a perfect world the shelves would be about an inch wider and an inch taller to be able to get things in and out of it more easily.  

My spice organizer.  I love this baby!! Everything tucked away in it's spot, and you just pull out a shelf when you need it.  LOVE!  I have seen these many different places, but I picked mine up at Bed Bath and Beyond for around $20.

Our snack shelf.  I absolutely adore these containers from The Container Store.  They come in multiple sizes to fit just about anything you need, and they are quite affordable (no I was not paid to say that, it is just my favorite place on the planet!)  And while I am not a fan of all the different colors, packages, etc showing, the clear containers are SO functional.  When I get ready to make my grocery list I just open the pantry doors and can immediately see what we are running low on.  (don't judge my large snack supply...4 kids eat a lot of snacks!)  

And the bottom right of the pantry holds all of our baggies and wraps.  

So, while I may not win 'The Most Beautiful Pantry' award, it certainly does function well (which is a necessity in this family!)  Do you have tips or products that help to keep your pantry organized?  I would love to hear (and see!!) if you do!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!


Linking up at:
http://www.lambertslately.com
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com
http://craftdictator.com/
http://www.allthingsheartandhome.com
http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/
http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com
http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com
http://houseofroseblog.com
http://saving4six.com
http://www.thesassyslowcooker.com
http://www.astrollthrulife.net
http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/
http://www.cleanandscentsible.com
http://www.craftberrybush.com/
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/
http://ivyandelephants.blogspot.com/
http://www.nancherrow.com
http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/