Manual | 3 Boys And A Dog

Laura, “An Organized Junkie,” inspired me to take a look around my kitchen. How in the world did my cabinets get this bad?? My mother always jokes that my floor might not be clean but everything is meticulously clean inside the closed doors . Typically, she would be right, but I have been so absorbed in homeschooling that my house has gotten awful.

So, today I took before pictures of my upper cabinets and I am challenging myself to get each cabinet cleaned out and reorganized before I leave my boys to fend for themselves.

I am going on a week long semi-vacation before the sun rises Friday morning.

Here we go… pictures of my shame

You know, they put doors on these things for a reason. So that people can make them as messy as they want without anyone ever knowing . Unfortunately, I am having a hard time functioning with my cabinets like this.

Picture #1

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This shelf is beside my fridge, on the right hand side of my stove. It is supposed to be glasses on the bottom shelf. Mugs and daily medicines (like my son’s adderol, my vitamins, even Tylenol and benadryl as those are used regularly) on the middle shelf. Other medications, band aids, alcohol, etc should be on the top shelf… not on EVERY Shelf.

I am sure we have several prescription meds that are past their “good by date.” Shelf life on these are typically one year. I am pretty sure I have several up there way past that. I know, it isn’t a good idea to have all these meds in my house when I have 3 kids. I am frugal! I hate to throw away something when I could be using it the next time I am sick .

Am I the only one that does this? I am sure I can not be the only one who keeps meds past their prime Not to fret, mine are going to be cleaned out before I leave on Friday!

Picture #2

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Cabinet #2 – this is on the left-side of my stove. See the nice empty spots? All those spots mean is that I need to put stuff away .

Top left: my dish rags belong here instead of in a stack in the laundry room.

Top Right: the spices that I buy from Sam’s (they are too tall for the other shelves).

Middle left: this is where my toaster belongs, but I was using it while taking the pictures so it didn’t get in the picture.

Middle Right: Hot pads/trivets and my husband’s hot sauces.

Bottom left and right: these are the bulk of my spices… I hate it! I have moved them from cabinet to cabinet and still have not found the way that works for me. I have tried baskets, etc. I am thinking maybe I need a lazy Susan. I hate having to dig each time I need something, but I can’t find a better way for me.

Maybe someone can offer up some advice on it.

Until then, I will just reorganize them again.

Picture #3

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This cabinet is actually a long way from the others. I am not sure how my order got all messed up but, I am too lazy to go in and organize my pictures before writing. LOL! SO, this is on the left side of my sink.

Top right & left: my cookbooks.

Middle left: more cookbooks.

Middle Right: supposed to be phone books but seems to have a bunch of junk piled up there.

Bottom Left: My trusty recipe box and behind it are my Season’s Best cookbooks.

Bottom Right: I have taken to keeping some office supplies here since homeschooling. I am not crazy about them being here, but until I figure a better location I have my hole puncher, pencil sharpener, stapler, and flash cards stashed here. We do our homeschooling mostly at the kitchen table so this works for now, but I really want “office” out of my kitchen. Eventually, I will get it GONE, but for now here it is.

Picture #4

This is on the right side of my sink and is in the corner with my spice cabinet. I do not like this cabinet because of the hidden space on the right side, but I have gotten a bit better with it. I basically have those “once in a while” things tucked into that hard to reach space.

Top left: saucers and special plates (my solid white ones and poinsettia ones)

Top right: uuhhh, who knows? Guess we will find out when I get it cleaned

Middle left: the baby’s cookies and fruits. It was the place where baby food jars were kept and some how it has remained his shelf.

Middle Right: Serving dishes ,mostly, as well as my cup measure.

Bottom Left: Daily use plates and bowls.

Bottom Right: Snacks and my bread basket.

Picture #5

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This is the little cabinet space above my stove. I don’t reach it very well… but I can reach it . On the left I have Pam and Olive Oil (I have no idea what all the other bottles amount to )

On the right is my money miser and my appetizer plates. Again, unsure of all the other junk. Stuff gets stashed in this cabinet for no apparent reason.

I am sure there is a better way to handle all my cabinet junk and really just need to get busy cleaning out instead of blogging about the mess . Maybe someone will join me in cleaning out their kitchens. Please feel free to put a link to your “kitchen cabinet clean out” in my comments section. My request is that your link goes dir3ectly to the article on your cabinet clean out, not to your blog homepage.

Also, please be sure to check back to see my cabinet progress!! I only have Tues, Wed, and Thurs left to get this done!!