Zone 1 - The Kitchen

Well, organizing has been a'happening here.  And it feels good. I have little bit of control in my spaces. At least until the Beans wake up. :)

The first Zone I decided to tackle was the Kitchen. There were a couple reasons I picked the kitchen first...
1. It was driving me crazy
2. I needed to re-organize everything so the Beans could be more helpful
3. My pantry was too over-loaded because I've never stayed in one place so long

When we first moved in this house...Bitty Bean was only 6 months old. Jumping Bean was just past 2 and into everything.  So, everything breakable was placed as high as possible.

Just 4 months later - Boy Bean was in the pod. So those dishes stayed high to keep me from bending over all the time.

But no longer.

Now our plates and bowls are in a bottom cupboard - String Bean can easily unload the dishwasher, and Jumping Bean can easily set the table.

We DO have a couple more kid-friendly plates....but my dishwasher is running. :)

Tupperware are in a bottom drawer - everyone can reach it there

Kid cups are in a bottom cupboard....the girls can reach everything themselves :)

I need to hit up the store....we typically have 5 juice jugs stored down here 

Measuring cups. spoons, and all that jazz....obnoxiously organized together. This drawer just makes me happy. :)

My pantry wasn't horrid...but I didn't know what I had...and that was causing me to poorly meal plan and throw away food. Not cool.

Now, everything has a place. And I actually know where it is!!! I am extremely thankful for this kitchen - it is by far the biggest kitchen I've ever had as a wife. (The pantry cupboard is actually bigger than ALL of my storage space in our last house)

Normally, there would be 5 cereal boxes in that breakfast shelf zone. 

In fact, there are so many cupboards....we made one our "office zone." The bucket on the 2nd shelf has all of my correspondence stuff in it (stamps, address book, notecards, envelopes) and the rest of the area is important stuff like sharpies and masking tape. :)

 Over all, I spent $15 on all the Green and blue organizing bins (I love Dollar Tree!) as well as $30 on new airtight containers for various foods. A kitchen I can easily cook in, and know what I have? Priceless.

Do I feel more in control? Not really.

But at least I'm no longer hunting late at night for treat that isn't there!

~Whitney
 Copyright 2013