31 Days of Pinterest - Day 9 - Freezer Cooking

Freezer cooking. My sister-in-law Jenny has been touting the advantages of it for years but it took me having a child and getting really, really busy with life in general to realize just how awesome of a concept it was. Make one giant mess in the kitchen one day in exchange for 30+ days of not cooking dinner. Sign me up!!

There had been way too many evenings where I had gotten busy with another project and did not plan ahead so dinnertime rolled around and I threw something horrible together or ordered a pizza. So expensive and so dumb considering I have two freezers full of food!

So a few weeks ago, I clicked on a few of the Pinterest pins I'd been saving:

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And I gathered a ton of tips and recipes from various sites, including:

Ring Around the Rosies
Kojo-Designs
Six Sisters' Stuff
Mama & Baby Love

I could re-invent the wheel and blog all about it, but these sites really seem to be the "expert" on the topic.

In the end, I made about 15 recipes in one day to yield 30+ meals. My younger sister-in-law came over just as I was finishing up a giant day of cooking. There were pots and pans of water all over the floor (Levi was keeping himself entertained...) and there was food EVERYWHERE. I think she thought I was nuts.

But alas, this week I am reaping the rewards of that one giant day of cooking. I haven't felt super motivated to do housework and cooking this week and it has been FABULOUS to simply walk out to the freezer, grab a gallon sized baggie of cut up chix and veggies and plop it in the fridge for a day of thawing and then into the crockpot the next day for cooking. Yum. Home cooked dinner with no work. Can't believe I never did this before. It really cuts down on dining out expenditures. Dave Ramsey would be proud!

So what tips do you guys have on saving money on meals? Do you coupon? Do you freezer cook?

For the rest of this 31 Day Pinterest Project series, just click here.

31 Days of Pinterest Projects - Day 3 - Let's Spice it Up!

We're headed back in the kitchen for another small tweak today. One thing that I'm learning after moving last November is that although you may find THE PERFECT organizational solution for something in one home, it may just not translate well to your next home. And it may actually take lots of time and trial and error to find another fabulous solution.

For example, our spices. I had the perfect situation worked out in Indiana in our old home - I bought this three tiered organizer {which I had seen on Pinterest} at Target.

But once we moved into this home, that organizer was too tall since the cabinet I wanted to use had two shelves inside instead of just one. So, I scratched my head for a few days and decided on moving the spices to a drawer since our new kitchen happens to have a huge number of drawers in it. This solution worked for a while. But then our son grew. And he could reach in and grab the spice jars at will and spill things all over the kitchen floor. Not so fun! Plus, my makeshift dividers (cardboard boxes cut up and not even attached to the sides of the drawer) weren't really working either.

So, I decided to try the spices on the tiered organizer from our former home, in another upper cabinet with more vertical clearance. That turned out to be inconvenient since it was too far from the stove and I felt that cabinet would be much better used for canned goods, on the tiered organizer (woohoo for finding a use for it since it no longer worked for spices).

Also, as you can imagine, all this shifting and moving stuff around caused a great deal of frustration as I would scurry around and around trying to quickly prepare dinner for our family but not being able to remember where I was currently keeping the spices!!

So finally after about 10 months of living here, we were out at Bed Bath & Beyond just looking around and I happened to find this organizational dream product for just $24.99. (It's also available at Sur La Table for $24.95, just click here to purchase one.)

I stopped in my tracks and told Dave we simply had to have it. It was the perfect size to fit on the shelf in the cabinet to the right of the stove, where I'd originally planned to keep the spices. And by some small miracle, it holds exactly 18 spice jars - precisely the number that I own.

It came with its own little labels that I popped on in alphabetical order (it's a sickness, I tell ya!).

Just for kicks, this is what that messy cabinet looked like before.

And just 10 minutes later, here it is:

Spices in the rack on the lower right, salts and peppers to the left of that, sugars and baking soda above that, and chocolate nuts and other baking supplies above that with popcorn behind it. I added some cute brown paper Martha Stewart labels I'd gotten at Staples. Isn't it amazing what 10 minutes and $25 can do to your efficiency in the kitchen? I have no trouble finding anything now! Baking is a breeze. I have been elated with this solution ever since and I've had no trouble keeping it looking just like this.

It just goes to show that if something isn't working out well, you don't have to settle for chaos and inefficiency; you just have to be persistent until you find the right solution.

31 Days of Pinterest Projects - Day 2 - Kitchen Towel Ring

Day 2 is an idea that I think I pinned to my "Organizing" pin board - it holds the most pins of all my boards, by far. I just can't get enough of gathering ideas for organizing. In fact, if you're a local, I'm always up for the opportunity to come spend a couple hours with you and organize a space. I love taking a cluttered messy place that you don't even want to look at and transforming it into a useful space that you're thankful to have. It's my passion in life!

So, anyways. I pinned this photo from House*Tweaking {a blog that I absolutely LOVE reading}.  In her former home, Dana installed a simple towel ring that's normally used in a bathroom next to the kitchen sink, on the side of the upper cabinets. I thought that was a genius idea!

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. . .only problem was the side of our upper cabinets were home to some decorative shelves. Since we didn't use them, I decided it would be fine to remove them. They were screwed into the side of the cabinet, so all I did was reach inside and unscrew them with a screwdriver. {It left some small holes in the side of the cabinet, but I hope to get around to repainting all the cabinets sometime soon so I will fill the holes then.}

And up went the new towel ring! {Please ignore the fact that my photos were taken at night and there's a giant mess on the counters...oops.}

 

Anyways, so far we absolutely love this solution. There was a towel bar inside the kitchen sink cabinet door when we moved in, but since we chose to put our trash can in there (out of reach of our toddler), the towel was actually touching the trash can and that was just gross. This is also a fabulous solution since it keeps our toddler from stealing the kitchen towel and dragging it around the house.

Anyone else have any great items like a bathroom towel ring that you've used in an unexpected way or in an unexpected location?

The Story of the New Coffee Maker

Saturday our coffee maker quit working.  I was rather distraught since I was having one of those days. You know, the type where you wake up late to a child screaming like a pterodactyl for his bottle and a blaring alarm clock that has been snoozed repeatedly for the last hour and a half. I bolted out of bed, threw on some exercise pants and a t-shirt, no time to shower, tried to brush my ratty hair and stumbled to Levi's room and got him and then set straight to work preparing breakfasts, doing laundry, dealing with invoices for the garage, answering phone calls, etc, etc. So when I finally got our little man down for a nap in the afternoon, I thought there could be nothing better than a hot cup of energizing coffee. And maybe a shower. But first, coffee. 

So I filled the pot with water and coffee grounds and hit the button and nothing happened. So I hit it again. {This has happened twice before and it always redeemed itself.} But nothing...again. Grrrrr....

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So I called my honey, who was out running errands, and asked him to please stop in at the local Wal-Mart and pick me up a new one. He refused {since he has something against Wal-Mart} and I was bummed. 

So we borrowed a backup pot that my brother-in-law keeps in the barn for my afternoon coffee. Hallelujah. And then that night we used this as an excuse to go out to eat and shop for a new coffee maker. {Any excuse will do for eating out around these parts.} We were pleasantly surprised to find a Bed Bath & Beyond nearby the restaurant we went to. I went in and quickly located a $29.99 Mr. Coffee model that I thought would do the trick. And it was short enough to fit under our wall cabinets {there is only 13.5" of clearance over our counters rather than the standard 18"}. 

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I was thrilled to be buying a coffee maker that would hold a large amount of coffee, keep it warm, and even perform a delayed brew first thing in the morning! We had never had those luxuries with our 2 - cup to go model. It had been fabulous, don't get me wrong, and we didn't even buy it. My friend, Camille, gave it to us once cuz she didn't want it. When we first got it, it definitely served us perfectly well cuz we really only brewed coffee once in a blue moon if we had java-loving house guests or we wanted to make a frozen java for dessert. But over the past few years, since having our little one, and getting older ourselves, we've become more and more dependent on the caffeine. And we've found it increasingly annoying that our coffee maker could really only brew enough for 2 people {not fun when entertaining} and didn't keep it warm long. In fact, we even discussed how we felt we were somehow entering adulthood officially by getting a new coffee maker that would have all those bells and whistles. 

So, before we headed to the checkout with the Mr. Coffee machine, Dave said he wanted to look over all the options. I was exasperated, to say the least. See, if you know my husband, you know that if he goes shopping, he will come home with the most expensive option. You'll love whatever it is, no doubt, but you'll pay for it :) So, being the tightwad of this marriage, and knowing where this could go, I tried my best to restrain him, to distract him. . .to no avail.

It wasn't 5 seconds later that he spotted this puppy.

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The DeLonghi Combination Drip Coffee, Espresso, Cappuccino and Latte Machine.

For $149.99!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I about had a heart attack. {And I know, I know, it could have been worse. There are plenty of $1,000+ espresso machines out there. . .but this is reality and $149.99 is a big deal to me right now.}

I tried my best to talk him out of it. We argued and deliberated. He said he only really likes espresso drinks and not regular brewed coffee. And I agreed that I did prefer them as well. Then he further justified the purchase by explaining that it would seriously cut down on his frequent trips to The Depot Coffee House and Starbucks for $4 white mochas. That did make it seem a bit less pricey in the long-run.

So he called my sister, former Crate & Barrel associate, and in-family expert on all things kitchen. She ok'd it and even mentioned that Crate & Barrel sells the same thing for $129. Then Dave used Dave Ramsey bargaining tactics and sweet-talked the BB&B folks into price-matching and we walked out the door with our DeLonghi for about 15% off :)

And after spending a few days getting the right type of coffee and reading the manual {er, Dave reading the manual. . .} and all that, we have successfully made a couple at-home mocha lattes and I am THRILLED with this purchase. It was well worth the money for our household and I think it will save us hundreds of dollars this year. Easily. Even if we did have to spend so much to begin with.

Anyone else OBSESSED with coffee lately? Do you have a favorite espresso machine or coffee maker? What other types of kitchen gadgets are you so thankful to have?

Jars & Canisters

So one week ago today I was dealing with the big question of whether or not to buy canisters. 

The day before I totally had my eye set on some cute canisters at Target. But they didn't have enough on the store shelf, so I resisted purchasing any there. Then I came home and even so much as loaded these puppies into my Amazon shopping cart. . . 

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along with a few chalkboard labels. . .

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I wanted so badly to duplicate the look of these fun canisters on Dina's baking cart.

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But I just couldn't see shelling out that money right now. It was going to be at least $60 to buy what I wanted. So I cancelled the order and went back to the daily grind of changing diapers and sweeping floors.

Then, later that day, I was working in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and clearing the countertops and I had an idea...why not use canning jars as canisters??? 

We already use them as our primary drinking glasses around these parts. We find them charming and whimsical. 

So I gathered up a few larger ones that were laying around the house and began filling them with goodies - tea bags, Cheerios, brown sugar, sugar and coffee. I figured, why not give it a try? I'm out absolutely nothing and if it doesn't work well, I can scrap the idea and buy my dream $60 worth of canisters and labels. . .

But, so far, I am LOVING our jars-turned-canisters. I'm finding it extremely handy to have these frequently used items out on the countertop, the display looks cute and the best part of the whole thing - it was FREE. :) Makes a nerd like me happy, at least.

I contemplated labeling them somehow, and I may still, but in all reality, it's pretty self-explanatory and I'm just not sure I like the idea of affixing a label to the jars and covering up the Ball, Kerr, Mason labels that are stamped in the glass.

Of course, the day after I did it, I found this image on Pinterest from an etsy shop.

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So I guess I'm not the first one to think of something like this. :)

What do you use canning jars for? Anything besides real life canning? I've been using them a lot lately to organize. In fact, I'll probably be posting again sometime soon with more glass jar storage ideas. 

Canisters - To Buy or Not To Buy

Good morning everyone! It feels good to be coming back to you on an early Monday morning once again. I apologize for the sporadic posts lately, but with the move, the holidays and the new business, things have been chaotic for me, to say the least. I'm hoping to get back into a groove of posting about 3 times a week again, starting this week. So, thanks for bearing with me during this transitional time, I sure do appreciate it! :)

And now, onto the point of this little post. . .


As much as I love the look of a completely cleared off kitchen counter top. . .and strive for it on a daily basis .  .

. . .lately I've been considering investing in a canister set. We had one long ago and then got rid of it because we had zero counter space in our old kitchen (before the remodel) and didn't like having them out taking up precious work space.

So now that we have actual counter space here in our new house, I think it might be fun to keep our coffee, tea bags, sugar, flour, and maybe Levi's "O's" {Cheerios} at arm's reach. I recently saw this "breakfast station post" on Honey & Fitz, where I got the idea of keeping the cereal in a canister. And I just LOVE those plain glass canisters with glass lids.

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And I'd love to use Dina's idea of vinyl chalkboard labels. How fun!

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Or these cute labels by The House of Smiths.

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So what do you think? Do any of you have canisters on your counter tops? Do you like keeping things handy or do you feel like they clutter up your kitchen? Should I put these on my "Wish List"?

Spicing it Up in the New Kitchen

Back in our old house, I purchased an expandable 3-tier shelf from Target for our spice cabinet (shown below).

Only problem is, once we moved, our new spice cabinet wasn't that wide so we could no longer use the "expandable" feature. 

I thought about discarding the expandable left side since it couldn't stand on its own but then I asked my ingenious husband if there was anything he could do to help me.

In about 5 minutes he returned from the basement with this little chunk of wood.

We wedged it in under the right end of that wobbly left side and WA-LA! 2 non-wobbly tiered organizers from 1 expandable one. My honey is amazing.

So here's our new spice cabinet in all its glory. 

Problem is, I'm still trying to decide if I like it. There's not a lot of clearance over the tiered organizers to pull things out, so you have to move one of the spices in the front to access the ones in the back. . .so don't be surprised if I change everything all over again next week. . .still, I'm super proud of us for improvising and creating 2 organizers from one and not spending a dime! =)

Tweaking Our Tupperware / "Kid"-ware Storage

A while back I shared our tupperware drawer organization system. We had one basket for Levi's cups, one for his bowls/plates, one for round tupperware lids and one for square tupperware lids. The only problem was that this was the bottom drawer and Levi loved to get into it. . .

So this is what our home looked like most days. Ugh. 

Whenever I was working in the kitchen making dinner, he'd get nearly every single thing out of that drawer. . . and then Dave would come home from work and see this HUGE mess strewn all over the house. After a few months, I finally decided: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

So I decided to first take all the "kid"-ware out of the drawer and relocate it to the upper cabinets to see if he'd be less attracted to this drawer.

I shifted that white basket from the cabinet to the left of the microwave into the cabinet to the right of the microwave, as shown below.

That opened up space in this wall cabinet, shown below. So now Levi's plates/bowls are in the clear basket on the top shelf and his sippy cups are in the blue basket and bottles are in the white basket on the middle shelf. 

Eventually I decided to relocate the tupperwares and lids as well, as the problem seemed to continue. We put them in the upper portion of the pantry cupboard. {Sadly, I forgot to take a photo of that before I packed them up for the big move.} 

And just like that, no more messes! Woohoo! Moral of the story: sometimes no matter how hard you try, your first attempt at organization ends in failure and it's necessary to tweak solutions from time to time to fit the needs of your family.

Of course, a side note is that about 2 days after relocating the contents of that drawer, Levi learned that he could climb head first into the empty drawer, then stand in it and dance!!! Nice. . . good thing we had extremely sturdy drawer bottoms since we built them ourselves!

Anyone else have any issues with kids dragging everything out of their kitchen cabinets? Or dancing in the drawers? Any tips on stopping that? I guess that's more of a parenting related concern than a design/ organization concern, huh?

Karla's Kitchen "Kabinets"

A few weeks back when I announced that I was looking for some real-life opportunities offering design, organizational services, my dear friend, Karla, gladly invited me over to help clean up her kitchen cabinets. We only had a couple hours to spend together, but I think we accomplished quite a bit. And I was able to give her a few ideas for future projects to do on her own.

The first thing we did was tackle the pots and pan storage. 

What she was doing was not all that bad, but she happened to mention that her lazy susan cabinet right next to this cabinet was empty. She just was not sure what to keep in there.  And I had seen this genius idea on IHeart Organizing where Jen stored her pots and pans in the lazy susan. Karla thought that seemed smart as well, so we quickly moved hers over.

Consequently, that freed up the first cabinet for something else. So we decided the next thing we should focus on was the tupperware storage situation. 

Karla had been using the bottom shelf of this corner cabinet for her tupperware. 

It was hard to reach items in the back corner of the cabinet and lids or containers were often falling out onto the countertop as she rooted through the contents to get the one she needed. Very frustrating.  . .So we determined that it would work much better to place the tupperware in the base cabinet with the pull-out drawers (where the pots and pans had been).

We sorted through her collection of containers and threw away any that did not have lids or were damaged in any way. Then we placed all the "keep" lids inside a basket (re-purposed from another room in her home) on the left side of the cabinet. Then we stacked the "keep" containers neatly on the right side of the cabinet. 

With the pots and pans out of here, there was also empty space on the upper shelf in this cabinet. We decided to move her loaf pans and pie plates over from the island so they would be conveniently located closer to the stove. 

After she put her daughter to bed, we decided to spend a few more minutes on the cleaning closet. 

I categorized all the cleaning products (carpet cleaners, air fresheners, wipes, window cleaners, etc.) and placed them neatly on the shelves. And we used the two white small stacking baskets that I had brought along for paper plates, cups, napkins, etc. We also took paper towels out of their packaging and placed them on the shelves. Additionally, we purged a few items that she knew she could part with. I offered to take them to Goodwill for her since I go there practically every single week. She was thankful for that!

We also talked about how an over-the-door shoe rack could work fabulously for corralling all her cleaning supplies and then the shelves inside this closet could be re-purposed. Just like I saw on Pinterest, here.

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At that point, we decided to call it a night. I wish that I could have spent a lot more time hanging out and helping her, but I'm thankful for the time we had together. I left her with a few ideas for organizing her fabulous walk-in pantry. Many of those ideas I shared with you already, here.

Anyone else have some disorganized kitchen cabinets? Does it give you hope to see what we accomplished in just 2 short hours?

Most Versatile Piece of Furniture - The Armoire

You know, I'm beginning to think that armoires are one of the most versatile pieces of furniture in the entire world. They rank right up there with dressers and storage ottomans, but we'll save those for another time. ;)

After moving our office into a computer armoire that we scored for $100 from Craigslist back in August, I just CANNOT stop singing the praises of the armoire.

There's just something so appealing about forcing yourself to contain all the clutter of one aspect of your home inside a nice cute little piece of furniture that you can easily close the door on.

I could have one in every room of the home. You can use them to hide TVs or computers, or you can set up a little craft or sewing station like these gals did:

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Or you can use them for clothes in a bedroom that lacks a closet!

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Or create a stand-in coat closet in an entry way that lacks one...like I mentioned in last week's post.

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Or you can repurpose your armoire as a freestanding pantry for food or dishes in a kitchen that lacks cabinet space.

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And while you're at it, check out this fabulous armoire makeover by Lisa from Recaptured Charm. The before/after is amazing!

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The possibilities with armoires are endless...craft cabinet for the kids, book storage, DVD storage, CD storage, a place to keep files that's much cuter than a metal filing cabinet. You can line the inside with gorgeous wallpaper, fabric, paint it a bright color. You can do anything with this piece of furniture. And they are pretty easy to come by at garage sales, flea markets, Craigslist. Also, as Ange, from The Blooming Hydrangea, pointed out to me once, the fabulous thing is that you can take an armoire with you when you move! ...Can you tell I have moving on the brain? Just one more week. . .

What other pieces of furniture do you find extremely versatile in your home? Have any of you used an armoire for a surprising purpose that I did not mention here?