Organizing Binge

The best way to kick off the new year is to get rid of excess, right? I felt the urge to deep clean and purge our apartment. It's partly due to the clock ticking down to our move back home and partly the general frustration with every over-flowing closet in our 2 bedroom apartment. We're TWO people, how do we have so much stuff?

I wish I had remembered to take before pictures of the kitchen. Although it's the most organized room in the house, it was full of expired pantry items, piles of aluminum foil pans and cleaning supplies. Apparently, I hoard cleaning supplies.

I re-organized our spices, throwing out everything that's older than a year. I cleaned out the pantry, throwing out expired or unlikely to be used items. I moved the Keurig closer to the fridge because those extra steps in the morning were bugging me (it's the little things, right?). I purged some cleaning supplies and made use of the excess foil pans I've been hiding to help corral all the bits and pieces in the kitchen.

 

 

There are a lot of things I dislike about our current place, but the kitchen is not one of them. For such a small space, it's full of storage and more cabinets that I know what to do with. I would kill for a gas stove, but everything else is perfect.



Since the kitchen was done, I moved onto the biggest disaster. The bedroom. As much as I hoard cleaning supplies, I have a serious clothes problem. As in, I keep all the clothes that don't fit or I don't like even though I never wear them. I had piles under the bed, in the closet, all over the place.

I'm somewhat embarrassed that I moved 5 trash bags full of clothes and random knick knacks out of the bedroom when all was said and done.  But the room looks so much better! Of course I failed to take a picture, maybe next time.

I'm hoping to tackle one closet or room each weekend so the whole place is cleaned up in no time. Once the place is clean and organized, I can focus on things like my new sewing machine I'm itching to play with.

How'd you spend the first week of 2014?

Spring Cleaning/Chaos

Things have been a little chaotic over here lately. We've been dreaming of a new TV for years, and finally decided to take the plunge.

That sparked a whirlwind of change. Jeff actually came up with the majority of the decor ideas. Crazy, right? Even crazier -- he encouraged me to buy organizational things! I don't know what's gotten into him, but I love it!

By the time we're done, our office and living room will look completely different. Our living room is 90% done, and it already does. And I'm finding all sorts of new reasons not to leave the couch...

The big re-arrange sparked some major cleaning too. We've got a gi-normous pile of clothes waiting for thrift store donation. We took piles and piles of things down to the trash. Bulk garbage like our old computers, unnecessary CRAP like old papers and magazines. I also went through our storage cage and trashed a lot of things we didn't need to make room for the new TV's box, and some things that didn't really need to be in our apartment but we wanted to keep. I'm tired just thinking about all we've done since we decided impulsively to start this process.

I'm waiting to share until it's all done, which could take a few weeks since we ordered some things online and have to wait for them to make the trip across the ocean.

But I was too excited about the whole change not to share a sneak preview.

New TV, new surround sound, new woven baskets. Drastically altered entertainment center. And a really close crop because there's so much new going on to the left and to the right.

And that's it! No more until it's finished. We're down to the simpler tasks, like running clothes to the thrift store and a TV to its donation spot. Once our packages arrive, we've got some organizing to finish in the office and one more big purchase to buy and assemble.

We're having people over for St. Patrick's day, so I'm hoping we can have mostly everything done by then. In the meantime, I promised some of Jeff's co-workers some cookies and I've got some black bananas just asking to become bread. I think a baking session is the perfect way to spend this Sunday afternoon.

I've Caught Some Bugs

I caught some kind of bug that's had me coughing, hacking, sneezing, and SO congested since the day before Christmas. Happy holidays. Hopefully this long weekend will be enough to kick the cold.

To distract myself from trying to cough up one of my lungs, I started browsing on Amazon. I've been looking for DVD storage solutions forever. Our DVD stands we have now are beyond overflowing and starting to sag. They're showing their age and quality, being 5 years old and cheap.

You can catch a glimpse of the less crowded of the two behind my napping husband here on Thanksgiving weekend.

I haven't found much that would accomodate our needs. Apparently it's not average to have 1000+ movies???

Atlantic 12 Tier Media Rack - Holds 450 DVDs

This little guy has been on my "maybe" list for months. He'd have to be a triplet just to accommodate what we have now, much less what we'll have before we leave Japan. Which is costly for something that may or may not work...and that I can't see in person.

I've also been drooling over these pretty woven boxes to replace my four shabby card board boxes in our entertainment center. Which hold -- surprise -- more movies.

Woven Banana Leaf Collapsible Storage Bin

Glancing at my "maybe" list again led me to browsing all the storage and organizational goodies I'd love to purchase at some point in the future. I'd love some small ottomans and some hooks in our little entry nook so our coats and crap don't get piled on the kitchen table. I'd love some baskets and bins to tame the clutter in all the closets we have. Some under the bed storage since we actually need summer and winter wardrobes now (in Lemoore I never had to switch my wardrobe!). All the little kitchen spinners and racks to contain spices, soups, dishes, pot lids, etc. etc. etc. Lots of stuff for the office so our files are maintained, the closet is used for more than piling crap we don't want to look at, and the bookshelves don't explode. More storage bins for the living room and bedroom to again tame the clutter. A new desk for the office since our current one is hanging on by one screw, maybe two. Maybe some cheap side tables and coffee table to replicate our badly dinged and dented cheap Ikea versions. I only have one side table and Jeff always claims it! We're pricing new TV's for the future and possible new entertainment stands.

The list goes on and on and on...I caught the organizing bug again.

But it's harder when we're here. Normally I'd hit the stores like Target and Marshall's to see what I could find for cheap. Then look through Amazon. I can do that, but not much furniture makes it all the way here. And it's hard to see quality online looking at a picture. We've been to an Ikea-esque furniture store out here in Japan, recommended by a friend. I loved looking through everything and pointing out what I liked, but we only came home with those hanging basket things for the closets. I need more stuff! If only the new year wasn't a huge holiday that basically closes business in Japan for a week...

Oh, and I looked for Ikea in Japan. Nowhere near us. Damn.



The first step is to clean the mess I already made. Before buying more stuff. Having a party while you're under the weather means the mess stays exactly the same for seven days. Give or take. I may try to tackle the mess tomorrow, or I may curl up on the couch with some hot chocolate from my new Keurig. And then make sad, sick faces at Jeff until he goes to pick up dinner. Yeah, that sounds better anyways.

Spring has Sprung

It was in the 60's all week, so it finally started to feel like spring around here. Of course today it was in the 40's and rainy, but you know what they say about April showers.

I spent a lovely week enjoying the breeze from the open windows and cooking all sorts of things in the kitchen.

First, I "perfected my pizza recipe", according to my husband. I made a homemade pizza with Pioneer Woman's pizza dough recipe, and we inhaled it. There were no leftovers, and last time I made pizza we had half a pizza left! Since we're both desperately missing our Chicago style pizza, this homemade pizza is pretty satisfying. It's also a lot kinder on our waistlines since I do simple changes like turkey pepperoni and low-fat cheese. I'm making another one in a day or two (the dough is "aging" in the fridge as I type), so I'll try to get some pictures before we inhale it again.





I also tried Annie's Eats chicken gyros on her whole wheat pita bread. Gyros are another favorite from Chicagoland that we've never been able to find anywhere else that tastes 'right'. And since we don't regularly have lamb on hand, it's tough to duplicate at home. I've tried a pork recipe before that came close, but the smell was all wrong. This chicken recipe was delicious though. The pitas were delicious, but I'm a sucker for bread. Jeff and I both liked the chicken flavor, and loved the sauce. I've been eating the leftovers for days. I added more garlic than she called for (you shouldn't find that surprising, I come from a family addicted to garlic), so the garlic flavor just got stronger each day it sat in the fridge. Mmm. It's demolished, but I'm tempted to make some more just for snacking since I have some greek yogurt in the fridge...

Anyways.

The warmer weather and promise of spring has given me the urge to de-clutter and organize the apartment. It's crazy-we've only been here maybe three months and it already feels like we have stuff everywhere! It has a lot to do with our quick and dirty unpacking plan. We got everything out of boxes, but never really organized and put things in spots that made sense. So now it only takes one lazy afternoon to trash the place.



So tonight I started to deep clean and really organize the place. I started in the kitchen since it gets the most traffic and needs the most organization. The pantry was overflowing with recycle piles, since garbage service was limited after the earthquake. I finally combed through the piles and straightened things up in there. I also cut down the boxes so we could actually get things into the recycle bins without moving everything around. The tops of the boxes used to come flush with the bottom shelf, which just didn't work). Now all we have to do is slide the trashcan left or right, not out of the pantry completely.



Then I re-organized the food items to make the most sense for what we grab first and what needs to be out of sight (i.e. potato chips, etc.). I hung the broom, mop, and dustpan up off the floor, since they had a tendency to fall on me when I was reaching for some item in the pantry. Not to mention things just look neater when they're hanging instead of propped in a corner.



Although it's just a small start, it feels good to get things organized. Since I had it in my hand, I went ahead and mopped the floor (it's amazing how quickly the floor can get covered in food and dust when I'm cooking every night), so I'm using this post as a time waster until it's dry and I can get my hands on all the cabinets. Although the rest of the kitchen has stayed relatively organized, some things can use moving around. The little inconveniences, like having my blender on one side of the kitchen when I always use it on the other side. Sure it's a small kitchen, but why not put it in the cabinet right under the counter space I always use it in?



With that theory in my head, I'm hoping to work my way through the whole apartment this week. I figured I'd start at one end and finish in the office, which has no organization at all right now. I'll attempt to put things where we use them and tame the chaos that happens every week. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll be showing you our organized and finished office!




P.S. Yep, we had another earthquake the other day, followed by a 14 hour power outage. No damage on base, just the inconvenience of a power outage. The most common question I had was about my wall collage! Rest at ease, it stayed put. It still looks just like it did when I photographed it a few days ago.