Well, it’s the end of October and I’ve posted 25 out of an intended 31 times.

The emergency gall bladder removal threw me off and then while at home recovering I missed another day.

I’m going to be honest.

When I looked at the stats, deep inside I want to make up the days and post the answers to the other 6 questions.

However, I really miss posting in my spontaneous, loosey-goosey way.

I took some pics of the Most Gigantic Laptop Bag ever, told the girl she was going on my blog (!) and then I remembered, “oh right, I’m doing 31 days”.

So I can look at this in one of two ways:

I failed at posting 31 days OR I was 80% successful at my goal.

I’m choosing the latter option.

I’m intentionally going to be okay with the imperfection and let myself off the hook.

Hope that’s okay with you because it’s okay with me.

So here is our last question for the month…

Laura-Kim says
I battle with my grocery cupboard and repack it once a month cos it never feels right :-/ I would love to see how you organise yours!

Your wish is my command!

BIG disclaimer

I would normally do a quick tidy but I was lazy and so these are (very clearly) the “before” pic. I do usually tidy quickly on the weekends. I mentioned before that there are too many people working inside my cupboards for them to stay tidy.

Moving on.

I have four shelves.

Right on the top, from left, Dion’s snacks and then cereals. It always seems excessive to me but some of us like lots of variety.

Next shelf – biscuits, baby snacks and teas/ coffees

This is the main food shelf – cans on left, then legumes, rices, noodles and pasta, packets of soup, sauce, etc, and then spreads.

Did you notice I’m the only one who seems to fill the rice containers??? Those rice labels are circles punched with a circle punch, handwritten (no fancy fonts!) and stuck on with Prestik.

I’m all about the easy organising. Although seeing these pics does make me want to attack this cupboard.

The last shelf has my snacks on the left, some sweets and things at the back and a bottle of Coke (we keep only for visitors as we don’t drink soda) and then baking things.

Close-up of the 3rd shelf.

Things that work for me in this space

1. Everything has a place.
2. When I pack away the weekly grocery shop, I do a quick tidy. It takes 5 minutes because it’s a weekly task.
3. Labels

Please click through and share your favourite grocery cupboard/ pantry organising tips.

PS I nominated myself for the SA blog awards and I would appreciate a vote if you’re so inclined.

Thank you.

I’ve got to take a moment here to give a shout-out to Kierste (don’t you love her name?)

Her blog is one of the most organised blogs out there and has such a fresh, uncluttered feel.

I sigh with pleasure when I go visit.

And this is the makeover version – the previous one was just as organised and gorgeous.

I saw this post on Kierste’s blog a few weeks ago and I so, so love it.

Why?

• Everything is labelled.
• The labels are big and clear so no squinting to read.
• Those storage boxes happen to be some of my favourites (I store my baking pans in one of them) and I love how uniform everything looks. (you don’t need cute to be organised but it does help keep it that way)

Have a look at another pic

Click to see even more pictures of all the labelling goodness.

As an aside which is not really an aside, Kierste has TWO sets of twins plus a singleton, AND she has a pre-school at home!

Being organised has freed her up to do all that and add in some crafty goodness too.

Kierste, here’s a button for your blog!

Copy and paste code

<a href=”http://takechargesolutions.org/blog/” target=”_blank”><img border=”0″ src=”http://takechargesolutions.org/blogjjd/Organising%20Queen%20Button4.png” /></a>

What do you most love about Kierste’s space?

This week’s inspiring space is this absolutely gorgeous kitchen I found over at Flea Market Trixie.

There are SOOOOO many things I love about this space.

1. The colour scheme makes it feel so soothing and tranquil. The white with the blue/ green accents just does it for me.
2. I love that window nook. I would curl up there with a cup of tea and read every single day And yes, a window nook is on my dream house list.
3. The open cabinets mean that she’s got to keep her shelves neat and tidy, and uncluttered. Love that!
4. That turqouise kettle….mmmm

What is your favourite thing about this space? And doesn’t it inspire you to go get rid of all the dishes you’re not using?

Here’s a button to display on your sidebar, Trixie, for an absolutely beautiful kitchen.

If you want to send me your inspiring space, send me a link or pic to marcia AT organisingqueen.com

I have to stay in the kitchen while I cook because “out of sight, out of mind” means I burn food if I leave…

Confession - when I was pregnant I got so forgetful at one point that the food burnt a lovely black circle on my kitchen ceiling. I had to get painters in to repaint because that black circle would not come off any other way.

Anyway, moving along…

Since I hate wasting food, money and time, I try and stay in the kitchen and just make the most of my time there.

Some of the things I do include:

1. packing my lunch for the following day
2. putting the children’s food ready for the nanny
3. leaving notes for the nanny or for the once-a-week cleaning lady
4. organising a cupboard or drawer



5. going through the recipes I keep tearing out of magazines to see if they still appeal to me
6. packing my cereals into little containers
7. tidying the fridge
8. throwing out old food
9. updating the grocery list
10. creating our menu for the following week
11. taking inventory of the freezer meals
12. throwing a load of laundry on (my laundry is next to the kitchen)
13. folding a load of dry laundry
14. answering some emails from the laptop
15. preparing my mug for my after-supper mug of tea

How do you make the most of your kitchen time?

P.S. Don’t forget the giveaway

We eat quite a bit of rice at home – in stir-fries, with curries, with chicken a la King, etc.

And lately I haven’t been enjoying the rice one bit.

Not because it’s rice but because somehow (can I blame this one on the twin pregnancy??) I’d forgotten how to cook rice properly.

And now I have to confess…

Hi, I’m Marcia and I can’t follow a recipe.

I promise I set out with really good intentions but before I’m three steps in, I somehow think I can do it better and before you know it, I’ve done a “version” of whatever the recipe is.

I will say that when I bake, I do follow the recipe exactly as I once heard Nigella say, “baking is like chemistry and you have to do things exactly so”. Or words to that effect

Anyway, back to the rice.

So last week, I literally had to steel myself to follow the directions on the pack to cook the rice I’d bought.

Do you know what happened?

The rice turned out PERFECTLY!

And I thoroughly enjoyed my chicken curry.

As I was cooking I thought about how this is so much like life.

We think we know everything and yet our lives run so much more smoothly when we get back to basics. Even though it’s a bit boring.

• making a menu plan
• planning our weeks and days
• making to-do lists
• going to gym (!)
• taking vitamins and eating healthy
• setting out our clothes the night before
• etc, etc.

How good are you at getting back to basics? Or at following a recipe?

Let’s talk super powers.

We all have them, some of us just haven’t recognized them…yet.

It’s the thing you do easily that other people battle with.

So… let’s talk about superpowers in the kitchen.

Some people can cook anything that tastes DELICIOUS.

Some people bake absolutely heavenly cakes, scones, biscuits (cookies), etc.

My superpower is that I can take the oddest assortment of food and make a meal out of it.

Once I figured that out, it’s actually become fun for me. I also feel that my creativity is stimulated when I’m “forced” to use a little bit of this and a little bit of that to “throw something together”.

And we’ve had some interesting combinations, some of which have become meals that are firm favourites.

What’s your superpower?

Somebody asked a question – (sorry preggy brain) I can’t remember her name and I deleted the email too quickly

She is a short person and can’t access the top shelf in her pantry so she often has to throw expired items away.

Any ideas to get organised here?

Of course I do!

1. My suggestion is store surplus items here that you don’t need to access very often.

2. Then use see-through plastic baskets so that you can grab the front, pull towards you and see everything on the shelf.

3. I suggest that you keep like items together - for example, I have a big plastic basket with all my baking supplies, like cake and self-raising flour, coconut, yeast, bicarb of soda, baking powder, etc.

4. You could also keep a list of contents on the inside of your cupboard door with the contents of that top shelf, like 5 boxes cereal, 20 boxes milk, etc. and be sure to cross off as you use them.

5. I’m also short and I keep a cheap plastic stool nearby my pantry so when I want to get to the top shelf once or twice a month, I can quickly access it.

Hope these tips help you.

What other tips can you share with this reader?

I was cooking some rice, not really thinking about how I do this when it dawned on me – someone might actually benefit from this tip.

So here goes – when you’re measuring rice, or any ingredient really, measure it over the pot or dish so that if some of the food spills (as mostly happens, or is that just me?), you don’t have to waste time cleaning up.

Share your quick kitchen tips in the comments.