I love organising projects that take very little time to complete but make you feel oh-so-good as if they were a lot more complex than they actually were.

I’ve shared the fridge organising with you before; today I’m going to share another of my 10-minute projects, organising the pantry.

• throw out expired food like sauce packets, etc.
• move older food to the front and be sure to use them up in the next week
• use baskets and other containers to keep like categories of food together
• as easy as that, you are DONE!

When was the last time you organised your pantry?

I hate wasting food with a passion!

First of all it’s money and also, I can’t help thinking about all the hungry people right on my very doorstep.

So I have a few ways I use up food so that it doesn’t spoil.

1. Use veggies to make stirfry (as in picture above). In fact, in the above picture, I had some chicken, some spaghetti and veggies. By cooking this one meal, I managed to use all of those up which makes me very, very happy.
2. If there are still veggies left (this particular night, there was also a lot of broccoli), throw into the freezer for use in soups whenever you get around to it.
3. We store bread in the fridge anyway because it’s warm in Johannesburg and bread goes mouldy very quickly. Sometimes we still can’t get to eat the bread quickly enough so I toss the bread in the freezer. I really like saving time so I package them in packs of 2 slices so that I can simply grab a bag, pop the bread into the toaster and I’m good to go.

Those are the only foodstuffs that spoil in this house because when I cook, I cook enough for two meals and immediately freeze the other meal.

What other tips can you share? What works in your house?

Since I was about 6 – 7 weeks’ pregnant, I have had NO energy whatsoever.

Which is bad because I’m used to being really productive but it’s also good because I know that when I do have a sudden burst of energy, I need to focus and get whatever done.

I decided to sort out the fridge on one of those occasions and thought I’d time myself to see exactly how long it took, so you’d see it’s not that overwhelming.

Main section – after

– grotty carrots were thrown away
- everything was put back in its section
- I also moved some things to smaller containers
- I moved food that we have to eat so that it’s clearly visible

- threw away expired medicine
- moved all the spreads to the correct shelf
- moved bigger bottles of water to the door

By the way, the whole organising project took me just 8 minutes.

How often do you have to organise your fridge?

We’ve been decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS this entire month and this week, we’re decluttering our baking pans and cooking stuff.

If you missed out, here are the posts.

1. Tupperware and plastics
2. Mugs and glasses
3. Plates and bowls
4. Cutlery and utensils

(if you don’t want to post on the theme, go right ahead and post on whatever you felt like decluttering, or other wise, just show us how you store your baking and cooking things

I’ve posted before about how I learned this tip from one of my organising clients. I worked with her nearly two years ago and my stuff is still neatly organised.

And this is how I store the rest – rolling pin on the side, mixing bowls at the back (I have one I use 90% of the time with my other plastic bowls), measuring cups and spoons in the left basket and the hand beater in the yellow basket on the right.

The more observant among you will see that the usual beater attachments are currently in the wash because I made these pumpkin muffins

Now tell me, did you declutter anything today?

Have a look at the Organise your Home e-course and get your entire home organised in just 12 weeks.

Now for this week’s challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures and talk about what you decluttered. If you don’t have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything – physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism!

What did you declutter this week?

It’s our last day of decluttering and organising our kitchens.

The theme is baking pans and cooking stuff (pots, pans, etc.) but remember, as always, if you’re working on another section of your kitchen, go right ahead.

The main thing is you’re making progress.

(Next month, we’re going to declutter and organise our home offices – I can’t wait – of course, Anne, our office makeover blogger, will be way ahead of the rest of us )

This is the third week of decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS and this week, we’re decluttering cutlery and utensils.

(Remember if you don’t want to post on the theme, go right ahead and post on whatever you felt like decluttering, or otherwise, just show us how you store your cutlery

The last time I decluttered this drawer was about two years ago and it’s still working for me, so I thought I’d point out a few things.

See the elastic bands on the top right? Very useful for closing bags in the freezer (those freezer tags drive me nuts because they’re too fiddly).

Then, at the bottom, I keep my scissors and the box on the left has a calculator (for when I’m doubling recipes, etc.), a post-it pad, a permanent marker and masking tape.

This is my second drawer. The closed container on the left has extra serving spoons, etc. that I use when entertaining and on the right you’ll see all my everyday utensils, also neatly containerised.

On the right there are drinking straws and some markers for our calendar. In the front I have all my sandwich bags that I actually don’t use for sandwiches. I use them like this and this. And to the left of the sandwich bags are Ziplocs I want to re-use.

Did you declutter any cutlery or utensils this week?

Have a look at the Organise your Home e-course and get your entire home organised in just 12 weeks.
Remember you can win an Organise your home e-course right here!

Now for this week’s challenge

Please link to your Friday Declutter Challenge post on your own blog and post a link back here. If you don’t have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything – physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism!

What did you declutter this week?

Remember we’re decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS this month and this week, we’re decluttering plates and bowls.

One of our challengers last week donated her surplus mugs and glasses to charity – what an excellent idea!

(if you don’t want to post on the theme, go right ahead and post on whatever you felt like decluttering, or other wise, just show us how you store your plates and bowls

There are some bowls I’d dearly love to declutter because I think they’re ugly. In fact, I’ve been trying to get rid of them for years.

The problem is my husband loves them. Apparently they’re just the right size for his 2 1/2 Weetbix!

As a side note, there’s not much he cares about in the kitchen so I let him have his ugly bowls and a purple mug I also don’t care for but is again “the perfect size for coffee”

So I haven’t decluttered anything but before you get cross, here are some pictures of how I store my plates and bowls.

Now tell me, did you declutter any mugs or glasses?

Have a look at the Organise your Home e-course and get your entire home organised in just 12 weeks.

Now for this week’s challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures and talk about what you decluttered. If you don’t have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything – physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism!

What did you declutter this week?

Oh my word. Do you know what no internet does to me???? Makes me crazy.

We’ve been on holiday for the last week and thank God I delegated email to my virtual assistant just in case because there was absolutely NO SIGNAL up there.

There was one shopping centre with free wifi but after waiting for 20 minutes in the HEAT for the guy to show me how to connect to it (my laptop wasn’t showing that little icon and I’m a technophobe as you know), I left, still not knowing, because he was still busy with a customer. Grrr!

Of course that means I couldn’t blog yesterday so here we go, a day late

Remember we’re decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS this month and this week, we’re decluttering mugs and glasses.

This is your challenge to throw out any chipped or surplus mugs or glasses that you can’t use anywhere else.

(if you don’t want to post on the theme, go right ahead and post on whatever you felt like decluttering, or just show us how you store your mugs and glasses

Since I wasn’t home, I’ll show you some boxy t-shirts I unearthed and decluttered before our holiday.

Why do we think that unflattering clothes will hide our unsightly bits?!

Now tell me, did you declutter any mugs or glasses?

Have a look at the Organise your Home e-course and get your entire home organised in just 12 weeks.

Now for this week’s challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures and talk about what you decluttered. If you don’t have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything – physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism!

What did you declutter this week?

This is the last challenge for 2008. Wow!

I’m so proud of you, even if you only participated a couple of times.

I’ve been thinking about doing this challenge a little differently next year.

How about we have a “theme for the week” every week? It will be something small and manageable….what do you think?

(if you don’t want to post on the theme, go right ahead It’s mainly to help those who want more direction and guidance with their organising efforts)

So, some housekeeping…

We’re decluttering and organising in our KITCHENS for the month of Jan

2 Jan – Tupperware in the kitchen
9 Jan – Mugs and glasses
16 Jan – Plates & bowls
23 Jan – Cutlery and utensils
30 Jan – Baking pans and cooking stuff

Get your entire home organised in 2009.

This is what I decluttered this week – some old pyjamas I’ve outgrown – too much of these and these.

This is a great week to declutter some items, especially if you received new __________ for Christmas.

Why hang onto those old __________ ?

Now for this week’s challenge

Please link to the post on your blog where you show off your pictures or talk about what you decluttered this week. If you don’t have a blog, tell me in the comments about ANYTHING you decluttered this week.

It can be anything – physical, electronic, mental clutter or even the need to be a certain way. Like perfectionism!

What did you declutter this week?

P.S.

Is it just me or does your kitchen counter also sometimes look like a pharmacy?

One day the vitamins are all organised. Then someone gets the flu, and someone else has to take other medication and before you know it, one little basket has grown to two.

So I took out all the stuff, packed everything neatly in the green basket shown above. And then I made this pile…

The pile on the left has to go back to the bathroom where I keep the main supply and the three tubs on the right get thrown away because they’ve expired.

And all of that took about 2 minutes, while I was waiting for the kettle to boil for my tea.

What do you do while you’re waiting for the kettle to boil?