How Do You Organize Your Kitchen?
15 years ago
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- 15 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
- 15 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
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Comments (8)Hi Gayle - thanks for your thoughts. :-) I'm a "less steps" person, so I really need solutions that don't require taking trash or anything from one room to the other...ie, bathroom stuff stays in the bathroom until it goes outside, kitchen stuff stays in the kitchen until it's disposed of, etc. I do need those visual reminders out and "in my face", or I forget. Too much other stuff going on, I guess. I want my compost crock on the counter so the stuff in there *can* start to rot/mold before it goes out...it will be better food for the worms that way. So I did buy a crock with a filter in the lid that will look nice on my counter, because I want the compost materials sitting out (I would have had to buy something anyways...we don't drink coffee here, and don't buy anything that comes in a plastic container large enough to make a good compost collection bucket). If I don't see it, I won't use it, with the exception of the metal and plastic collection cans under the sink (because they'll be right by the garbage can, so if I go to instinctually throw something away, those bins will be right there. I put all food scraps down the disposal now, so the crock will remind me not to do that anymore. :-) Stuff that can't be composted in the bathroom includes toilet paper wrappings (the plastic outter wrap), bandaids, gum, q-tips (plastic "stick" - we'll buy differently next time), cotton ball bags, used razor blades, nail polish bottles (no glass recycling here), and items used to remove nail polish (sponges rife with nail polish remover...don't want that in my compost). And yes, I really am too lazy to carry that stuff all the way to the kitchen garbage - less steps equals less time spent shuttling "stuff" through the house. I'm all about making things as easy on myself and efficient as possible. :-) My magazines and "leftover" paper will be recycled, but a lot will be shredded for the compost pile. I have that pretty much figured out though - a box in a kitchen cabinet right under where we go through the mail. I will be emptying it regularly though...I have a different box for papers "to be filed" or that I might need. I'm a catalog junkie - and we do get a lot of junk mail, plus the paper daily. I'll probably need to do two paper boxes...one for the compost, and one for the recycling, so I can add the paperboard to the compost box (our recyclers don't take paperboard). All paperboard boxes (like the ones we get holding cases of cans from Costco) will be broken down and composted, so that's no big deal. I don't buy much processed foods either - but the costco canned fruits/veg all come in paperboard. I think I'll just get a smaller trash can for the bathroom to label "compostables" for the bathroom counter (there's a good spot for it right under the medicine cabinet), and then two more bins for under the kitchen sink for collecting cans and plastics, respectively. That should take care of it, I think...won't know until I try it for awhile. It's a lot to get used to - not throwing out a lot of stuff that we normally would, but infrastructure makes all the difference for me with new habits, so I just want to make sure I have a good basis to work from. :-) Does anyone out there have those triangular bins that fit four in a square, and pull out from a kitchen cabinet? I've been thinking that might be a good way to organize my collection bins under the sink......See MoreHow do you organize your recycling? (Pics?)
Comments (34)We live in the country, too. There is a weekly trash pick up service in our area, but we don't use it. It takes us a month or two to fill a single 30 gallon trash bag. When one is full, I take it to the trash & recycling drop off and pay a by-the-bag fee that is probably one tenth the cost of the pickup service. I have made a concerted effort to stay off mailing lists, and we still get plenty of junk mail, which we shred. We have poor soil, so the shreds get sprinkled wherever we need the organic matter the most. I'd rather compost than burn. Yeah, I admit, sometimes it looks like confetti on our lawn, but the lawn is getting thicker! We compost vegetable scraps from the kitchen, autumn leaves, etc. As for cans and bottles, we recycle everything possible. Only non-recyclable plastic and meat bones find their way into our trash can, even with all the decluttering I'm doing with the help of FlyLady. Household items that are useful to someone else go to the Re-Use It Center, or I Freecycle them on the front porch. At first, I used a couple of cardboard boxes for the recyclable materials. But leaking liquids made them messy. So I replaced them with clear plastic bins that could be washed. I measured the shelf in the garage where we keep the recycle bins. I went to two or three stores that had a good selection of plastic storage containers. I used my measuring tape to be sure that whatever I got would fit into my space. I only need two boxes. One is for styrofoam, which shares space with a bundle of #2 & #4 plastic bags. (The bags are easy to pull out at the recycle place.) The other box holds cans, recyclable plastic & glass, which is how my local recycle place wants everything sorted. I also got a smaller box with a snap-tight lid. The mice chew aluminum foil and make a mess, but with the lid, I can keep foil out in the garage with the rest of the recycle stuff. When I have trash and/or recycling, I drive it over to the place which is also conveniently near some of the stores I need to visit anyway. I can combine my errands and save gas. It works out well for me. MaryLiz...See MoreBaking center in two places?
Comments (7)I sort of have that. To some extent it's about where you have room to store stuff. I have my mixer in the corner of my perimeter, right above the drawers with my staples (in canisters). My spices are on the far side of the baking area. There's an short counter between which is great for pouring a cake into a pan or whatever, on top of the drawers with my baking pans, rolling pin and pastry cloth, scoops, measuring spoons and dippers, scrapers and other utensils, etc. Above the mixer are mixer bowls and attachments, and glass measuring cups. So it's a nice, compact baking center. My island is just behind it, though, so if I'm rolling, shaping bread, or doing some other spread-out-y task, I have plenty of room. There's no reason the rolling pin, cookie cutters, etc., couldn't go in the island if there were room there. I LOVE having the staples right at the mixer, as well as the measurers, scrapers and all. The pastry cutter and mixing bowls are best where you have a lowered counter, if you'll have one. Mine are in the same bank of drawers mentioned above. The perimeter counter is slightly lower than the island too. The rest--pans and all--don't matter as much. My big baking board is around the other side of the island, and the cookie sheets are actually in the butler's pantry with the trays (though I could use the ones that came with my oven and are right by the baking area, over the ovens). It's the things that you're constantly reaching for that are really best right where you'll be using them. Interesting side note: I put my big, old mixing bowls in a baking drawer because I've always used them for that kind of thing, but I find myself recently using the steel bowl for making meatballs, and the Pyrex one for stuffing, and things like that, and I'm thinking of swapping them to the island prep area and moving the melamine bowls I have there to the baking area. Moral: You can only plan so much....See MoreHow do you organize your hanging tops in your closet?
Comments (23)Sleeve length and TYPE. My closet is a sea of black. Cashmere is folded, and the few colors, easy to see. All silk shirts together......easy to see as well. Winter gets cleaned ans stored free ( paid up front ) at the dry cleaners, summer goes to crates in the late fall, and remains until spring. Easy peasy. If I'm not wearing it, I don't want it HANGING around, unless it is totally seasonless. Bottoms are easy, they're blinding white or they are black, Yeah............you guessed it. One is in, the other is OUT. Variety is nice, but most have far too much of it. Much like design.......it doesn't take that much variety to look good all the time. Nobody remembers what you had on, two weeks ago. Not even you. A friend and I had a joking laugh about Manhattan.... the streets a literal sea of black. " Ever wonder who wears all the colors in the STORES?? ................tourists?!" Alas......... this climate goes winter summer, summer winter in a blink. So its darn easy to switch....See More- 15 years agolast modified: 10 years ago
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