I sprinted to town yesterday to purchase hundreds of light bulbs for the new house (something like that, anyways), and remembered Project Simplify...my effort to clean out clutter and get ready for our move. I hadn't yet conquered the week's hotspot, and there simply wasn't time for me to get to it. Then I had a 'light bulb' moment of my own. I did what all resourceful women do.
I called for help.
My daughters are 14 and 11 and are both 'organizers'. So when I called them and talked them through the before and after pictures, the cupboards that particularly needed attention, and the joy of being featured on mom's blog, they were all in.
How's that for 'simplifying'?
There are several things about this kitchen I dislike, but I've tried to be thankful for it. We spent 6 months in an RV before we moved here 5 years ago, and I try to remember how ecstatic I was to have a home again. But this kitchen has very little storage space and the storage it does have seems to have been designed for a micro-family. Like, The Borrowers.
My main irritation currently is the cupboard we store all our food storage containers in. Drives me absolutely crazy, and always makes me groan. It is narrow and deep and not really good for much. I am tired of crawling into it with my backside sticking out, trying to find a lid and a dish that go together.
I talked the girls through the swap. Take all the plastics out and switch them with the items in the hutch, which also needed organizing.
They wiped down the cupboards and neatly re-organized everything. When I came home and saw their handiwork, I kicked myself for not having done this sooner. It makes so much more sense this way.
We have about a month to enjoy our newly organized cupboards before we move.
They also did some cleaning and rearranging of the pantry.
So the project for the week is complete. I'm thankful for my girls, thankful for their talents and willingness to help, thankful for our beautiful-but-poorly-designed kitchen with running water and electricity. And thankful for some motivation and accountability here at Simple Mom.
{Bonus! The boys' dressers are still tidy from last week's project.}