Organizing and using what you have: August

[Tybee]

I was going to add to the August purge thread but realized what I wanted to post is a little different, although decluttering does fit in there too.

I have been going through things with an eye to organizing what I have, and paring down or adding too if necessary, trying to upgrade my everyday living.

Here are two examples:

Bought a new set of antique silverplated silverware to use as everyday, very inexpensive on ebay, then bought a 2.50 plastic tableware organizer and put it on top of the counter, as there is no room for them in the drawer.
They look very nice.

Husband gave in and built me a privacy fence between the house and the barn, and all of the wood was sourced here at the house--he put posts out of a tree he had felled, and we used wood we found in the loft of the barn and the woodshed for the cross pieces and the fencing pieces. I will try to upload a pic later but it has not been letting me upload pictures, even after I resize them.

So it was a big win, as he pulled the wood out of the loft and found ants, etc. and there were lots of damaged pieces and he cut all that off, so now loft is clearer, and the wood is actually being used.

Anyone else trying to organize things and make sure they are being used?

[happystuff]

Great idea for a thread! When the culture camp we attended annual for 15+ years ended last year, I helped with the clean out and brought some stuff home that I didn't want to see end up in a dumpster. Mainly a lot of empty plastic containers and crates. Doing laundry of blankets yesterday and was wondering how/where they would fit. They fit in the last crate left from the clean-out! Glad I didn't find it a different home - lol.

[iris lilies]

My next big organizing project was to go through all my flower show objects, jettisoning about 1/3.

But then, DH came up with the cheerful news that our newly constructed bunker under the garage in Hermann will hold it all, as is. He will let me have significant space in the bunker.

I told him he shouldn't have given out that info until AFTER I cleaned out the flower show stash.
But I am still going to make myself clean it out.

[razz]

Good idea for a thread. I have a large number of items - frames, paper, matt board, art books, etc - that needs to be reviewed to see what is worth keeping and where or disposing some way.

[catherine]

Wow. So timely! My refrigerator is driving me crazy. It's too small, and it's a traditional freezer-on-top model so I have to get on my hands and knees to see what I have in the fridge. We are seriously considering selling our current fridge and buying a "fridge on top/freezer on bottom" model, even though they're supposed to be less efficient. I waste so much food because I can't see what we have left.

So I put into my bullet journal today to do a daily food inventory. Not sure how long that will last, but the purpose is, before we decide on dinner, to check to see what we have and try to make do. Seems basic, but I'm tired of throwing out expired stuff just because it was at the back of the bottom shelf of the fridge.

Thanks for the thread, Tybee!

[iris lilies]

I HATE Our freezer on the bottom refrigerator. We’re leaving that here when we move.


If you’ve had experience with a freezer on the bottom before then maybe you’re OK with it. But my problem is that food is always escaping to the back and underneath and then I have to take everything out to get out that escaped piece of food. And it’s impossible to get shelving back in. I hate this refrigerator.

[Teacher Terry]

I have my second freezer on bottom refrigerator and love it. It’s really easy to see stuff and my other one was also.

[herbgeek]

We just had to buy a new frig a couple of weeks ago. we'd had a bottom freezer but it iced up due to a loose seal which required monthly chipping with a rubber hammer. ugh. The model I really wanted, but couldn't get due to it being 32 inches wide and my kitchen only having 31 inches of space, had French doors on the bottom. Each side had 3 shelves, with roll out buckets. So 6 "compartments". We wound up with the boring freezer on top.

[Tybee]

I would never have considered a freezer on bottom fridge so now I will definitely look at them, as we are in the market, although not terribly hard. I really like the daily food inventory idea, because I just threw away a head of lettuce yesterday and was so mad at myself. I want to do a weekly menu, too--really need to take hold of this food situation around here.

Along those lines I have been wanting to come up with a list of household items like cleaning and paper products and have a dedicated space and have 1-2 backups of everything, so I can see at a glance what we have. My mom used the space under her stairs for it but it was a really big stairway, so it was kind of like a walk in closet with a light, and she kept toilet paper, emergency water, canned goods, etc. all neatly under there.

[Tybee]

We are putting the excess wood the last owners left in the barn to good use. He was a wood collector and wood is so expensive now! There was some tongue and groove flooring up in the loft, and that is what DH used for the fence. We are going to use it up for another fence across the front of the property. Right now, the house was kind of floating in space in the yard, and the wood fence to the barn is a great psychological boost, as it anchors us and it makes the dogs feel safe.

We used up a lot of paint that we had moved around, including paint we bought 7 years ago for an investment house in SC. Then last week DH made me a paint storage place, wood shelving, and all the cans have to fit in there or out they go--there were cans all over the barn floor and it drove me nuts. Now you can see exactly what you have to see if you need to go and buy more.

We also gave a can of old deck stain from that house to my dil, who stained the table that DH made my son for his birthday.

[Tybee]

3910

[pinkytoe]

Every month or so, I take everything out of our freezer on the bottom and do an inventory and cross items off the list as they get used. Sometimes a surprise to see what's in there since things shift around a lot.

[Teacher Terry]

It’s great Tybee that you are finding uses for things you have. Saves money and good for the environment.

[catherine]

3910

Very neat! I hate the collection of half-used paint that tends to pile up! And up here, we can't put it in the shed in the winter because it freezes and changes the consistency, rendering it useless in the spring. Does this happen to you, Tybee?

[Tybee]

Very neat! I hate the collection of half-used paint that tends to pile up! And up here, we can't put it in the shed in the winter because it freezes and changes the consistency, rendering it useless in the spring. Does this happen to you, Tybee?

It was definitely a problem in Michigan. We kept the paint in the basement, and only took it out to the shed in the summer. But I did inadvertantly winter over some cans last year and they were fine when we opened them here.

I am hoping that the barn will keep them ok, as they are on an interior wall. I am hoping to use the three cans of red for the exterior of the house this summer, and most of what is there is touch up paint from finished projects.

I just hate having it in the house. Do you have any kind of basement in your house?

[nswef]

I put shelves in our basement to gather all the paint...I had collected jars to transfer it, but never did. It has been a help to have it all in one place although I ALWAYS think we have exterior primer and we don't. Nice space Tybee, hope it makes things easier.

As for refrigerators...our space limited choice of one Whirlpool refrigerator has wire shelves instead of glass, less space in the top freezer due to the blower and one less shelf on the door for who knows why? I am frustrated, but I don't lose food very often as I tend to put it on one shelf...and try to keep it in mind. I had to put the little bottled things on the bottom, back of this refrigerator whereas they were on the skinny bottom door shelf on the other. I miss the Maytag...I've had to put stuff from the freezer into the basement freezer as it, too is much smaller. I feel your pain.

[happystuff]

I used to have a freezer on the bottom and wasn't thrilled with it. The seal always ended up filthy by food from the fridge dropping on it, etc. One of my siblings, however, loves theirs!

[Tybee]

I bought a jewelry box, after not having one for 35 years. It is made of blue suede, so the color is really nice. I bought it because it holds my watches--its actually a watch box, I think with space for eight watches and some rings.

So now, instead of my watches being in zip lock bags, they are all in one place, and I have little pieces of paper that explain what it is and when I got it, so that when I die, my kids can know what is there and where I got it.

I did this because of the way my brothers are dealing with my parents' heirlooms, and how they don't think they are important, and don't understand what they are.

I can also put notes in there as to who gets what, although my plan is to make them gifts before I die:

"Do your giving
While you're living
So you're knowing
Where it's going"