Organized Linen Closet

 

“I organized my closet once and it has stayed the same ever since” – said no one in this whole wide world.

Seriously, Why can’t the closets remain organized once and for all. When we moved into this apartment, I had set up the linen closet quite nicely and used to feel real proud of that. Past 6 months now, the closet is not the same and yes the feeling too is not the same. Infact, it was so bad, that it was always a struggle to push close the door.

I have been thinking about organizing it for quite some time but u know.. TOO LAZY…. This weekend, something came over me and I decided to shun my laziness. Enough was enough…. I just could not take it any more and jumped into action. First, I took out all the stuff. Once out, the bed was all filled with the sheets and what not.

Can you see my little girl’s head peeping from behind……I was keeping her entertained by playing ‘Peek-a-boo’ during this process.

Then one by one, I took out the sheets / curtains and decided which ones should be kept in the less accessible places which were of one time use or the extra stuff which rarely gets used. All that stuff went in the upper cabinet and left me wondering why the extra curtains and quilt cover were there at the eye level cabinet, whereas the daily use sheets were crammed in between. Oh the days of ‘Will come back to you again…’. The second shelf was dedicated for the extra towels, which I rolled and kept for easy access. Finally the lower shelf housed the bed sheets. I put the bed sheet and one pillow case nicely folded in the second pillowcase. And kept this packet sideways nicely tacked. One over the other bed sheets just does not work because then it is a pain to take out the lower stacked sheets.

Here is the final picture…

Can you believe, except for one crocheted without sleeve jacket, it is the same stuff that was there earlier. Now, everything is nicely lined, the door closes easily and the closet is nice to look at.

I do have vision of rearranging this closet with sheets hanging instead of stacking sideways in order to make use of the vertical space. I am still going through the ideas in my head. May be, once I have it sorted out myself, I will come to this closet again, but for now, this is functioning well.

How do you keep your linen closet organized? What are the tricks that you follow? Do you have any ideas to share as to how to use the vertical space for hanging sheets?

Wait over!

 

Remember my post regarding this tiered rack? The website had mentioned that it will take 14-15 days. Well, it didn’t. It took just 7 days… I received the rack day before yesterday and I sprung into action right away. I was so excited that I did not even take the before picture. Bad blogger that I am!!! But the after picture of course, is here…

The spice cabinet was really in a bad shape. This kind of an organizer is perfect for such cabinet because all the jars are visible properly and no jar is lost in the back. I really do like this organizer and the way it has fitted in the space. Oh! and btw, I received two racks. One is still sitting on the counter,waiting to be put in to use.

How do you organize your spice cabinet? Do you use any organizers / racks? Do you prefer open cabinet instead?

Smiley Fruit!!!

 

Have you ever had this fruit? This tasted yummy, and my son (who does not eat fruits, ate all of it)!! I would suggest you too to try it, specially if you have a kid who does not like to eat fruits..

Here is what smiley looks like :

hmm…. Need I say more??? You being the smarter one, would have already guessed what this smiley fruit is…Isn’t it? A slice of apple as the face, a grape cut into two as eyes, strawberry pint as nose, and the orange slice as mouth… Looks nice, and tastes nice.

Try it.. Hopefully, your kids will like it too!!!

Plastic out! Tupperware in!

 

O yes!! That is the before picture of dry storage of my kitchen cabinet!!!!

For past some time, I had been looking for good containers for dry storage. I had bought a set of plastic containers by steelo selo (as shown below), with which I was quite happy.

Then later, I started realizing that the lids were actually really not getting closed properly. And that was the time, I really started looking for some new options. I came across a tupperware consultant in my apartment complex, and I must say that I was hooked. There were some really nice options in tupperware, and the lifetime replacement guarantee was something that I could not overlook. The dry storage option was even more lucrative given the fact that the containers were oval which was my first requirement. I also wanted the containers to be stackable. Tupperware dry storage really fit the mark. During the year end time, there were some great offers going on, I finally took the plunge and invested in tupperware. After almost a month now, I can say that I am quite happy with that decision.

The kitchen cabinet looks nice (All similar containers do make a difference)!

These are the containers :

And the final After :

I did bought some other tupperware containers for food storage, veg storage, and freezer storage. So far, I can say these are working good. What storage do you prefer? Are you hooked on tupperware too?

Yahoo, I found it!!!!

 

For past almost 6 months, I have been searching for a tiered rack to organize spices in kitchen. I had gone through almost every website, with every possible name that I could imagine. But without any luck.

tiered rack, organizer, shelved rack.

I googled and googled. I searched and searched in all online websites.

And today, when I was simply browsing through the website FabFurnish.com, for no reason at all. I was actually only window shopping, that I found this:

Pic Courtesy : Fabfurnish

OMG!! Where were you hiding till now??? I lost no time, and immediately ordered one.

I have never ordered from this website before, but I believe that it has been around for a while. The website indicated that it will take 10-15 days for it to deliver. Well, I have waited this long, 15 days is nothing !! So now, I am eagerly waiting for this to arrive.

Has it happened with you that you have found what you were aspiring for when you were least expecting it???

Taking Control of Laundry

 

Laundry Laundry Laundry!!!! A few weeks back, everywhere you looked in our kitchen balcony there were clothes, clothes and more clothes. In India, SUN is our clothes dryer, and in those days, it was all foggy, no sun and we would wait for days for one lot to dry. There were heaps of clothes to be washed and they would take forever to dry. Then one day, I just decided to put an end to it.We bought the clothes dryer to make the drying easy and in control. Then, for continuously three days, our washer and dryer did not stop running. Such was the backlog of clothes.

After three days, when clothes were finally in the manageable position, I decided it was the time for overhaul. Our balcony is not designed for both washer and dryer. So, the way these both were placed, there really was not much space left in the balcony. For washing, we had to move a few things, and for drying even more things. But now was the time to spring into action and do the necessary changes to make it look organized and a happy place. So, this is what I started with:

  

My plan was to have both washer and dryer on one side. And for that to happen, we needed to have the electrical and water connection on the other side. The right side of the balcony where the washing machine was residing till now, did not have enough space to accommodate the dryer as well. So, we had to move the both to left side where there was no pipe to block the space. In India, we do have the option to outsource this job to plumber and electrician. And That is exactly what we did. So, after 2 days and about a thousand rupees, we finally had the kitchen balcony in control, where we felt that doing laundry was a pleasant job.

Here are the after pics, (which I took in night.. Don’t ask me why!!! ) :

How do you handle laundry during foggy / rainy days?

All Things Beautiful!!!

 

I have been drooling over some things on different websites. Thought I should share some here…

Pic Courtesy : Zansaar

 

Love these cushions. Once our sofa arrives, I am going to order few cushions.

Take a look at these lovely lanterns… I wish I could have all these at home.

 

Pic Courtesy : Zansaar

And this vintage clock is just breathtaking. I would say, this is the month of love, go for it…

http://www.zansaar.com/wall-clock-vintage-flowers-and-hearts-p-WORFJKCN6

Would love to have these doormats in my home:

Pic courtesy : India Circus

Pic Courtesy : India Circus

As you can see these are all home décor elements. Yes, you got it right!!! I am on a home décor spree these days.. This definitely does not mean that I am buying stuff, as I said above, I am just drooling over these. I am also on a lookout for a rug for the living area. I hope to get my living area all organized and revamped pretty soon. I have been saying this for quite sometime. But well, that is what is happening here now. It has been more than 2 months now that we had ordered for sofa, LED Panel and crockery unit. Although the panel and the crockery unit have arrived, they are still not upto the mark now. So, till the time all that is settled, I am concentrating my energy on doing the rest of the stuff. The living area needs some décor elements and that is what I am on the lookout for.

See you all next week now with some more organizing!!!

Cheers!!!

Doing it FTR!!!

 

Do you relate to this? All those in the corporate world will find this word quite familiar. FTR is – First Time Right!!!

Do the work that you are doing the ‘First Time Right’. If you are developing something – Do it ‘First Time Right’. If you are preparing a document – Make it ‘First Time Right’. This motto is applicable everywhere, no matter the place. Especially at home, I will say, doing everything the ‘First Time Right’ makes even more sense. If you do not do it FTR, the work will quadruple. And well, at my home, when the work quadruples, then I need a big push to get it done , otherwise I just keep procrastinating it.

At home, whenever I do something, I try to impose this simple principle to do it right as much as I can think of. Let us for example, take the simple chore of laundry. Here in India, we do not normally put clothes in a dryer, rather we make use of SUN to do this job. So, when I put clothes on the line I make sure that the clothes are as stretched out as can be. There should not be any wrinkles. And when I take down the clothes, I fold them properly, so that there is no need to iron the clothes. Yes, I do spend close to 5 minutes extra doing what I do. But if I don’t do this, then I will have to spend 15-20 minutes extra to iron the clothes. So, you tell me which job is a time saver?? Doing it FTR, right?

In daily household chores, there can be numerous examples given for this. Cleaning while cooking, Cleaning right after eating, putting the things at right place right away … If we do all this FTR, overall upkeep of the house will be very easy.

But sometimes I do fee, that since I believe in FTR so much, if I don’t find right or perfect solution for a particular problem, I don’t do it at all. That way, problem becomes multi-fold.

For instance, few days back, we did some shopping, and got 4-5 bags from the store. We had to put away those clothes (since those are for next winters.. yeah.. we shopped the winter sale at 40-50% off).That seemed like a huge task of taking out the suitcases (Yes, we keep the off season clothing in extra suitcases), and putting the clothes in them. So, for 5-6 days, the wall unit in our room was a complete mess. I forgot to take picture of that. Finally, when I just could not take it any more, I brought it back to its original condition.

Are you a FTR person? I would love to know….