January 14th is National Organize Your Home Day! Part 2

Ok, so as promised here I did P.A.R.T.Y (Put Away Random Things, Yeah!) today in honor of NOYH (National Organize Your Home) Day.

The three areas I decided to tackle were the storage shelves in my kitchen, the top of the refrigerator and the top of the washer and dryer.

Here are the before and after pictures to show what kind of difference a little bit of time and energy made in making those spots more organized.

Take a look....

The Storage Shelves in the Kitchen

Planning, planning and more planning....it is time for some serious belt-tightening in January!

The last couple of days I have been planning, shopping for and preparing food for this month. I did one large shopping trip yesterday that more or less will be it for this month. (At least that is the plan!) There were only a couple of things left on our list and those I picked up today and now I am going to try to make it through the month without stepping foot in any store much. 

The food challenge I was doing inspired me to really plan this months meals and groceries, down to the smallest detail. As a result, I have set a very tight budget for us for the month. At the end of the month I will let you know what that budget was and how it panned out. Was I successful? What did I buy/what did we eat? and so forth. 

Today I Made Time

As I take a look around my house this evening I see scattered toys, a pile of dishes and the mountain of laundry that was supposed to be done today...on laundry day. I see towels and bath toys on the floor in the bathroom, yogurt smeared all over a highchair and pastel colored high heeled shoes tossed over by the bookshelf.

Then I take a closer look and instead of scattered toys I see the Duplo cake my middle daughter made me and the stuffed bear my son dragged around hugging today, I see the book I read to my son and the kitchen items my daughter "bought" and tucked into a bag.

Instead of a pile of dishes I see the remains of the homemade lunch my daughter happily brought to school and the dinner my kids all sat down at the table together and enjoyed. 

A Winning Attitude

The other day at about 5 in the afternoon my 3 year old and 5 year old were running around the house burning off excess energy. They would start at the front door, yell "ready, set, go!" and take off running towards the fireplace. The first few rounds they did just that, running back and forth between the entry and the living room. However, after a while my 5 year old suggested they make it a running competition and my 3 year old gladly accepted the challenge.

Back at the front door, they lined up, yelled "ready, set, go!" and off they went!