Task Management Tuesday: Week 6

Updated on January 28, 2020

Does anyone else find it ironic that for the second week in a row, I am late writing my post about time/home management? It has been crazy around here and life has definitely gotten in the way of the ol’ blog here. Each person in my family has been in some state of illness here for the last two and half weeks and it has completely messed up all of our routines. Hopefully we will all be on the mend soon!

Today’s topic will be some hints I use in my kitchen to keep things running smoothly. Hopefully one of these tips will help you get your space a little more organized and make meal time easier!

First off I am going to show you how I store/organize my plastic storage containers. I am hoping one day to switch to mostly glass, but for now this is what I have. All too often these containers become a jumbled mess of mismatched lids and bottoms. Opening that drawer or cabinet where they are kept is like playing a game of roulette – will they or will they not fall on my head today?

(sorry for the terrible picture!)

This cup/mug rack came already installed in our cabinet when we bought our house. I originally was going to take it down because I don’t store any glasses or mugs in this cabinet (they are stored in a cabinet next to the refrigerator), but I decided to leave it up. It is the perfect spot to hang my measuring cups, the apple slicer and a bottle opener. All things I use on a regular basis. 

When looking to organize a space try to see things in a different light. You can often “shop your home” to find items to organize with. Thinking of alternate uses for one item can really make a big difference!

To keep things neat, about once every six months I go through this cabinet to purge stained, cracked and mismatched lids/bottoms. I recycle what I can and then throw away whatever is left.

My next tip is for leftovers. To keep leftovers from becoming scary science experiments in my fridge, I have a little trick to share with you. I write the date that the leftovers were placed in the fridge with a dry erase marker on the top of the container. This washes off easily when I do dishes. (FYI – I don’t know how well it would come off with the dishwasher, but I wash all my plastic storage containers by hand. They tend to get too warped in my dishwasher). 

You can’t see it very well in this picture, but this container has 9/6 written on it in the indented space at the top. This is the date this item was originally placed in the fridge.

Recently, I also organized my junk drawer. You can read about it here. This has been very helpful for finding all those little odds and ends when I need them. With my added storage basket, this drawer has actually stayed organized since July! I am very excited about that. It is the little things that keep your life running smoothly. 

Lastly, to keep me on track with dinners at our house, I bought this cute, inexpensive days of the week dry erase board from Dollar Tree. It was just what I needed to write out what we were having for dinner for the week when I sit down and menu plan each week. It is magnetic and sticks to the side of my fridge. I don’t always stick to the days I have written down, but it helps me to buy only what I need for a week’s worth of dinners when I go grocery shopping.

{from Dollar Tree}