Top of the Fridge

My kitchen is small. To me it can sometimes feel excrutiatingly small. I suppose in actual floor size, it's pretty average, but there are so very few cupboards that some items are permanently on surfaces. And I LOVE clear surfaces, so this is a constant source of visual clutter for me, even when the things are tidy. So, I just have to live with this (until we move or do a renovation!). So, the next few posts will be a tour around my kitchen, little bit by little bit. In general, the kitchen is pretty well organised. It just sometimes gets a little messy or disordered. So, I regularly do "supercleans" - intensive cleaning - but only in one area at a time. This keeps it manageable, satisfying (because it always gets finished), and easy to walk away from if I have to (this is REAL life, after all, and things do suddenly happen...). So, step one is the "Top of the Fridge". Firstly, I confess, I'm short (about 153cm), so I actually can't see on top of my fridge. This is my excuse for having a fridge which looks like this: It is the place where we keep our breakfast cereals, paper towels, spare tissue boxes and a couple of other items (including some medication). The photo shows that recently we've acquired one more regular (no pun intended) cereal to our two basics, plus some dried fruit. And, the actual surface has acquired a layer of that horrible greasy dust that kitchen surfaces can if left untended.

1. Now, the first rule of a decent cleanout is always "Start with a clear space". So, all the bits had to come off the fridge, onto the bench.


2. Clean the surface: with a clean cloth and some basic cleaner (or white vinegar & water), spray and wipe the entire top of the fridge, including the seals and hinges (I love old toothbrushes for fiddly areas). Be very gentle when scrubbing fridge surfaces, as you don't want to scratch the surface. Always dry the whole thing off before you restock the space.


3. Clean & sort the "stuff": I went through and cleaned each cereal box (just a basic wipe. These are used daily, so they're pretty clean!) I also bought one more container and decanted the boxed cereal into it. I love matching containers. I also threw away unneeded packaging (eg around the multi-pack of tissues), and put the dried fruit back with similar items inside the pantry. I wiped down the other few bits as well.


4. Throw away rubbish.


5. Put it back in a logical & useable order: The cereal boxes are used daily, so they're at the front. The paper towel roll is also used fairly frequently, so it's next. The spare items (tissues, paper towels, and the vacuum cleaner head) and medication (which we hopefully won't need for much longer) are to the side/back, but still near the edge so Shortie (me) can reach them when required.

So, a mini-organise/tidy to start off. There will be more to come.

How This Is Going To Work

How am I going to organise this blog? I've been reading so very many blogs, and so I think I'll start, obviously, with what I'm at right now, and then move on to where I want to get better.

So, over the next few posts I'll show you a bit of the organising I already do, and then share some of the new stuff I do, as I do it.

My challenges - I tend to take on too much! I love starting new projects, and always have several on at a time. My plan for this year is to be more specific and only tackle things which fit into certain categories. To do this, I got a bit organised and made a chart for my home noticeboard which states:

"THIS YEAR, I AM ALREADY COMMITTED - AND I WILL FOCUS..."

(and below it, are the following...)

• ...on having family time with my boys.


• ...on attempting some physical activity each week.


• ...on working on the Committee. (Of a non-professional theatre group I'm involved in.)


• ...on our house design inside & out.


• ...on being a good TRT teacher.


• ...on spending quality time with family & friends.


• ...on working with the MB Foundation.


• ...on reading, viewing & blogging.


• ...on studying for my Grad. Dip.


• ...on being with M1. (my husband)


• ...on playing with M2 (my son) and having special learning time together.


• ...on being alone sometimes.


• ...on keeping the Project Life album up to date.


• ...on seeing live theatre.


• ...on keeping the house clean & tidy.


• ...on working on one show properly at a time.


• ...on creating a family schedule and eating plan.

"IF IT DOESN"T FIT IN HERE SOMEWHERE, IT PROBABLY DOESN'T MATTER"

So far, so good. I have done two shows this year, one after the other, and now that #2 has finished, I'm working on #3 - and only that show! I have had one or two TRT days per week, and all the schools I've been at have wanted me back - and have an interview at one (my first teaching interview) for a short-term contract. I've done a bit of volunteer work for the MB Foundation (for premature babies). I have aimed to see one new film each week this year (well, from mid-January), and am only one week behind. But, I saw four rental videos to make up for it. I have started library visits weekly with my son, and am reading both novels and non-fiction. Our Project Life is up to date - 2010 album FINISHED, and 2011 is never more than one week unfinished. (I've never, ever been that caught up when I did traditional scrapping!)

My challenges are

• uni study - partially my fault and partially the uni's - as I'm a bit behind.


• physical activity - I just never find a good time! (excuses, excuses)


• planned learning time with M2 - we learn all the time, but I think we could do better!


• cleaning - I am by nature a binge cleaner, so daily cleaning has never been natural to me.


• family schedules - but I'm working on it!

So, the next post will be the beginning of some areas of our lives I think are pretty well organised (or well on the way). Maybe my bathrooms first - I find bathrooms the easiest room to keep both tidy, functional and clean most of the time!

New Year - New Blog

With the beginning of a new year, I began a new organising kick. I've always been keen on the whole organising, crafty, DIY-type of life, but never did much about it. This year, though, I have found myself out of full-time work and so aimed to dedicate the year to organising myself and my home to (hopefully) help us become a happier and more relaxed family.

I've named the blog (somewhat facetiously) "Organise and Be Real" because in looking through the web for ideas to get our home and lives more into the realm I'd like to live in, I've found some amazing people, blogs, photos and ideas. I would love to follow and implement all their ideas if I lived in an enormous home where dust never settled on my artistic displays, where I had unlimited time and money, and a family (and I include myself in this) who all wore white all the time and had tidy hobbies which (again) left no dust or debris. But, I don't. Hence, "Be Real".

My organising is for us in a real, smallish home. 2 bedrooms (plus study), one living room/dining room, one kitchen/"meals" space, two cats, one preschooler, my husband and me. No-one else. (But, I always thrive on praise/feedback, so here's the blog!