I have always loved organizing. In fact when I went back to reread my journal for some ideas for my Homeschool Memories posts I found more than one entry that said, “I cleaned my room today. My side of the room is neat and tidy. My sister’s is not.” That was usually the case during the times we shared a room.
I learned that not everyone is able to see clutter like I can. Something I am still learning about organizing is that the less you have the easier it is to organize everything. This is really the key to simplifying and organizing my house and life right now. For instance recently I realized that we weren’t using the set of glasses we got as a wedding present. So I got a box and packed all the glasses into it. It’s been months now and I have missed them a minimally. It’s been fun to use mason jars where I would have used glasses before.
Since we moved 4 years ago I have reorganized my kitchen probably 4 times! One when we moved just before my daughter was born, a year later when I realized that nothing was where I was using it, again around a year later when our microwave broke and we decided not to replace it. Some of my reorganizing has been brilliant including my: drink station!
At one point I realized that in order to fix a cup of tea or instant coffee I had to open 2-3 cupboards and walk across the room twice. Here is what I did to organize my tea things make things easier. My drink station definitely makes me smile!
Now my mugs are all in one place, right next to the tea bags. My glass straws are where I can grab them, but my preschooler can’t reach them! This cabinet is across the room from the stove, but it’s the right shaped cabinet for mugs/glasses so it works.
I used things I already had to organize my drinks. The tea bags are in a mental tin from the dollar tree, and the straws are organized in a mug that I didn’t have room for on the shelf, but didn’t want to get rid of. Before I gave up coffee regularly I had a mason jar with coconut palm sugar in there also and instant coffee “sticks” in with the straws.
The key to organizing is to not have more stuff then will fit (I had to weed through my mug collection to get it that tidy and weed through my tea collection!) and to put all the like things together. I hope this inspired you to make your own drink station or to organize that one thing that irritates you everyday!