Day 15 ~ Doodads

I am the proud new owner of this doodad.

It is called an AeroPress and it makes pretty fantastic coffee.

Notice all the parts?

It took me a few tries before I found a container that would house the pieces but it's worth it to use a bin that fits your space and your doodad perfectly.  In my case I added my cute coffee bean tin in beside it.

Tucked away when not in use, pretty, and easy to grab when I want it.

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Day 14 ~ Knife Storage

For years I kept our knives in a block similar to this one.  

It drove me nuts.

It was always all dusty and it was tippy and really, just not so pretty. 

So one day I decided, no more.

I wanted more counter space and the knife block had to go.  

Now our knives are here.

Out of the way, easy to grab, I highly recommend you try it.

 To read more posts in my 31 Day series click 

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Day 13 ~ The Pantry

Last Spring I reorganized my pantry.

I love that it looks tidy now and I am really enjoying the storage bins.

But the best part of the new pantry for me is a little secret I stumbled upon.  Maybe the whole world does this already, but I never did and I find it so much more efficient.

Unwrap!

Whenever I bring my groceries home now I spend a few extra minutes removing all the packaging.

No more plastic around the juice boxes - toss out the little cardboard apple sauce holders.

Get rid of the those soup cases!

Now when I run to grab an item I don't have to spend any time trying to pry it out of the packaging and I don't have to run the wrappers to the recycling...it's already done!  I find the kids are much quicker to come back with a juice box or other item for their lunches as well.

Easy trick...give it a whirl!

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Day 12 ~ The Baking Station

Recognize this?

What you may not realize is that it is actually a functional little baking station.  One day a friend mentioned that she'd had no idea those cutie little cups were for measuring.

Let's take a closer look.

Measuring Cups

Measuring Spoons

Can't live without KitchenAid

Sugar and Flour

I love having my major baking tools at my finger tips and I especially love havin' them look all pretty!

To read other posts in my 31 Day series click

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Day 11 ~ Menu Planner

There are all sorts of ways to organize meal preparation.  I've tried many but what I've stuck with is a weekly menu planner.  I just don't have it in me to plan a whole month, so each week I decide what we'll have for the next 7 days.  My favourite is when I get to put a squiggle, cause that means we'll be out!

Use a pretty glass frame and you have an instant dry erase board.  My kids love to check in to see what supper will be. 

I got the cute graphic from a wonderful blog called How About Orange.

http://www.howaboutorange.blogspot.ca/2010/06/weekly-menu-printable.html

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Day 10 ~ Lunches

Oh how I hate making lunches.  So in our house, they get made right after school and refrigerated so that we don't have to think about them again.  And they get made by a kid.  This year since my older two have more homework, lunch duty most often falls to my 7 year old.

I keep this list in the cupboard where most of the lunch items are stored.

So easy!  

Now I know it wasn't pretty so how about popping a cute vinyl chalkboard on your fridge?

When kids can take over jobs they get great experience and it frees you up to be able to assist in other areas.

To read other posts in my 31 Day series click

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Day 9 ~ DIY Dry Erase Board

Recently a friend showed me her amazing idea to showcase her grandmother's beautiful sketches in the panes of glass of and old window.

LOVE IT!

I suddenly decided that I too needed a window to use as a dry erase board for the kids to keep track of homework and upcoming assignments.  

Now, somehow I didn't quite make the progress I'd hoped on this project, so all I have at the moment is the window.  The plan is to hang it up and if the wall colour co-operates, then I will use it as is to write on in the kids' study area.  Or if the writing doesn't show up well, I'll use spray adhesive to cover the back of the panes with scrap book paper.

I did a search to see what I could find...here is a similar idea.

indulgy.com

Oh so pretty!

To read other posts in my 31 Day series click

here.