Before & After: Meal Planning Corner

Disclaimers:  
1.  This is my own house
2.  The before pictures are real (even organizers get too busy to stay organized)
3.  The after pictures are real except that fruit has been replaced with other fruit and my pocket book is thrown in there somewhere now too.
4.  We happily rent this house, which means no home-improvement weekends for me!  I can just live here peacefully and quiet my mind except to think you'd be horrified that your interior designer's kitchen looked like this.  Well, we'll see. Here goes nothing!  

About Organizing Before & After Images:
1.  I rarely show before pictures of my organizing work for client confidentiality reasons. 
2.  I sometimes before-and-after something in my own home because it:
     a.  shows I'm a real human and collect real mess too, and 
     b.  gives me a little reward after completing a project 
          to see how much better it looks
3.  Recently, I have gently bribed some clients into letting me use before images from their projects - you'll see those in the coming months as those projects finish up.  

The Meal Planning Corner in the kitchen is where we store our pantry items, and also houses our paperwork, mail, recipe books, etc.  It's a landing spot too, so our "stuff" collects there quite a bit.  The before image represents a nearly empty cupboard and a colossal mess below with mail, paperwork, junk, etc.  

Disorganized Corner of Our Happy Old Kitchen

Mission: Organization begins using the S.P.A.C.E. method 
Sort:   Categorize
Purge: Check expiration dates, toss empty containers
Analyze:  What's going back?
Containerize:  How shall we store what's going back?  
Evaluate:  How is it working?

All Neat and Tidy!

Organizing is the least expensive way to give your space a quick face-lift.  Also, it helps us to use these healthy food items more frequently - they are top of mind when it comes to planning what's on the weekly menu.  

With these nifty glass containers from The Christmas Tree shops (2 for $5), the pantry goods are visible and appropriately stored in air-tight containers.  

Believe it or not, the white scallop-edge tray on the counter was in there somewhere - buried - in the before shot.  I gave it a quick coat of paint, and it has a new life.

Years ago, I covered a couple of 3-ring binders, which serve as my recipe books, with some remnant designer fabrics - those are the lovely coral-colored binders on the left.  The white binder is different - it is special.  Not only is it not really white, is actually a faux alligator skin :) how chic.  It houses my materials for the MIX Wellness Detox and 8-week "Lose Weight Feel Great" programs.  Learn more about the detox here and the 8-week program here.  Essentially, I teamed up with Kristen Boucher of MIX Wellness Solutions to participate in the cleanse and be an kitchen organizing resource for the participants.  It was a tremendous experience, and I'm in the beginning half of the 8-week program now.  Check it out!  She is a genius, plain and simple.  Let's just say she is partially responsible for all of the dried legumes in this cupboard...