So I mentioned my cabinet intervention last weekend in this post. In case you’re feeling motivated and want to tackle your own, here’s what I did. One cabinet at a time (this is important so that your whole kitchen does not look like a bomb went off…) I took everything out and grouped it into piles on my counter based on types of items. So for the food cabinets I had a section for dinner sides and fixings,  lunch box items and the things we probably shouldn’t eat, but the guys like a treat every now and then so I oblige but then I have to try hard not to eat all the chips or cookies before they get to them… oh you have these items in your house too…?? (I put those last things on the highest shelf by the way… I am hoping for out of sight, out of reach and out of mind…!)

After that victory, I streamlined what I could ditching anything expired or any awkward packaging and I used other containers or trays that had no purpose except to collect dust and crumbs in the distant corner of the cabinet under my cook top… Once I saw what I had it was much easier to arrange it on a shelf and have it make sense… And once I did one cabinet, the momentum built. Before I knew it I had tackled 3 more plus the refrigerator…

In the process I had to let go of some stuff… 1970’s yellow Tupperware canister, I will miss you… sort of. And the four plastic purple cups from who knows where didn’t go down without a fight… the boy lobbied hard, but in the end, there just wasn’t room. I also found I had multiple containers of cinnamon and paprika…? Does anyone have a recipe that uses mass quantities of these…?

Just by putting some order to all the stuff I felt lighter. Less encumbered… Sure it will probably take another week before I get used to reaching for the cheese in it’s new home in the fridge – my brain has to relearn a new pattern- but this isn’t all bad- it keeps you on your toes…!

Working with the cabinets made me think about a conversation I had with a friend last week who said: “When dealing with families and relationships, if something in that dynamic isn’t working, you tackle it like a semi-trucker which means you drop back to 1st gear and try again.” To try and force the transmission into a gear in the wrong way could lead to its ultimate ruin… not to mention that grinding sound and that lovely shuddering motion that comes along with it…

I needed to empty those cabinets to see what I had to work with. Then with a little sorting and purging I was able to build them back to being functional again.

Sometimes we can get stuck grinding our gears and spinning tires in organizing, relationships or life in general. To throw another thing haphazardly in the cabinet and shut the door quick before it falls on your head isn’t probably the best course of action. Kind of like if there are skewed priorities, rocky relationships or hurts you haven’t dealt with in your life, maybe it’s time to shift gears by unpacking, sorting and tossing what doesn’t work to get back to the basics of respect and love and build something new there…

Start over and go back to what worked.  Refocus. There’s no shame in that.

What are you re-organizing in your life lately..?

♥♥♥