Family

Pictures Worth About 10 Cents

I always like blogs where I get to see a glimpse of someone’s “real” life. I thought that I would do a quick picture-essay of a little project I like to call: “Cleaning Off The Kitchen Counter”. The home that we live in has this little set of cabinets that are away from the sink and the stove. The counter top above those cabinets is a magnet for junk and clutter. The time has come to clean it up! Follow me:

Here’s how the Kitchen Counter looked before I got started. (Actually, I started, then realized I wanted to do this project, so I just put everything back on the kitchen counter and “re-started”. I needed a “before” pic, so here is the best I could do…)

Let’s see: Bible, magazines, Hello Kitty Water-Cooler, chapstick, and file system. Everything I need to survive is on this Counter-Top. Oh yeah, there’s my Weight Watchers’ folder, back there in the right-hand corner. (The wonder why so few men go… Could it be that they give you your material in a purse?)
Digital camera, check. Bills, check. Is that a padlock? You bet. What a mess! On to the second picture…

The next picture shows all of the junk, spread-out on our Kitchen Table. When I organize, I like to take all of my junk and sort through it, piece by piece, so I will know exactly what I can throw away and what I can keep.

Hmmm… Bananas, Yum! I found some things that I had forgotten about. Batteries, and air-freshener for my car, and our calendar for last month. Plus, 5 or 6 magazines that I need to read. Clutter: I hate it!

This is the throw-away junk that I found in my clutter. Some old newspapers, some junk-mail, old magazines, credit card offers, etc. Oh yeah, I never shred anything. I just rip it up and toss it. I’m a rebel. I live on the EDGE!

I have sorted and organized by paid-bills. They are in the file-folder system. Behind the file-folder system is my envelope-system. It holds my cash-envelopes and my coupons. See that money on the table? It goes in the envelopes, along with my receipts for the month.

This is all of the stuff that I have to find room for in our home. Some of it will go back on the Kitchen Counter for easy access, some of it will go to our home office (aka, my laundry room-podcast zone…), and some of it will go into our kitchen “junk”-drawer.
I know that this looks like a lot of stuff, but I was able to trash roughly 50 percent of the clutter that was on my Kitchen Counter.

Lunesta: God’s greatest gift, EVER! Trust me.

Ahh, nice and organized. Phone, Cell Phone, Keys,
Envelope System, File-Folder System, chapstick (3 tubes!), baby lotion, and the all-important Hello Kitty Water-Cooler. I love the way an organized space “feels”. My bills are all in order, my envelopes are nice and neat, and I can actually find my Weight Watchers folder. Cool. I hope you enjoyed this journey through my everyday life.

Yes, I really am this boring, all the time! I rock!

DORK!

PS: If you are some kind of Jack Baeur, Chuck Norris, James Bond Super-Spy, please don’t “enhance” these photos and steal my identity… Would you really want to fight a guy who gets his water from Hello Kitty. Think twice, punk.