Cynthia Ewer's Blog, page 69
January 31, 2013
The Organized Pantry: A Beginner's Guide to Pantry Pride
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Home
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It's the secret weapon of a well-organized kitchen: a working pantry. A planned reserve of foodstuffs and sundries used in the home, a pantry saves time, money and stress in the kitchen.
Tap the pantry for unexpected meals and reduce trips to the supermarket. Stock it with frugal finds to lower grocery costs. Set aside a supply of food and sundries for a rainy day and protect your family against weather emergencies or financial dislocation.
Properly ma...
Challenge Day 26: Boost Your Pantry Power
What's the difference between an organized dinner hour and chaos in the kitchen? A well-stocked pantry!
A pantry is not a place, it's an attitude--and you have one if you have stockpiled food, health and beauty aids and paper goods in your home.
Today in the Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge, we'll boost our pantry power with tips for starting, growing and organizing the pantry.
January 30, 2013
Challenge Day 25: Clean Out the Freezer
Cruising into the new year during Preview Week, we cleaned out the refrigerator.
Now that it's Kitchen Week, it's time to take on the fridge's cold companion: the freezer.
Today in the Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge, we'll declutter, clean and organize freezer areas. Keeping tabs on frozen assets speeds meal preparation ad cuts food waste.
January 29, 2013
Challenge Day 24: Clear Kitchen Countertops
The old real estate maxim works for kitchens, too: "location, location, location!" In the kitchen, countertop space represents the room's most prestigious--and hardest-working--real estate address.
What's taken up residence on your kitchen counters?
Today in the Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge, we'll clear kitchen countertops, applying a simple A-B-C method to make zoning decisions for appliances, decor and storage.
January 28, 2013
Save Time, Cut Clutter With A Kitchen Declutter
By Cynthia Ewer
Editor, Organized Home
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Open the kitchen cabinets ... and you can tell it's time for a kitchen declutter!
Pudding mixes perch on top of the cereal, showering down onto the head of a sleepy, squawking teen each morning. To reach the oatmeal pan, you must shove aside a stack of pizza coupons, the bread machine pan and a glass jar of pickles.
The top of the refrigerator is a greasy, dusty jumble of unfinished crafts projects, the dog's leash, empty prescription bottles, broken t...
Challenge Day 23: Cut Clutter in the Kitchen
When we dream of an ideal kitchen, the room we visualize is usually spare, clean and serene.
But when we open our eyes to reality, we're faced with a basic truth: the kitchen has an amazing ability to attract clutter.
Even after out-of-place items are rounded up and given new homes, we remain faced with hard-core kitchen clutter.
How to banish kitchen clutter once and for all? Try these kitchen declutter tips in today's Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge Challenge.
January 26, 2013
Challenge Day 21: Living Room Week Wrap-Up
Living Room Week is drawing to a close; time for a weekend wrap-up!
Today, take the last steps to clean, declutter and organize the living room.
Looking ahead, the Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge moves into the kitchen and pantry.
Time to get organized in food preparation and storage areas? Join us tomorrow for Kitchen Week!
Today's Assignment:
Wrap Up Entryway Week
Living Room Week in the Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge has gone by quickly. How are you doing with your living room checklist?
If possib...
January 25, 2013
Challenge Day 20: Making Sense of Household Scents
Standing on the threshold, the living room is lovely to look at, clean and organized. Soft sofa, attractive artwork, pleasant lighting all beckon.
But the nose wrinkles. Do you smell something?
Taking on the "to scent or not to scent" question is like stepping in a mine field. Today, we'll try to find our way to freshness, while staying clean and green at home.
January 24, 2013
Challenge Day 19: Light Up the Living Room
Floors and furniture, walls and decor all work together to create an inviting living room, but without light, they're cardboard actors on a darkened stage.
What's the state of lighting in your living room? Can the family converse, read, craft or watch television in comfort?
Today in the Cleaning Grand Plan Challenge, we'll let the light shine in the living room, and consider options to bring the right light where it's needed in your organized home.
January 23, 2013
Challenge Day 18: Control "Clicker" Clutter
They're hard-working and indispensable features of modern life: remote controls, commonly referred to as the "clicker".
Thing is, in modern homes, they've arrived in multiple. How many clickers live in your living room--and how much chaos does it cause when one goes missing?
Today, consider ways to corral remote controls in your organized home.
Today's Assignment:
Corral Clicker Clutter
Checking out entertainment areas, it's hard to avoid remote controls run amok!
Now that every device in the ent...
