Barefoot Deliberations: 29 Day Challenge: Procrastination Central

This week, I had a senior project manager at work tell me (about an upcoming project) that:

"If the project has 100 (class) rooms and you've got four months to do them and you're two months into the job and you aren't done 50 rooms, you better look at bringing contractors in as YOU CAN'T DO MORE THAN HALF THE JOB WITH ONLY HALF THE TIME LEFT."

Houston, I have a problem.

I am 10 days from the final reveal and guess who has not progressed past the first cabinet? That would be me, in case you couldn't guess!

I did, however, get the rack for my spice cupboard, a drawer unit for TroubleMaker's snacks and something to start working on my "Command Centre".

I think I'll have to focus on my "hot spots" and get a much larger box for purging.

On the plus side, my first cupboard is remaining organized! Yay! I'm going to get into high gear tomorrow and see if I can't catch up! Check back in a couple days and see what I've accomplished!

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February 20th Update!

Today it felt a little like a screen shot from Sleeping with the Enemy. As I mentioned, I was behind... Really behind... And although I am still behind schedule, I do believe after my crazy-do-it-all today attitude, I can see the finish line and I fully expect to be ready for the reveal on the 29th! Let's get to the progress I made today!

Servery Cupboard (before)

Servery Cupboard (after)

This cupboard holds some of the serving dishes that match our dinner set. It also is home to an odd collection of travel cups and antique breakfast dishes that I never use. I also found bubbles and the wedding favour from my parents wedding in 2005 (Dad & second mother).

Dinnerware Cupboard (before)

Dinnerware Cupboard (after)

Next is my dinnerware cabinet. Although the lower portion of the cupboard was fine, the top shelf had a hodge-podge of coffee mugs. I had decided to purge all the mugs and save only those with the "most" sentimental value. If TroubleMaker had his way, we would have kept every cup... Thankfully, he lost interest and moved onto another project. Cleaning out the cups allowed me to move the patio dinnerware into this cupboard so it is "same with same". I also decided against buying new coffee mugs - I decided that the cups that match the dinnerware will work just fine for coffee.

Pantry Cupboard (before)

The next cupboards are where I began to feel a little "Sleeping with the Enemy". I actually had so much stuff shoved in these cupboards and had already purged so much out of the first two cupboards that I no longer had anywhere to place stuff! Instead of emptying it completely, I moved the top shelf (my summer dinnerware) and used the top shelf as a staging area.

Pantry Cupboard (after)

As I sorted and stacked, I felt the compulsion to align all the labels... It was creepy but the straighter I got the labels, the happier I was! My husband even commented on how good it looked and how I should be overly concerned with the three packages of pudding, fruit cups and Kool-Aid that had gotten lost and was now past the "best before" date. He also concluded that organizing it was "fine" but it was the long term management we would both have issues with. I am also proud to say that by cleaning out this cupboard, I was able to home several packages of snacks, munchies and pickles that had been stacked on the counter because I had no more room!

Snack Cupboard (before)

The next cupboard started off it's life as the tea cupboard and evolved into the "kid cupboard". Then it was a cross of both tied in with some of my medication (because there was no room in the medication cupboard). This is where I run into the duplicate and triplicate problem. Last weekend, I picked up a drawer unit for "sometimes snacks". Once I got into this cupboard, I realized for a family of people who don't drink tea, we sure have a lot of teas...

Snack Cupboard (after)

I cleaned so much out of this cupboard that I can now home all the coffee supplies (including the carafe, press and grinder)! The tease are organized in a stacking basket and the lower shelf are all lunch/kid snacks! I can see this simplifying the lunch making process for me!

Bar servery/medication Cupboard (before)

The last cupboard I tackled today was the one I knew I'd be getting rid of the most stuff. My husband and I are not big drinkers however my sister managed a liquor store and we got lots of beer glasses. We also had lots (and lots and lots) of wine glasses and just about a dozen high ball glasses. I was ruthless in this cupboard... I kept six beer glasses and six wine glasses. I got rid of all the crystal (goblets, red and white, aperitif and champagne) and all the highball glasses.

Bar servery/medication Cupboard (after)

Cleaning out this cupboard gave me SO MUCH room in my kitchen! All the medications can be in one spot and I've got a home for our lunch kits and even was able to keep a few of the oddball cups TroubleMaker wanted and a home for our collection of Christmas mugs.

What surprised me most was the room I gained. I've read Laura's recommendation to use baskets to store snacks and such but I had a hard time grasping the idea. It never seemed logical that removing the products from it's packaging and putting it a container could reduce the amount of real estate it required! I am a believer... Not only did it work, doing so created a half bag of recycling! The whole process also created a half garbage bag of garbage! I've got three very full boxes of purged stuff to pass along! Look at my purge piles... I can't believe all this stuff was crammed in the kitchen!