From the Desk of Clearissa’s Command Center/Divinely Organized
Welcome to week two of our 21-Day Home Organization Challenge. Not only have we made it to week two but this is day seven. Day seven means that you have organized seven spaces in your home. Well technically six because yesterday was a planning day, but planning is organization as well. So I’m sticking with seven organized areas. We are slow walking this challenge down. 🙂 Oh it’s okay, take a bow. You deserve it!! You’ve made progress over the past week and this upcoming week will lend itself to even more successes in creating an organized living space. If you have missed any of the earlier challenges, you can find them all here.
The concept is that I will suggest a 10 minute assignment daily for the next 21 days. You read that right I am only asking for 10 minutes out of your day to spend on each area/project. I guarantee you will see a difference when the challenge is over. The challenge begins on January 6, 2015 and ends January 27, 2015.
It’s Monday and I realize the beginning of the week can be hectic; however, we must get started. So, drum roll please…today we are tackling the spice cabinet. Did you know that dry spices tend to lose their umphf after six months? I will admit I didn’t either. At least not until a year or so ago. Today we are going to put my new found knowledge to work as we check expiration dates and organize our spice cabinets.
1. take 10 minutes and organize the all important spice cabinet.
2. remember to set your timer or alarm on your cell phone so that you do not get involved and spend more than the allotted 10 minutes (that would be a disaster). Just kidding, I realize sometimes organizing can become addictive.
3. first step, by now you know the routine, pull all of the spices out of the cabinet.
4. check expiration dates and although I dread saying this…toss all spices that have exceeded their expiration date. Yes, you can keep and continue to use them if you choose; however, just know they will not have the same flavor or punch you are expecting. I learned this lesson the hard way. Just so you know I used to buy the extra large, Sam’s Club or BJ’s size spices and they would last for a year or more, depending on which spice it happened to be. But once I learned spices lose their zest after approximately six-months, I had to back away from that practice and purchase smaller, more manageable size spices. Not as convenient but it does increase the flavor of my culinary creations. 🙂
5. now that you have tossed the out dated spices, it’s time to wipe out the cabinet (remember to start with a clean space) and restock the spices that are still valid.
6. if you do not have a pre-planned system for storing your spices, at least replace them in the cabinet alphabetically. I am betting that once you begin this exercise, your creative juices will begin to flow and you will begin to think of creative ways to rganize/rearrange this cabinet in the future. But for today’s 10 minute exercise, we only want to dispose of out dated spices, clean the cabinet and organize remaining spices.
There you have it…your 10 minute challenge for today.
Note: If you do not have a planned system in mind for your spices, this is a good time to begin thinking it through and come up with a plan. There are all sorts of containers, cabinet space savers and lifts that can be used to upgrade the cabinet in the future.
On another note: as I go through this 10-minute per day challenge, I am also keeping a journal. Today’s note for instance, currently I do not have a system in place, per se’. My cabinet is organized, however; my goal is to have all of my spices in the same type bottle and labeled in a consistent way. I will also find a pretty shelf paper and re-line this and all my other cabinets. I am also going to research the stackable storage system for my spice cabinet.
Enjoy your 10 minutes of organizing and remember…A place for everything and everything in its place.
Visit my site tomorrow for your next 10-minute challenge. See you there!
#cccc #divinelyorganized #organization #allthingsarepossible #21daychallenge
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