Sunday 7 July 2013

I heart my label maker

I love labelling things. Do you?? I wish I had HEAPS of time to make beautiful and gorgeous labels, but I don't. I love using my Dymo LetraTag label maker. I have had one for almost 10 years, and then it died earlier this year. I did have a look around for others, but I decided to stick with what I knew and loved! The machine itself is inexpensive, easy to use and produces good quality labels. I have a whole collection of tape and use it to label EVERYTHING. 

I bought this one and my previous label maker from Big W and Coles for half price. They always come on sale, usually after christmas in the stationary and back to school sales. 



I'm thinking of buying one of these as well. You can print from your computer and they look really professional. I found this deal from Dymo Online and I think its not a bad deal. I always buy my label tape in bulk, so I'm likely to buy a few hundred dollars worth of tape at one time and the fact that I get the label maker for free is drawing me in!



What do you use to label things in your house? Do you have the same love for your label maker as I do? Let me know in the comments!

Love xx

Friday 5 July 2013

I heart my pantry - ALL DONE!

Can you believe it?? It's all done! Taking photos and writing notes has taken waaaaaay longer than the actual organising. But its part of the process and I want to share my thinking.


Here is the bottom shelf all done. I've got a turn table (Lazy Susan) from Howard's Storage World. You can pick them up in store, but I got this one from their online store. I've got all my oils, sauces and salt and pepper stored on this. I wish you could see it spin, its AmAzInG! Yes, I really am that excited about the way it spins.


My cans and jars are stacked up really nicely on this expanding shelf (again from Howard's Storage World). I don't use these cans and jars a whole lot, so I don't mind stretching behind to get them. 

My orange dot on peanut butter shows which jar I'm currently using. Saves me reaching for the wrong one. 


I removed some of the jars so you can see the expanding shelf. It has a rubber matting with grip so your jars and cans won't slide around. I love the way it steps up and expands to fill any space. It makes it so easy to see what I've got and what I need to buy.


I put all my packets and sachets to the side. I use these often. You might be able to see behind them a packet of stock as well. They all stand nicely and I can easily see what I need and what I have. 


I added back my hanging shelf (again from Howard's Storage World) to store biscuits and any other packets I don't want squashed. It makes good use of the space I can't use due to this shelf being quite tall. Seeing as I don't use the jars at the back too often, it doesn't affect being able to access that area.


The third shelf up holds more cake making ingredients, tea, coffee, batteries and phone chargers.
I used another one of the 8.5L Decor buckets (check out my earlier post). In front of the bucket is my tea caddy (from Howard's Storage World). On the left you can see three stacked plastic boxes with dividers. They came from K Mart and were in the hardware section. The bottom one has more Tea & Hot Drinks. Next one up has phone chargers, phone cords and Lens Cleaning Wipes (from Costco). The very last one has all my batteries and screws - little pieces of hardware I use often and usually around the kitchen area.


So here is my box with Tea and Hot Chocolate. I must admit I have taken these from VERY expensive hotels. And seeing as I don't drink tea & coffee, I keep it only for guests and visitors. The Twinings wouldn't fit in the tea caddy, so I had to think of another solution. This cam from K Mart and was around $6.


This container holds our iPhone chargers, small torches, lens cleaning wipes (which I use to clean the screen of my phone, TV and iMac, as well as some velcro tape. I used to find that the iPhone cords were floating around and when you really needed one you couldn't find one. Thank goodness that isn't a problem anymore!!



The last box in the stack holds all different sizes of batteries, screws and other things to do with drawers or hanging pictures. Before I had them all organised like this I found that I was forever buying packets of batteries, screws and picture hooks, as I could NEVER find them. Then when I did eventually find where they had been stashed, I'd have a 2-5 year supply of them. Organising my batteries and screws this way has definitely saved me money!

This box is smaller than the previous two, it was around $4 from K Mart. I made the labels with my Dymo LetraTag (more on that in an upcoming post). 



I LOVE this tea caddy (and I don't even drink tea!) It was quite pricey at around $15-20 and it cam from Howard's Storage World. The lid just closes so nicely and it feel like quality.


The top shelf is quite high up and I rarely reach up there. I have 3 things up there, cake tins, foil trays & plastic plates used to transport food or 'take a plate' and straws.


All done! I'm happy that its more organised and everything has its place. 

How do you organise your pantry cupboard??

Love xx










Thursday 4 July 2013

I heart my dry goods shelves - Pantry do over

I have spent about 10 mins re-organising my dry goods shelves in the pantry.

The first thing I did was fix up the space that used to be a wrap dispenser (foil and/or cling wrap). I keep things in here that I use often or don't fit in the shelves properly elsewhere. I keep mustard and curry powder, a packet of matches and some kitchen labels (which I put on containers of leftovers and find them a new home in the freezer). My labels came from the $2 shop and they were $2 they are on a pad and I use them a lot!

Last night I cooked too much boiled rice, and instead of throwing it out or letting it sit in the fridge until it got thrown out. I put in into a plastic container, with a label and put it in the freezer for use another time.

On the bottom shelf I have all my food colourings. This way I'm never milling in the cake aisle at the supermarket wondering if I have one colour or another. I always know what I've got because I look at them every day!
 
What do you think of my use of this space?

Next, I started with an empty shelf, so I took everything out and placed it on my kitchen bench. 


As you can see, the shelves are quite narrow and deep, so you can fit a lot in... but you can't see what you've got very well. I used Decor plastic containers to solve the problem on this shelf.


The larger box is 8.5L and the smaller is 5.5L. The larger one I got from Big W in the christmas sales (and I can't remember how much I paid - sorry!). I have put cake mixes, icing sugar and dry biscuits that I use to make slices and the bases for cheesecakes. The smaller one I got from Coles and I paid half price. DO NOT pay full price for these containers!! Don't pay 20%, 30% or 40% off, wait it out until they come up for sale in the weekly specials at 50% off, it WILL happen! When I see these for sale at 50% off I buy up! Anyways, in the smaller one I keep boxes of jelly and sachets of shakes and pudding mix.

I've put the handles facing the front so I can easily pull them out when I need them. 



The next two containers are also the Decor 5.5L ones with the blue handle. In one I keep more baking ingredients (things I use in my slices or cakes). In the other I keep nuts and dried fruit, which could be classified as 'baking ingredients' but I actually eat these either on their own or in salads. Crasins and slivered almonds.... have you tried it?? They are delish!


Look how easy it is to just pull one container out!



Next I put my Quick Oats in. I love having these a few times a week for breakfast, so I need them within easy reach. 



The box slides nicely into place. 



Infront of my quick oats bag, I'm going to put my box of Ziploc bags. I got these from Costco. I heart my Ziploc bags and I especially heart Costco!



Slides nicely into place! The last thing I put into this shelf was a box of Lindt chocolates that I bought on sale at Coles (half price). I always like to buy these when they are reasonably priced. They come in handy when there is an unexpected birthday or thank you present to be given. I want to know they are there, but I don't want to have them presented to me so nicely that I want to eat them!

Phew.... and that's just one shelf! I'll just take photos of the rest and put them into another post! Hope you've enjoyed reading!

Love xx


Wednesday 3 July 2013

My Pantry Cupboard - Before




My Pantry Cupboard

So I haven't updated my pantry cupboard since January! Can you believe it??? I think its time to do a little throwing away and re-organising! On each shelf I have plastic containers to keep like items together. This cupboard is really narrow and deep, so it makes it hard to get to things at the back! I'll post a shelf by shelf analysis of what I've done soon. 

How do you organise your supplies?? Have any tips, tricks or cool ideas??

Love xx

Tuesday 2 July 2013

First Post!

Well I've finally done it! I've started a blog about everything I love and everything that makes me happy! I figure that most people love being organised, or at least the idea of being organised. I'm a bit of both. If I don't have time, things can go awry pretty quickly. So when I have put an organising system into place, I want to travel back in time and kiss my past self, for making life easy! I love labels, cooking, travelling, shopping and making my home a functional and beautiful place! My next post will be about my pantry cupboard in the kitchen! I did a complete overhaul in January and am about to have another go!

Love xx