The Organizing Task I Tackled Without Getting Out of Bed

 

I had intended to have a “Reveal” post for you today. Unfortunately, on Monday, I was felled by a nasty, nasty bug that landed me in the ER by Thursday. Nothing really serious, and I’m on the mend, but needless to say, a big long “Reveal” post isn’t in the works. But then I remembered the ONE thing I did accomplish this week, and thought I’d pass it along.

 

One of the things I’ve found in decorating my own Forever Home is that once a space is designed — thoughtfully, with a plan for both style and functionality — that space stays pretty tidy.

 

A place for everything and everything in its place.

And the place is pretty, too. 🙂

 

We all know that clutter can cause stress and anxiety. (Articles by the New York Times and Motherly, for example). However, I have to tell you a secret …

 

I HATE organizing and cleaning.

 

Like, with a passion that rivals my hatred for remakes of perfect films or sequels that were never intended by the original author. Honest to goodness truth. That’s why I bring in a professional organizer on some projects ;). She’s amazingly talented at it, whereas it really just hurts my brain. I can do it, sorta, but I HATE it.

 

YET I LOVE THE RESULT!

 

My college roommate, the one who went in a tidied my bedroom after I left for Christmas vacation one year, must be laughing her rear end off to read those words. (Side story: I returned in January and saw the room and thought, “I don’t *think* I cleaned up before I left.” But once I got into bed and noticed the hospital corners — that’s how I KNEW someone had cleaned my room. I would NEVER do that! Sarah, if you’re reading — now I always make hospital corners!)

Anywho!

In getting the kitchen remodeled, I was finally able to put things in places that made sense to me. One thing I hadn’t yet tackled (among others) was collecting my recipes.

 

How I Finally Corralled All My Loose Recipes

 

Now I know that everything is digital these days, and I cook with my laptop on the counter at least one night a week, but just like having books around, I need to see and hold my favorite recipes. The ones I find online that I really like, I usually print out.

I had a 9″x13″ photo album/binder that I had stuffed 15 years worth of recipe cutouts and things I had jotted down on everything from your typical recipe cards to post-its to napkins. It was driving me crazy that I had to rifle though a thousand recipes to get to the one I wanted, and that everything was falling all over the place. Furthermore, the pile made my little exposed cookbook cubby in the new kitchen look like crap.

 

Ugliness & Clutter = Anxiety and Stress

 

I sorted through my album for the recipes that were true keepers and ended up with this stack.

 

 

Additionally, my mom gave me a 7″x9″ book of recipes with favorite family recipes when the HH and I tied the knot nearly 17 (!!) years ago. It’s been well-loved and the cover had long-since fallen off.

 

 

I looked for a recipe keeper that would cover all the bases — something that could handle all the different sizes of my recipes, dividers and tabs that made sense without creating a lot of thought (i.e. hurting brain) for me, and something aesthetically pleasing.

A lot recipe keepers were too country-style, but I found this one on Amazon I liked.

 

 

There are a few different colors available, but I liked the nice, clean, plain look of the grey.

 

What I also liked about this was that it came with 12 tab dividers & 20 sticker labels with categories — so you can pick and choose which are most pertinent to your own collection.

 

 

For instance, I definitely used the BRUNCH label (we do brunch on Saturdays and Sundays at the Mitchell maison!), but I didn’t use the VEGETABLE label, because I wanted to file my vegetable dishes under SIDES.

 

 

You have to order page protector inserts, so I got a couple packages of the full page and the half-page protectors.

 

 

The half-page (I got the 4×6 sheets) protectors worked great for my recipes on notecards and post-its!

 

 

I took a quick video for you to see the final result!

 

 

Do you have a recipe junk box/binder/bin that’s driving you crazy? I’m sure that I’m not alone.

A pin to remember me by!

 

 

I’ll be back next week with that reveal, and stay tuned for a big announcement — something that many of you have been requesting for quite some time is in the works!

See you next Saturday!

-Amy