Organisation Accomplishments {+ I am Nerdy}

This week I've realised [not for the first time, mind] that I really am a little nerdy.

Did I just say that?!

The reason being, is that I thoroughly enjoy spending time at home organising! It really makes me so happy! I find it so satisfying to sit down after a few hours of work and know I have been productive... yet thoroughly enjoyed the process of that productivity.

Tell me I'm not the only one? There has to be someone else out there who is similar!

The house we live in at the moment literally has 5 cupboards: 1 pantry, 3 kitchen cupboards (one of which is only half-size), and 1 linen cupboard. The storage struggle has been real in the Santos house for the last 8 months!

Andre recently started painting the house, so boxes and random items have been strewn throughout the house to make way for the paint job.

This kicked my butt into gear, and I have accomplished a significant amount in the last couple days, which I'd like to share here - not because anyone is probably interested, but because I'm very happy with what I've achieved, and I want to keep my motivation going over the coming weeks to get some more things checked of my list!!

• We purchased two small wardrobes, and are now using one for our clothes (which were previously hanging on a rack in the open which was quite functional, but just looked a little messy), and the other will be used for storage in the spare room.

• I did some rearranging of our bathroom cupboard/drawers/shelves to make that space more functional. This included throwing out some dried-out tubes of moisturiser and the like. I also moved our shower caddy to a different wall in the shower so it looks a little neater and more out of the way.

• The linen cupboard had somehow become very messy, so I took everything out and started again! The top shelf holds items that we will very rarely need to use but do need to keep; the next two hold linen; the next holds a box of all our board games; and the bottom shelf holds a box of Christmas decorations (we even had a "Christmas Cake" box from when we moved 9 months ago [ha!] which happened to be the perfect size for our decorations) and all our blankets.

• Our landlord installed a pantry in the kitchen for us, so FINALLY we are not limited to two shelves for pantry items! I have now rearranged our other kitchen cupboards to be functional - for me, that means all our daily-used items at the front of the shelves, and lesser-used items such as baking tins at the back of the shelves - which should make kitchen life just that little bit easier.

• I gathered some clothing, shoes, cookbooks and CDs that I no longer use and will take these to the op shop. I will also take a huge pile of plastic bags as we have far too many.

With regard to storage and organising, I often look on Pinterest for ideas, and there are so many lovely photos of cupboards and storage solutions to inspire. However, I'm not willing to go out and buy matching boxes/trays/etc to simply store things away in a cupboard (even if they do look pretty!). Right now, shoe boxes and Christmas Cake boxes do the trick for me! I am very happy to recycle for storage, especially since no one will really ever look inside my linen cupboard!

The process of organising various spaces in my home is truly enjoyable to me - I do want to live simply and with less stress, and for me, storing things neatly and decluttering helps me to relax and enjoy my home. I saw this quote today which I want to remember:

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

(shared by The Humbled Homemaker; original source unknown)

Do you enjoy organising your home? Why, or why not?

~Rachel