Wednesday 21 February 2018

5 Minute Project- Miscellaneous Shelf

We have a shelf in our kitchen where we keep items that are definitely not kitchen type items.  It is sort of our version of a junk drawer.  This miscellaneous shelf has a tendency to become cluttered.  It has an ever-changing purpose and is therefore hard to keep in check.  I organized this shelf quickly this week and I feel that its purpose is now defined.

Before:

One of the lessons that I have learned in my pursuit of minimalism is to keep like items together.  This enables you to see how much of something you have.  It is a wonderful lesson, but one that slips my mind now and then.  I made the mistake of hiding some of my sweets on this shelf.  I have a perfectly good spot in the pantry for my sweets so I relocated them there.  I removed the baby food tray, as Miss. Em won't be needing it any time soon.  I located a better storage container for my pump parts and Miss. Em's soothers.

After:


This cupboard looks so much better and it is much more organized.  This cupboard is now reserved only for pump parts, soothers, phone chargers, offertory envelopes and take out menus.  This was another quick project and only took a few minutes of my time.

Friday 9 February 2018

Snack Time

Life with a toddler and a baby is busy.  I am breastfeeding my new daughter.  She is a bit of a cluster feeder, which means that I am often in my chair feeding her for long periods of time.  Breastfeeding makes me extremely hungry, as well.  Making food for another human being is hard work!  I needed to come up with a way to have food available for my toddler and I to grab quickly when one of us needed a snack.  I decided to make bento box style snacks to have available in the fridge.

I purchased silicone baking cups and Ziploc containers to make my 'snack boxes'.  I do my best to fill them with nutritious food that will keep me satisfied.  I try to have a fruit or vegetable, a fat and a protein in each snack box.  When I have time (usually during my youngest daughter's afternoon nap), I prepare the boxes and put them in the fridge.  They are easy to grab when we need something quick to eat and they provide the nutrition that we require. 


Here are some recent snack boxes that I have made for my daughter and I to enjoy: