Making the Most of a Tiny Kitchen

As I've mentioned before, my house is TINY.  It's cute, I love it, and I wouldn't trade it, even for 1,000 more square feet.  But it's really small.  So in order to stay happy with my lack of space, I have to be careful about how I use it.  I have lots of tricks, especially in the kitchen.

1.  Keep items that live on your counters to an absolute minimum.
Every item on your kitchen counters takes up visual space.  Some are necessary, like my darn coffee maker that I can't seem to ditch, some are aesthetic, like the ceramic bowl I made in college, and some things are just clutter, making the room look smaller.  If you're unhappy with your space, it's important to evaluate how many things are visible in your kitchen.  Are they making your kitchen into a pretty, useful place?  Or are they just there making your room look cluttered?

2.  Use every spare inch.
If your home is like mine, you probably didn't have appropriate storage when you moved in (Why are old houses notorious for the lack of storage?) Space is such a hot commodity in a tiny house, and sometimes, you just have to create it for yourself.  When I moved into my house, there were only three miniature drawers in the entire kitchen.  None of them were wide enough to hold a normal utensil organizer.  So, I had to get creative.

I started hanging things from the insides of the cabinet doors.

Command hooks work so perfectly for hanging things up because they're removable and won't damage the wall they're hanging on.  I have pulled some off and placed them elsewhere when I didn't like where they were.

3.  Pare down kitchen items ruthlessly.
The picture below is a good example of NOT following that rule to the letter.  I have two glass measuring cups and two graters.  I really don't need two.  It's just that I have been keeping two around so I don't have to wash dishes so often.  Which is a pretty dumb reason...

Anyway, the cupboard from that picture (the part unseen) is habitually running out of room and disorganized, despite my best efforts.  This summer it will be getting a much needed overhaul, and the duplicates have to go.

4.  Invest in extra shelving and organizational systems.
Unless you live in a house with a custom-built kitchen, chances are that your cupboard space is not ideal.  In my house, some cabinets are way too big and awkward, while others are too small to fit anything useful.  The key was buying tools that would keep my things neat without wasting space.

In the examples below, the drawer where I keep my knives was way too narrow.  I already had the knife holder from my old kitchen, but it was just a little too wide for the drawer.  So, I counted how many spaces I needed in the holder, and had Awesome trim the organizer so it was exactly the size we needed.  Then there was bonus space left over for our pizza cutter!

The other picture is of my baking sheet/cutting board/cooling rack cupboard.  The original space was really strange.  It was the depth of a standard cupboard, but only had one tiny shelf in it.  There was so much wasted space!  So I bought that nifty organizer.  I think it is meant for baking sheets.  Now I can basically "file" all my cooking and cutting boards away and they're ready to go and easy to access.

5.  Make it functional AND pretty!
That rule has been the biggest aha that I've had in this house.  I always used to keep aesthetics and practicality separate.  Then one day, on a whim, I "wallpapered" the inside of my medicine cabinet with scrapbook paper.  The epiphany I had was that I got a happy feeling every time I opened up the medicine cabinet (which makes tooth-brushing much more pleasant), and I also put more effort into keeping the cabinet neat and uncluttered.

I'm sure you saw all the cute paper backings in the above pictures.  Having the insides of my cupboards look pretty makes a huge difference in how I treat them.  I'm more inclined to keep them neat if they look nice.

What tricks do you have for organizing your kitchen?

How to Keep a Tidy[ish] House

My house is little.  It's super cute when it's clean, but even one pillow out of place makes it look disheveled.  I've learned the hard way how to keep it from getting too out of hand.  Here are a few of my tips for keeping your house tidy.

1.  Put rooms to right twice a day.
For me, that means folding throws and putting away the remote and dog toys right before I head out the door to work, and right before bed.  I also put away anything out of place in the bathroom whenever I'm in there.

2.  Put things away as soon as they come in the door.
I don't know about you, but I have someone in my house who walks in the door from work and leaves a trail of belongings behind him: coat in the living room, mail on the kitchen counter, wallet and keys on the couch...it's Sam, of course.  Just can't seem to train that dog yet ;)  But anyway, one of the things that clutters up a tiny house quickly is not putting things away as soon as they enter the door.  I have a routine for putting everything away before I do anything else--keys and lunchbag in the cupboard, purse on its hook, and laptop bag in the spare room.  All ready for tomorrow.  It takes me a couple minutes to get in the door and get everything settled, but then I don't have to worry about my stuff cluttering up the place.

3.  Make the bed.
Amazing how just a tidy bed can make your whole bedroom look better.  Don't believe me?  Try it.  Making the bed seems unnecessary but it can give you a real boost.

4.  Do the dishes.
We're really bad at this one.  We fill up the dishwasher and run it, then the dishes stay there.  And all the new dirty dishes back up.  Then we spend an hour on the weekend cleaning up a disgusting kitchen.  I've tried banning the dishwasher and instituting a no-tv-until-the-dishes-are-done rule, alas, to no avail.  Right now I have a sinkful of dirty dishes, and absolutely no motivation to clean them up.  Obviously we have a lot of work to do to fix this habit.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes.  Just be sure not to follow my example and do your own dishes.  It will make you feel better.

5.  Do periodic decluttering.
If I look back on the past seven years, I have transformed from a person who couldn't have anyone over because of my messy place (Awesome will tell you this is true.  He didn't get to visit my apartment for a very long time when we were dating), to a place where I could have people over comfortably in the next 15 minutes (very kind people who love me a lot and who won't go into the kitchen).  This is primarily because I started decluttering and organizing on a regular basis.  I realized at one point that all my stuff was just responsibility hanging around my neck, making me feel stressed and inadequate. I asked myself,  If my stuff equals extra work, emotional baggage, and responsibility, then do I really want it? No, emphatically NO!

We still have a long way to go before my house is as clean as I'd like it to be, but these 5 tips have helped me over the years.  I hope they help you too.

What tips do you have for keeping your house tidy?

Weaning Off Coffee

Kicking the coffee habit has been a beast.

I had no idea I was so addicted.  I see myself as a person with few vices (chocolate doesn't count, right?), so realizing how deep my dependence on coffee has been has shaken some of my personal confidence.  I want a cup of coffee more than a lot of things, and that's saying something.

That being said, I have been off coffee for about a month now, and I feel like I have finally broken the physical dependence.  The mental/emotional need for coffee is still strong, and I'm anticipating it will be a few more months before I can get through a full day without longing for a cup, but physically, I'm fine.  Not happy, but fine.

I didn't research weaning off caffeine until late in the weaning process, but my progression was some of what I read.  Here is how I weaned off coffee:

Days 1 and 2:  1/4 decaf and 3/4 regular coffee.

Days 3 and 4: 1/2 decaf and 1/2 regular.

Days 5 and 6: 3/4 decaf and 1/4 regular

Days 7 and 8: 100% decaf

Day 9 and beyond: cold turkey! 

This formula is not for the faint of heart.   I still had some headaches, and my energy was very low.  However, I got through the process quickly, which was what I wanted. 

Keep in mind that your body will be going through a tough time during this approach (or any weaning time).  Make sure you drink extra water, get lots of rest, and eat well.  Your body will need some babying as it is working hard!

My Breakup with Coffee

Hi, my name is Allison, and I am a coffee-holic.

There, I’ve said it. 

For fifteen-plus years, coffee has been my flavor of choice, my love, my muse.  Every morning has seen me with a large, steaming cup in hand.  My favorite time of day centers around coffee time.  One of my favorite places is a cute little vine-covered coffee shop from my college days where I spent time studying and socializing.  Ask me if I would prefer coffee or chocolate—well come on, of course I need coffee with chocolate in it! (That was probably a bad example).

But coffee has its downside too, at least for me.  There are the jitters if I don’t eat something with my second cup, or the insomnia if I drink a cup after 5 pm.  There is the awful hotel coffee to suffer through when we go on trips, and the horrible, brain-crushing headaches if I skip my morning java. 

The time has come to break up with my coffee.

Why?

There are many reasons why I’m curbing my coffee habit, but the simplest is that I’m tired of being so physically dependent on anything. I want to get through a stressful day without thinking I need to visit a coffee shop in order to function.   I want to be able to visit non-coffee drinking friends without bringing a coffee stash with me.   I want to take back that corner of my kitchen where the coffee pot lives.

I want my life back. 

So I’m breaking up with coffee. 

Forgive me, my friends, if I get grumpy.  I’m sorry if the withdrawal symptoms make me do crazy things.  But eventually I’ll be a healthier, calmer me, if slower and quieter too.

Goodbye coffee, my delicious dark friend!