When Life Gives You Lemons...

Clean the kitchen!  

Okay, I know this isn't exactly a living large in small spaces thing, but I figure it's helpful, and it's been far too long since I posted!  Plus, part of keeping sane in a small space is keeping it clean.

I love the smell of fresh lemons, and have found that frozen lemons can do fabulous things for cleaning.  I like to take a lemon and slice it into quarters, then each quarter into half, and then thirds.  I drop the pieces into an ice-cube tray, squeeze some of the juice into all the compartments, then fill them up with water.  

Once frozen, they are great for a variety of uses.  I just keep 'em in a plastic baggie in the freezer door.  

For the sink disposal: toss two or three lemon cubes in to grind up and clean, sharpen and deodorize the blades and disposal.

For the microwave: drop one or two into a microwave-safe bowl, add water, and microwave for 2-5 minutes (depending on the wattage) on high power.  Let sit for another 5 minutes, and then wipe microwave down immediately.

You can also do something similar to this to help with the oven cleaning.

For hard water stains/boil marks in pots and pans: fill pot or pan with water, bring to almost boiling, let simmer and add a handful of the lemon cubes.  Cover with lid, turn off heat, and let steam.  This doesn't completely remove the stains, but it helps when it comes to elbow grease time.

And as a bonus, the lemon juice is good for freshening up your wooden cutting board, and if you really want to get all Martha-Stewarty, the lemon cubes make a "fabulous addition to any afternoon get-together" (insert creepy chuckle here).  

Adding on Rooms DIY fabulous UPDATE

I saw THE COOLEST thing on RachaelRayShow.com.  Don't laugh. You watch her show, too; don't deny it...

One of her gurus did some armoire makeovers that were amazing! Check out the videos here and here.  

They transformed basic armoires into several creative things:

a home office (I had seen the IKEA version of this, but it was cool to see them using an existing piece of furniture, especially to keep stuff out of landfills when folks upgrade their TV to a flat screen)

a murphy bed for guests in a living room or a child's room (holy crap! We can raise several kids in just a couple of rooms someday!  Whoo hoo!)

a changing station for a nursery (heck, with the space we've got, that will be the entire nursery)

and even a bar for keeping and serving drinks at a party.  

I also thought it would be cool to turn an armoire into a few other things:

a game room (room to store games, a fold out table, maybe a dartboard at the back)

a laundry room (minus the washer and dryer, obviously, but a nice way to disguise laundry room clutter and a fold-down ironing board)

or even a bowling alley, complete with a fold-out lanes and snack bar!

I was just kidding about that last one.  Mostly. 

I would love to hear your ideas or even what you have already used an armoire or similar furniture for.  Brag away!

Rules to Live By #5: Compartmentalize, compartmentalize, compartmentalize.

One of my favorite scenes from the movie Happy Gilmore is when he's trying to learn how to putt and it's going badly. After several desperate attempts, he kneels down and screams at the golf ball, "Why won't you go to your home? Are you too good for your home?!?" Mayhem and hilarity ensue.

Whenever I see clutter around our house (does it breed when we turn the lights out?), that's what I find myself saying--"Go to your home!" I've found that if everybody has an easily accessible home, then instead of just dropping the hammer, pencil, remote, etc. wherever, there is a better chance that we'll put it back neatly where it belongs.

I think a fancy-schmancy garage with lots of storage space (what is this "storage space" of which you speak?) has a lot for a small home dweller to learn from, despite the dissimilarities in size. Particularly, the tool part of the garage. Because most people want to leave room for their cars, there can be some great examples of Rules to Live By #2: Think vertically as well as compartmentalization. I love the pegboard tool holder. Especially when it has outlines drawn on it to show which tool goes where. It looks a bit like a crime scene for a tool mass murderer, but it sure is handy to have all the tools laid out where they're easy to get to, with all their little homes, but vertically, so they don't make a large "footprint."

We have lots of hooks all over the place for hanging flashlights, keys, ponytail holders, potholders, etc. This means that they don't just get tossed anywhere and then get lost. No outlines, just hung in specific places (the potholders over the stove) that make sense and in some sort of order for multiple items (the flashlights in descending order, largest to smallest). Especially since we have very little drawer space, this is great.

But what to do with the drawers we do have? How to keep them from getting cluttered and useless? It's really frustrating to have to rummage through a drawer for 5 minutes just looking for the can-opener. The answer I've found is lots of smaller trays. Most people have a silverware divider that keeps the spoons from fraternizing with the forks. I like to apply this to other drawers, and shelves as well.

They have clever subdividers in stores that expand and lock into place to keep your kitchen utensil drawer in neat segments. They're expensive, however, and I've found that the shallow plastic trays that you can get at the dollar store and other chain stores (for pretty cheap) work well, too. And there's an actual bonus that you can pull out one subdivided section to get to one that is further back, somewhat like the way the top part of a handheld toolbox comes out to reveal the space beneath. This makes it nice to have homes for the less-used gadgets and such that are still easily accessible. A drawer within a drawer, if you will.

There is a caution I've found in subdividing, and that is not to go too crazy. Some personalities may be different, but I can get overwhelmed by too much subdividing if I can't remember where things are supposed to go. If the spaghetti holder, the spatula, the whisk, etc. etc. all have their own homes, it might work, but it might also get confusing. I like to group like items and let them hang out together. What would be an easy way to split up kitchen utensils to narrow down the choices when it comes time to fish something out? A good way to categorize could be bladed/sharp (can opener, veggie peeler, cheese grater--a bit dangerous but well-organized) vs. "heavy" (rolling pin, meat tenderizer, potato masher, etc.). Or, if your utensils--like ours--were added over time and don't all match, categorize them by material (metal utensils vs. plastic. ), color or even brand.

The point is to find what works for you and this may take quite a bit of experimenting. Try one way of compartmentalizing a kitchen drawer. Be faithful to use that system for a week. If at the end of the week, it's still driving you nuts and doesn't seem to be helping, try something else. Eventually, you'll find a system that is easy to use, efficient, and keeps the utensils from getting all tangled up. It's amazing how a whisk, a potato masher and a spaghetti scoop can all form a new creature that is of no use and keeps the drawer from closing!

Give everybody a nice home and be diligent to help them get back there after they get used. Clutter, be gone!