The Journey to a FUNCTIONAL kitchen: Unstuffed!

I have always hated our kitchen, though it was too small and i started to hate having to do anything in there and that's been hard for me because i love to cook and bake. Upon reading the kitchen section in this book i realised that i could work with what i have, all i needed to do was to unstuff the space and create a functional kitchen. The book suggests creating a special space for each are invloved in food preparation. I will hopefully be able to explain in the pictures how i have broken my kitchen down.


These pictures were taken after i had started pulling it apart, it didn't always have junk all over the benches, i did try my hardest to keep it tidy, but i felt i was fighting a losing battle. You get the idea.

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This is the finished product, i did a little more moving things around, you'll see that later. I love the gadget/appliance shelf now. I was very reluctant to have to get out the blender or the mixer as it was near impossible to get to it and now i can't wait to use them all again!!! I have swapped the positions of the microwave and toaster oven/kettle from where they were to here and back again but i think i'm loving it here at the moment. The knife block up on the shelf and chopping board form part of my preparation area which is the little 'L' bench space they are near/on.

This is my preparation storage space i lined all of the shelves with the matting as i HATED that stuck on gross mouldy torn stuff that was on there previously. Eventually i'd like to paint them. Anything that i would need to prepare food lives here and i have labeled all of the cupboard doors with the contents that are to be placed in there. The top shelf are the prep items and the second shelf will have all of my cookbooks and misc items like piping bags and cookie cutters. p.s. wish i had larger cupboards ☺

This area is pretty self explanitary cleaning and wraps/bags etc.

This is my food service area, really needs to be ten times bigger but i am making do as i have lost some storage space in the kitchen for now. All of the cups, plates, bowls and serving bowls. trays etc are in this section

The cooking area, includes saucepans, frypans, baking dishes etc. This area stretches along the back wall, the cupboard to the right of the oven was meant to contain my trays and tins (muffin tins, cake tins etc.) but we'll get to that later. I have since moved the saucpans.

Saucepans live here for the time being as well as the cooking utensils

Pantry, i have always labeled my pantry i think even if it's full everything has it's own little space.

 These are my ruined cupboards, the cause of the frustration i have felt in sorting this space out. Left is pantry, right is what was meant to be my pans and tins storage.

We had time today while i was avoiding the kitchen to do a quick unstuff in the boys rooms, this is Finny's room.

Owen's Room

 I still have plenty of spring cleaning to do and i still need to clean the oven and fridge and sort out the kitchen drawers but i'm glad i have gotten this far. I hope there might be some tips to help you in your unstuffing journey ☺☺☺

Entrance, Lounge and Dining UNSTUFFED!

Play corner



The Unstuffing Dilemma

I am sitting here having leftover chicken and veg and a cup of coffee for lunch listening to the most random mixed playlist. As i am sitting here i am looking around at this room, I am very proud of my efforts and the feel of this room is like a breath of fresh, warm, homely air. I am well on my way in my 'Unstuffing journey' today...... however as i glance around this lovely inviting, relaxing room i catch a glimpse from the corner of my eye of the graveyard that is the 'room that was'. Everything from this room has been relocated to what used to be my dining room, dining table and part of my kitchen bench. Here is my dilemma. I feel so proud and satisfied at my achievement for this morning, though i also feel stuck and overwhelmed at the sheer volume of 'stuff' that has been taking over this space and now have to sort through it deciding in the process what to donate, throw away and keep. Every part of this experience is daunting to me as i have a very hard time knowing what i 'need' to keep and a hard time breaking through the 'i might need that later on or i am emotionaly attatched' scenarios. I am not a hoarder i think i'm pretty normal, most people i know have a whole bunch of stuff and usually not enough places to put it. I am more than happy to let go of of  these inanimate objects however i say again my problem is not knowing if i will need it down the track or that the item has sentimental value. As far as keeping things is concerned my fear is that i will just start jamming things back in to my lovely revamped space and it will end up overwhelmingly cluttered again. It is also hard being the only person responsible for the space as well, i am the one who has to sort it all out therefore all of the other lovley beings that habitate the area just drop things or jam things in spaces and walk away. I have decided on a plan of attack and it may well be the worst thing that i can decide to do but with two young children and a busy life it is the way i'm doing it. I have decided that i am going to have a 'dumping and sorting room'. My little boys have a playroom that is generally quite tidy, all of the toys are separated in to categories and placed in plastic tubs on larg shelves. This room has been 'trashed' and is undergoing some much needed tidying as i write. It is about to be taken over by the contents of my unstuffing journey. I plan to take everything from every room in this house that needs to be sorted and jam it in there until the time comes when i can sort through it thoroughly. This may seem like a bad idea and it is in some respects, i'm delaying the inevitable however i need to get this house completely sorted as it is driving me mad. I am downsizing, eliminating and simplifying to the best of my ability. This way i can do all of the process at once from the sorting (donate, keep, sell) to the re-homing (trips to vinnies, creating a place for everything-everything its place system, having a garage sale). Please wish me luck, i will need it!!

Unstuffing Journal

The process to unstiffing this life requres for me to create a journal to help me along the way, where better to keep it than here.
Chapter one encourages us to establish that 'you are not your stuff', it requires for a list of  49 questions to be answered, so here goes.

1. Do you often feel stuck? Yes
2. How often do you feel overwhelmed? Regularly
3. Do you ever feel that there's something else you should be doing but can't ever seem to get to it? Yes
4. Are there things you keep telling yourself you'll do as soon as some other things are finished? Yes
5. Do you ever finish those other things and actually get to the things you've put off? Not often
6. Do you ever feel caught up, as if everything on your to-do list has been checked off? No
7. Do you ever complain of being bored, or having too much time on your hands? Hardly
8. If so, how do you address that? What do you do to fill in the time? If i have spare time i procrastinate
9. Do you stop what you're doing when anyone calls and shift your attention to them? No not generally.
10. Do you do this whether its an emergency or just an everyday call? I would stop if an emergency not just for a chat.
11. Do you always agree to do a favour for someone, whether it's convenient for you or not? Sometimes
12. If so, do you ever feel put-upon or get resentful as a result? Yes sometimes
13. Do you think that saying no makes you a bad or selfish person? Sometimes 
14. Is there ever an appropriate time to say no? When? Yes if i have previous commitments.
15. Do you get resentful if people say no to you? No not generally
16. Do you take "no" personally- do you sometimes think that they might have yes to someone else under similar circumstances? No not generally
17. What's the difference between an excuse and an explanation? an excuse is giving yourself permission not to do something using either truth or lie to yourself or the person you are giving the excuse to. An explanation to someone invloves telling them of the current situation that you are in and why you cannot do what it is they want you to do.
18. Do you think you're often offering valid explanations for things and not making excuses? Sometimes excuse sometimes explanation.
19. Have you ever had a disagreement with someone over this interpretation? No
20. Does your stuff seem to have a life of its own? Sometimes
21. Do you set something down and swear it moves sometime during the night? On occasion
22. How often during a week do you misplace something you need- keys, wallet, cell phone? On occasion
23. Are you mostly upbeat, except when you think about your stuff? Generally
24. Or did you used to be, and now you just feel beaten down?
25. Do you have piles of papers around but swear you can't find anything in them? Yes
26. Have you ever freaked out- become panicky or unreasonably upset- when someone has moved your stuff? No
27. Have you ever lost something that was important to you because someone confused it for trash? Not regularly
28. If that has happened, do you feel partly responsible or are you the victim of someone else's mistarke? Feel responsible
29. Do you get nervous when the phone rings? No
30. Do you screen your calls? Sometimes
31. Has stuff made living in your home challenging? Can do
32. Does your stuff seem to force you into smaller and smaller living spaces? Not really
33. Do you sleep to one side of your bed because you have a pile of stuff nect to you? No
34. Do you sometimes have difficulty breathing? Not regularly
35. Do you spend more time looking for things than doing the things you love? Not really
36. Is looking for things threatening to overtake your passions? No
37. Are you often just a few minutes late to get someehere? No not regularly
38. Do you tell yourself that being late is no big deal? I dislike being late
39. Do you think that the people you love are more important than your stuff? Yes they are
40. If someone looked only at your behaviour, would they objectively see that? Not necesarily
41. When you are feeling blue, do you think that shopping will get you out of your funk? I do but i hardly give in to it.
42. Does the act of buying something give you a warm and fuzzy feeling? It can
43. Have you ever said "i'd die without ___________?" Yes
44. If  you've said the previous sentence, were you talking about a person or a thing? A person
45. Do you often speak in absolutes (I always or I never)? Sometimes.
46. Do you have stories about most of the things you own? Some of them
47. Do you like to tell them to your friends or family? How about strangers? Anyone who'll listen? Not often
48. Do they find the stories as fascinating as you do? Rarely
49. Do you think you spend more time talking about stuff or about things you've done or plan to do? I think so.

So there are the answers to the list of questions. Now what's next.

The next part goes on to give a great explanation of what 'stuff' actaully is:

Stuff (noun):
Miscellaneous inanimate unspecified objects.

Unstuffing this life andFood shopping experiences

Eventually i hope to take on some organisational techniques and i am hoping that this will be sort of life changing for myself and my little family. I am hoping to use this book that was given to me by my wonderful mumma to help me out

Today I did my usually weekly shopping trip, we shop withing a budget and most weeks i'm pretty good at keeping under it. Today i went to the usual two grocery stores: Aldi and Woolworths. I had to share the pics that i took of the two hauls to show the difference in pricing. Granted shop number two (Woolies) was most of our meat but i still did buy meat at shop number 1. I spent almost the exact same amount of money at each store and this is what i came out with.

Shop 1

All fruit (bananas,pears,apples, capsicum)



All veg (potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, mush, spinach, beans, brocoli,onions)
Meat (mince 1kg, bacon 1kg)
Cheese, milk, sour cream
Tea, tinned tomatoes, cerial, mustard, popcorn, fish oil tablets,eggs, english muffins, wholemal wraps, disenfectant, lasagne sheets, snack rice crackers.
May have forgotten a few things but this is just an example. Approx 30-35 items

Shop 2

Meat (mixed mince, steak, roast, chicken breast (its cheaper at shop 1 but i forgot it)
Yoghurt, parmesan cheese, rosmary
Fruit and Veg juice
Vege chips and coffee
12 Items.

As i said shop number 2 had more meat and i plan to try and get it cheaper elsewhere as suggested to me by my lovely friend.

So the next thing is to write out the meal plan for the week (which is in my head) and i did shop according to it.

Hopefully i'm ont he right track to my unstuffed life!!