Weekly Challenge: Declutter and Reorganize the Kitchen

My kitchen is small. Much smaller than my last kitchen. And it is not set up well at all. It makes it hard for me to cook since I have no counter space and I can't find anything that I need.

My goal this week is to reorganize the kitchen. I'm going to go through all the cabinets and reorganize them in a way that makes sense. I plan on getting rid of items that I don't need and are just taking up space. I also need to clean out my old spices (and the refrigerator). I want my counters as clear as I can possibly make them.

I'm really hoping that I have this done before the weekend, since it is a holiday and I want to be able to relax. This might also be a bigger task than I am thinking and it might have to be stretched out over two weeks, but we'll see.

You Capture: Get Outside

Another challenge that I'm interested in doing is You Capture from I Should Be Folding Laundry. I love taking photos, and I'm hoping that this will help me take some that I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

This week's assignment was to get outside. Today was the perfect day to be outside, and I took this while laying on a blanket in the park this morning.

I've been putting WHAT in my hair?

My newest project? Dumping all my old beauty products, and going with clean versions. After finding the No More Dirty Looks blog and book, I started going through my bathroom. I checked my $20 vegan conditioner on the Skin Deep database, and it scored an 8. I was not liking that at all. For $20 a bottle, I want low risk, not high risk.

Almost all of my hair, skin and make-up products had chemicals that I was not happy about, even though most of them were advertised as "natural". Under the current law, the Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938, the FDA does not have a lot of regulatory power and cosmetic companies can get away with almost anything. A new bill, the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, has just been introduced to congress which would change that. Until this bill is passed (if it is passed), I am going to be strictly reading ingredient labels.

So I'm going to be phasing everything out as we finish what we have. In the past, I've had a lot of issues with sensitive skin that I'm hoping that this helps to clear up (but with my luck, it won't). Either way, I'll feel better knowing that we are not absorbing all these chemicals that have been linked to cancer and are known hormone disruptors.

Here are some interesting articles on the subject:
What's the Story with Cosmetics? And How Will the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 Help?
The Safety of Personal Care Products
How to go Green: Natural Skin Care
Five Ways the FDA is Failing to Protect You
The Six Craziest Things in Your Cosmetics
The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010: What it Means for Cosmetics Companies

Here are some resources:
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics
Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database
The Story of Cosmetics
No More Dirty Looks
BeautyTruth.com

Consider asking your representative to support the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010.


And finally, here is a petition that I believe is worth signing.

I'm getting my act together

I have a super short attention span. I'm constantly starting new projects, it is one of the reasons that I haven't really focused on this blog yet. There will probably be some big changes in the near future with the layout and even the domain. Like I said before, I need to figure out the best way to get this to work for me, and I haven't quite done that yet, but I hope to soon.

Weekly Challenge: Declutter the Living Room

Every Monday, I'm going to be starting a weekly challenge. That will mean that I will have the weekend to finish up what I probably will have put off all week, I am a procrastinator. I'm going to start with the clutter that seems to follow me around, and I'm starting in the room I spend the most time.

I want my living room clear.

I want to not have to worry that people are coming over and the room is a mess. I want to be able to eat at the table without having to move piles of paper (we don't have an actual dining room, so our table is in the living room). I want everything to have a place, and actually be in it.

And I want to be able to keep it that way, but let's do this one step at a time.

What needs to be done

I've not been very good about updating here. I'm still trying to figure out what I need from this blog. There are so many changes in our lives that I want and need to make, and I'm going to track those changes here. I'm also hoping to use it as a mental release when things start to be too much.

One thing I need to change is the way that we eat. I want to cut out processed food and cut back on prepared meals, breastfeeding a baby with a milk and soy allergy is making that a necessity. Unfortunately, we have been pretty lazy lately and have been going out to eat a lot. Not only is that really difficult with the allergy (more than once I've been assured that a meal was safe, only to find out later that it did in fact have milk in it), it has not been easy on our wallet. We cannot afford to go out to eat every night, so I really need to start doing some meal planning. I can make excuses from here to next Tuesday on why I can't cook, but the simple fact is that I have to. It is really the only way to get the nutrition that I need and know that it was prepared safely. I also want to try to move our food to more organic options, although that will probably be a very slow process.

I really want to simplify our lives. The constant clutter stresses both myself and my husband. I need to figure out exactly what it is that we need and get rid of everything else.

I also need some time to myself to decompress. I really haven't gotten a lot of alone time, mostly because I'm exclusively breastfeeding. I really need to work on making myself a priority. I'm feeling stressed, and that isn't good for anybody. I really want to try to get regular times out with friends as well as some time by myself for exercise, reading, or even just getting fresh air.