10 Minute Challenge: Kitchen Drawers

I’ve started giving myself 10 minute challenges. I set my timer for 10 minutes and tackle a household chore while my children are having a snack or lunch. It’s amazing how much you can accomplish in only 10 minutes when you focus on the task. The 10 minute challenge is a weekly feature on Mommies with Cents. Each week, I will show you one of the things I was able to accomplish in 10 minutes. I encourage you to join me- it really easy amazing what you are able to achieve, even if it’s incremental, if you set your mind (and timer!) to it!

This week’s challenge ended up being an easy one for me.  As always, I tackled something that has been bothering me for quite some time.  My kitchen is my least favorite room of the house.  The counter and cupboard space is extremely limited and that alone drives me nuts.  I have a drawer that I keep measuring cups, containers with lids and various other little items.  It was a jumbled mess that was so full at times that it was difficult to close.  As I’ve mentioned before, I get a lot of my 10 minute tasks down while my children have a snack, so having the task in the kitchen near my children is helpful!

Look at this mess:

The first thing I noticed was that there were items in the drawer that didn’t belong there.  My husband must have put them there when he unloaded the dishwasher (bless his heart for helping out!)  These drawers are not only old, but they are cheap.  The bottom is a thin press board that has broken several times so I try not to put heavy items in it.  I found a couple of my glass pyrex dishes in there- I had been wondering where those were!  I also found some cookie decorating materials in there that reminded me of baking Christmas cookies with Mindy back when we both lived in Texas.  I think that was the last time I used them too!  Anyways, this was just a quick straightening up of stuff and the end result was that my drawer shut properly and there was actually a lot more room in there after I put things where they belonged!

I’d love to hear ways you manage your time at home with kids. Please share your tips with me and our other readers by leaving a comment, then come back next week for another 10 minute challenge!