Let’s talk about how I keep our teeny tiny German flat
organized! Today I am joining in with Andrea on Show and Tell to explain how we
keep things sane around these few square meters.
Moving from 3 bedrooms down to 1 was tough! Who downsizes at
the age of 28? Leaving behind my spacious open kitchen for one with basically
only 3 counter spaces is still nails down the chalkboard. Then there was the
laundry room right off our Texas-sized master bedroom which looking back seems
so glamorous compared to the hike down to the keller I now have to make lugging
a basket of stinky socks. This is our adventure.
To keep day to day life moving smoothly there are a few
adjustments Husband and I have made since moving to Munich. (I did another Home Organization post back in 2014) Sit back, reheat
that cup of coffee, and take a sneak peak into how we live overseas.
1. The Closet
I have talked several times before about
our closet. It is a hot topic around these parts as walk-ins are very rare.
Most of my friends keep their clothes in a wardrobe inside their bedroom.
Walk-in closets are just about unheard of and when we saw a walk-in closet
during our showing we were just about sold on the spot.
To maintain a less cluttered feeling, I
keep our clothes on a seasonal rotation. Each spring I switch out the sweaters
for the summer clothing and then back again at the beginning of fall. When out
of season clothes are not being used, we store them in the keller.
2. The Kitchen
Our kitchen was put in brand new when we
signed on our flat. I love the natural light the big windows let in, the refrigerator
is larger than most, and the color scheme is pretty neutral.
But…space is tight! The pantry is only one,
fairly deep, cabinet on top of the oven. Once a month or so I have to reorganize the
pantry to keep food from getting “lost”.
Everything has it’s particular place down
to the most used spices right underneath the stovetop for easy access.
Read more here
3. The Meals
Now that Husband and I are watching not
only our budget but what we are eating, I am meal planning. Each week we try to
eat fish at least once, vegetarian one or two nights, and a white meat or salad
on the other evenings. By making a daily meal plan, I am able to control
grocery costs so that there is not unnecessary food bought and a smaller chance
items will go bad. It’s actually quite fun to sit down, research, and make a
plan each Saturday morning!
Check out one of my favorite soups,
Tomorrow I will share my super low cal recipe for Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup!
4. The Chores
I will be honest, I really do struggle with
the balance between work, blogging, home duties, and everything else that goes
on in our day to day life. (I have a huge amount of respect for those who do
all that with children in the picture!) It is difficult to teach a day of
kindergarten, commute an hour home, and then find the energy to take care of
the house. Most nights I just want to
sit back with a glass of wine and prop my feet up on the coffee table. Husband
and I often joke that we entertain so often so our home will get cleaned!
Meals in Blue
Chores in Purple
Blog in Pink
There is something rejuvenating about
starting the week out with a fresh home. To keep weekends free for fun, I am
now trying to schedule daily chores. By keeping to my weekly list of items, I
should allow Husband and myself more freedom to relax on the weekends. Then we
can do things like…take a day-trip to Castle Neuschwanstein. Did you catch yesterday's post on that adventure?
Hiking up to a castle in snow!
Who else meal plans?
Do you know of a great blog with meal plan ideas? (I'm on the hunt for one with lots of low calorie options!)
Keepin' Things Organized,
My wheels are turning when I look at your closet! My closet is always so hard to keep organized and I really don't use a lot of the closet rod. I fold most things. I almost think an entire closet of shelves might be way easier for us right now??? Do you like just having everything piled and not hung up? I put a before an after of my closet on my blog today. It is the only closet in the house so it accumulates everything, but as far as my clothes go, I don't hang up much.. That could work!! I am loving this link up! I also meal plan on my blog if you want to take a look! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteHi Sandra! Thanks for stopping by. I honestly do not care for our shelves. I feel like I am constantly shuffling shirts around and everything has to be folded a certain way. Our walls are concrete, not drywall, so putting up a rod to hang clothes just didn't sound fun. It's all about how you prefer to do laundry and the putting away. :-) I personally am looking forward to the hanger system again someday. Our shelf system is temporary. I am going to hop on over and check out your meals plans! I need some fresh ideas.
DeleteI feel like I have seen your closet in another post and been just as jealous as I am today.
ReplyDeleteIs it bad that I just started to take the winter clothes out of my closet last night to make room for summer? We are only a month and a half away from Fall - I think I am a bit behind.
We meal plan (or try to) every week. This week there was a big storm and I did not feel like cooking, so we had pizza, but most nights we plan out what we are going to have to make it easier on the grocery shopping.
I'm seeing so much less food go bad now that we are meal planning. I'm slightly jealous you are a month and a half away from fall. It's like getting to do pumpkin flavored food all over again! Do you eat traditional American "fall" foods during October/November in the Australian spring/summer?
DeleteIf you're looking for a great blog with low-cal options you should check out inspiralized.com. It does require you have a spiralizer, but you they are pretty affordable. My husband doesn't like veggie "noodles", so I often sub something in for those. Then I can enjoy the extra veggies and he isn't forced to eat something he doesn't enjoy. Your blog is super cute, I'm glad you stopped by mine to say hi - I'm looking forward to following your story :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of inspiralized.com yet but I will check it out. Thanks for the help! What do you normally sub in for veggie noodles? Vegetables?
DeleteLove the tea shelf! We have one of these too :-)
ReplyDeleteIt's a shelf that eventually I need to reorganize! Admitting that gets me kind of excited to brainstorm a way to make it better... Thanks for stopping by!
DeleteSo glad I found your blog!!!! Girl I am all about meal planning
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking there should be a meal planning linky party! It seems to be on a lot of blogs this week.
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