It's that time of year when my thoughts turn to tidying up, decluttering and eking out more spaciousness and serenity in my home. Living in a relatively small house, I have been feeling cramped, most especially since 2015, when I inherited lots of STUFF. I firmly believe that IF EVERYTHING HAS ITS PLACE, my life will be so much better.

Anyway, I spent some time at the home of a man I was dating, and I admired how attractive and tidy he kept it. Without realizing it, I internalized a few things from his home that I either copied or which inspired me to carve out more space.

Just a few changes in my kitchen have made me much happier and feeling so much more organized, for relatively little expenditure.

1. For YEARS, I have disliked having a trash can sitting in the kitchen. It's a small kitchen, so there it sat near the door the basement. I had upgraded to a stainless steel with the step-on lever to raise the lid when I acquired it through Buy Nothing, but I still dislike it even being visible, and of course the odor of uneaten cat food, even contained in separate little baggies, was so unpleasant. I never thought I had any extra cabinet space for a trash can until I remembered I have a handy pull-out drawer in the small, portable kitchen island I got years ago. Which would be idea if I could find a home for the pots and pans that currently resided there. After decluttering unused dishware elsewhere, I managed to find other spaces for them, and the trash now fits the pull-out island drawer very nicely.

I borrowed a hack I'd read about online by affixing 2 felt pads on the inside top of the can, the kind of pads used on the bottom of chair legs or tables to keep them from scratching the floor. Then I put a few drops of essential ois on each, and now I get a nice waft of ecalyptus scent each time the lid opens, not icky cat food!

2. I also realized that there is no need to separate the newspaper/cardboard recycling I collect from the plastic/metal food containers, since they are all dumped in the same container at the transfer station. It's been this way for quite some time, but I guess I thought it was easier to continue collecting my recycling separately. But this meant multiple paper bags hanging at the top of my basement stairs and you kind of had to duck your head whenever going downstairs. Now I have another large trash can in my hall coat closet, which I repurposed a few years ago to double as a food pantry. So now ALL recyclables except for plastic bags and compost go in this one can...it's just easier.

3. Next up: For the past 27 years, I've had a dish drainer reside to the right of the sink. It's a black metal Victorian-style thing that I found more attractive than the usual tacky plastic, but still this dish drainer hogs a whole lot of countertop space, whether it's full of dishes or not.

So I got rid of the dish drainer and bought one of those roll-up mats that you lay over your sink to drip-dry dishes. I had never tried one of these before becus I have a ceramic sink with a lip that's not flush with the counter, so I didn't think a roll-up mat would be secure, but it is. I also don't have double sinks, but found that by laying the mat over  just half the sink, I can still wash dishes and then use the mat. It doesn't have space for a ton of washed dishes given that it's over just half the sink, but I'm content for now to just do dishes a bit at a time and I absolutely love the newfound counter space as it looks very minimalist.

4. I also bought a thing you buy which plugs right onto a 2-outlet outlet, but offers 3 outlets plus 2 USB outlets for recharging phones (see above). I always recharge my phone in the kitchen, so now I will always have plenty of plugs for various other items when needed. I love this little gadget, it looks so techie.

5. I bought 2 fairly small woven baskets made to hang from a hook. The company was from the UK but these were shipped from China and took forever to arrive, but I like them a lot. I hung them from the 2 hooks on the basement door for fresh fruit so i don't need to keep a bowl on the table for this anymore.

5. Lastly, I hate seeing electrical cords, and I just decided to rearrange things on my counter top to minimize the appearance of microwave and tea-maker cords. I decided to put away my food processor as I really don't use it every day, or even every week. Everything looks so neat and tidy now. I like the kitchen to have not just function, but beauty.

I already splurged on a new, very modern-looking desk lamp for my office, to replace a more traditional-looking one I got on Buy Nothing, and which I'll regift on Buy Nothing. Again, visiting my friend's home, I saw that he reallyy liked more modern furnishings, and I have to say his place looked so hip and fresh, and I started looking at some of my furniture and things I've had for DECADES and never updated. The desk lamp will make a big difference in the feel of my office, I think, and I love that it, too, offers a USB port for charging.

If I can find another home for the all papers now in my old wood desk, I'd love to replace that too. I have found a modern desk I really like, but it's a bit more than I wanted to spend and I really do need my old desk's storage space while the new one has NO storage at all.

I feel like I'm on a roll. What next?