Declutter Once Space At A Time-Kitchen

We use our kitchens every day and since a year ago, even more so. It is crucial to be organized and know where everything is so meals can be made easily and timely. To organize a kitchen, start with those items that are used rarely and store those elsewhere. Make room for only those items you use on a regular basis. If possible, keep your small appliances together and eliminate those you bought on a whim, thought you would use, but just never have. It is also time to eliminate broken, chipped, and mismatched dinnerware and drinkware. If your kids are older and the plastic plates and cups they used as toddlers are still in your cupboards, donate those.

Start with your spices as those seem to be the most difficult to organize. Separate your baking from cooking spices as this will make organizing easier. Choose a cupboard close to the stove as this is where spices are used often. There are many spice organizers, and some will work better for you than others. If you have a small space, a turntable might work for you. The shelving for spices works in larger cupboards as it really spreads out the spices. Put your baking spices with your other baking items such as flour, sugar, and brown sugar. If you have space, maybe just the next shelf above the cooking spices.

Your future kitchen

Look at your pans and store larger ones that are not used regularly elsewhere. If you have a cupboard that is deep and many items get lost in the back, storing rarely used items in that space. There are lid organizers available that make it easier to store both in the same location. Stacking also works if that is an option for you.

Food storage is another major headache for my clients and their kitchen. I highly recommend eliminating any that are from restaurants, food containers or any that have no lid or no bottom. Once this is accomplished, look for any with stains or poorly fitting lids and eliminate those. Once you have the good containers with lids, decide how many you really use during the week. If you have 30-40 and only use 3- per week, it is time to purge again. If you are a big entertainer, keeping a few for guests to take leftovers home is a great idea but keep those elsewhere and bring them up when you have your next get together. Food storage organizing bins do exist and they might work for you.

If you need help organizing and making choices for those cupboards, please feel free to reach out to me. Send me pictures of your organized kitchen as I love to see those.