Good news: The kitchen is the easiest room to organize. Look around, what do you see? Stacks of mail, knickknacks, small appliances, cooking utensils, spices losing their taste. It’s easy to sort out what’s necessary and what’s not. Bad news: Because it is the busiest place in the house, batteries, pets stuff, papers and so on also tend to accumulate in the kitchen.
CLEAN SWEEP
Food prep is the focus of the kitchen, so your goal is to clear out everything that is not essential to cooking or eating. Start by clearing enough space to make cleaning your food-prep surfaces easy. You don’t have to tackle it all at once, in fact, it’s best to go slowly and methodically, so you get it right the first time. Think carefully about what you truly need in the kitchen and what can go elsewhere.
Next, free up a small space on the countertop or the breakfast table, open the pantry and empty it entirely. This step is easy and fun once you get started!
Next, free up a small space on the countertop or the breakfast table, open the pantry and empty it entirely. This step is easy and fun once you get started!
Throw out or recycle:
• expired food items
• spices that have lost their zest
• anything that you can't remember when you used it last • containers without lids
• that heap of plastic bags (they won't be collector’s items)
Weed out the cleaning products area by disposing of toxic products that are old or just too toxic. Consider the variety of more natural cleaners currently available. To make room in your cabinets, get rid of any cracked or broken china that you wouldn't dare to use with guests; same goes for damaged silverware. Pull out odd the wedding gifts, those fast food toys (they may have been loved once but, you don't have to live with them forever). Do you have a second tea set, fondue pot or food processor? Put those in a box marked "duplicates” to be given away later on. Keep only what you truly like and use.
Next step is to clean cabinets inside and out, then store the kept items by function and shape. The placement of items has to make sense to you: for some of us, the mugs go with the glasses, for others, the mugs go with breakfast items. Invite a friend over and play your favorite tune, it will go faster! • expired food items
• spices that have lost their zest
• anything that you can't remember when you used it last • containers without lids
• that heap of plastic bags (they won't be collector’s items)
Weed out the cleaning products area by disposing of toxic products that are old or just too toxic. Consider the variety of more natural cleaners currently available. To make room in your cabinets, get rid of any cracked or broken china that you wouldn't dare to use with guests; same goes for damaged silverware. Pull out odd the wedding gifts, those fast food toys (they may have been loved once but, you don't have to live with them forever). Do you have a second tea set, fondue pot or food processor? Put those in a box marked "duplicates” to be given away later on. Keep only what you truly like and use.
