Stuck at home and running out of things to do? Consider getting on top of your kitchen clutter. It’s one area of the home that readers say they struggle with most, and I’m not surprised! There are so many drawers, cupboards and hidey-holes in the kitchen that can accumulate clutter and mess. To help you tackle the untidiness of your kitchen, I have broken it down into five easy-to-organize areas. So pop on some tunes and make this a fun affair for the whole family (if you can get the kids and hubby to help that is!).
When approaching all these areas, there are four simple steps to follow:
- Remove everything from the cluttered space
- Assess all the items and decide which ones should live elsewhere
- Purge anything you no longer need
- Then the fun part… organize!
Here are the five areas to organize in your kitchen, plus a few tips for making each task an easy and stress-free endeavor.
1. UNDER THE KITCHEN SINK
Lots of items tend to live under our kitchen sinks, which is why it can quickly become a jungle in there. The key to a well-organized kitchen sink cupboard is to ensure that everything has a place.
Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.
Shop under the sink organizer at Amazon.
2. JUNK DRAWER
Perhaps the biggest battle with the junk drawer is getting into the mindset that only things you actually need are to go in this drawer. It can be tempting to use this space as a dumping ground. Instead, decide what items need to live in this drawer, and which items are better housed elsewhere.
Try to allocate a shallow drawer that’s less forgiving of extra catalogues and phone chargers. Once you’ve decided on your drawer and your essential ‘junk drawer’ items, create smaller sub-sections so similar items can be easily grouped together. This will help prevent the ocean of random objects you’re so used to seeing in your junk drawer, and make finding that spare pen so much easier too!
3. WATER BOTTLES
Over the years my water bottle collection seemingly multiplied behind closed doors. If this is you, then I have two suggestions:
Purge, purge, purge! 10 water bottles for four people is simply unnecessary. I recently culled my water bottle collection and replaced them with good quality water bottles instead – that are named! – so there’s no mess (or arguments over who owns which one).
Organize! If you have lots of drink bottles (and you can’t part with them) that are constantly falling over or getting shoved in the cupboard by kids, then this hack is for you. A magazine file like this Kvissle magazine files from Ikea ($14.99 set of 2) will help keep the bottles upright.
4. FIRST AID KIT
Being stuck at home is the perfect time to organize your medicine cabinet and first aid kit to ensure it’s stocked with everything you need should someone fall ill. Here’s a quick breakdown of how I organize my first aid kit:
- Dispose of all expired medicines and scripts. Make a note of what you throw so you can replenish next time you’re at the doctors and pharmacy.
- Ensure your medicine cabinet is large enough to fit everything in, and then add some labels so you can group like items together.
- Place the medicines/items you don’t use often towards the back.
- Keep the first aid kit out of reach of small hands.
