Clutter Control in the Kitchen

Kelly from “A Swell Place to Swell” is hosting a Conquer the Clutter challenge.  Here’s how it works, on Friday she posts a list of five areas in the home to purge, clean and organize.  You have the whole week to tackle those areas (if they need it).   The goal is to get rid of what is no longer loved, needed, or useful and rid ourselves of the clutter.  This was just what I needed to get my motivation back, because I’ve zero oomph to do anything.

This week the challenge was the entry way, paper bills and stuff, a clothes closet, microwave and oven, and utensil drawer.  I have to admit, I kind of got lucky this week.  I just cleaned the oven not too long ago, the microwave is a ten minute job, and our paper stuff is all under control.   So that left the utensil drawer, a clothes closet and the entry.  I picked the kitchen to start in, since I’ve been spending a lot more time in there lately.  Here’s what I came up with.

This is what our utensil drawer was looking like.  Most of our cooking utensils are kept in urns on the counter, this was just random items that really didn’t have a home.  I emptied the drawer, removed duplicates and anything I didn’t think we need, and freed up so much space that I was able to it our knife holder into the drawer too.  Here’s what it left me with.

So much better now.

The knife block and drawer organizer keep everything neat and tidy.  Most used items are at the front, and rarely used items at the back.

Knife sharpener, can opener, pastry cutter and apple slicer and corer sit at the front.  I was using only what I had on hand, so it’s not pretty.  Down the road I want to add some shelf liner (when I find one I really like) and probably some new baskets or containers to organize the drawer a little better.  For now though, this is so much better than it was.peeler

To be honest, this job didn’t take me long at all.  But it sure did do the trick in motivating me to tackle more.  Since I was already in the kitchen, I decided to tackle under the sink.

Yikes!  It was getting REALLY bad.  Mainly it was a dumping ground for plastic shopping bags, and uh, when I organized the laundry room months ago, I just sort of tossed the cleaning stuff in here without really thinking about it.  Since I was already in clutter control mode, I jumped right in, and here’s the results.

Isn’t that so much nicer?  I’m loving it.

So first thing I did was make zones.  Cleaners I use often are at the front, and ones I don’t use often are in the back.  Once I get some shelves or baskets for under here I’ll be able to organize it even more.  Kitchen garbage bags are up front, and plastic shopping bags are in the coffee tin in the back there.  I just folded them up and tucked them in.  I keep some in the bathrooms too, but I’ll show you that another day.

I needed a system for keep my cleaning rags organized.  I had a bunch of empty coffee tins sitting around, and decided to give them a try.  I tied them together (this is NOT a permanent thing, and it was a pain in the butt to do!) to keep them from rolling and to see how I like them.  I’ll let you know after we’ve used them for a bit.  I added labels to help make it easy for everyone to find the right rag for the job.

Simple, easy, and hopefully more efficient!  And best of all, the clutter is gone!   And it didn’t take that long at all.

There are a few things that this cabinet needs.  Shelves or stacking bins for organizing things a bit better.  Shelf line to keep it pretty, and I want to cover or paint the coffee tins, but that’s just for cosmetic reasons.

All in all these two projects took less than an hour to do and I love looking at them!  Just for fun, here’s another before and after of them.

Yep!  Loving the little changes!

How about you, what projects are you tackling?  Do find it helpful to join in with others to stay motivated to get stuff done?