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Entries Tagged 'Kitchen Organizing' ↓
Clean and Organized Kitchen
Home organization isn’t just about clearing clutter, it’s also about keeping surfaces clean so you can find what you need and feel calm in your surroundings. I am an organized person (ahem), but I just happen to be a messy cook! Cupboards and drawers fly open creating booby traps, crumbs fall on the floor, lids get separated from the spices…After I finally sit down to enjoy my meal, I have a lot of work ahead of me to get everything back in order. Oh, did I mention cooking is one of my least favorite tasks? Baking goodies-good, eating-great, cooking-not so much.
Of course I feel great when I take the time to put things away and wipe down counters as I go. This is a habit I need to work on so I can enjoy my meal in peace. This is an easy way to stay on top of organization as there aren’t any decisions to be made as there when you are decluttering your home. I’ll keep working on it and that may mean a few less head bumps along the way too-bonus!
Tags: cleaining tip, clearing clutter, cooking, Decluttering, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, kitchen, organized person
Kitchen Drawer Organizer from Storables
Final kitchen organizing product-the kitchen drawer organizer! You may feel like you can shut the drawer and no one has to know what a mess hides inside. But, you know it’s there and it affects you every time you have to prepare a meal. You may as well take the time to declutter and clean it up so you can get your hands on the tools you need quickly. The benefits will be:
* You will feel good when you open the drawer
* You and other family members will be able to find what you need easily
* You will be able to prepare meals faster
Take these steps to clean out your kitchen drawers:
- Remove all of the items from the drawer
- Place “like” items together so you can see how many you have-wooden spoons with wooden spoons, spatulas with spatulas, etc.
- Go through the items and decide how many you truly need of each type. Keep the best and part with the rest.
- Part with the ones you don’t need by donating them, giving them to someone you know or trashing them, depending on their condition
- Measure your drawer and go shopping for the organizer that works for you
- Load up your beautiful, new kitchen drawer and give yourself a pat on the back!
Organizing your kitchen can be done one drawer or cupboard at a time! Please watch my organizing video on how to stretch space in your cupboards here.
Tags: declutter, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, kitchen drawer, kitchen organizing product, organizing video, organizing your kitchen, professional organizer, Storables
Gotta love can risers-I do!
Can Risers to Organize Kitchen
This is a great way to make your cans visible by placing them on these “stepped” organizing products. Can risers have three steps but you actually gain a fourth step by using the counter or shelf, plus the three steps. If you have wire shelving in your pantry, be sure to use a quality shelf liner to create a flat, stable surface for your can riser so it’s not tippy.
I always advise clients to place cans holding the same items one behind the other. So a row of corn, one behind the other, would allow you to pull your corn from the front and not have to reach into the second row. Can risers do have the potential of making it possible to knock a can over reaching to the back, but I really haven’t experienced any trouble with mine and I’ve had one for years.
There are expandable versions available that you can use in larger pantries if you have the space. If you do have the space-surely maximize it! This is a simple and affordable way for to reach your DIY Organization goals in your kitchen!
Tags: can riser, DIY organization, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, kitchen organizing product, Organizing Product Reviews, pantry, professional organizer
Bamboo Turntable from Storables
OK, I know I love them all, but this has to be about the best organizing product around! I love turntables and I use them everywhere! This particular turntable from Storables is made from bamboo, so it’s an excellent choice as an environmentally friendly organizing product. Turntables aren’t just for storing spices, although an excellent tool for storing spices, they can be used virtually anywhere you need easy access to something. A turntable makes it easy to spin and grab what you need without the need to move something out of the way to get what you want. Here are a few excellent ways to use one, two or ten:
* In the kitchen for spices, vinegars, oils, peanut butter, syrup, honey.
* In a corner kitchen cupboard for coffee cups, use the largest turntable for the space.
* Under bathroom sinks for hair products, sunscreen, bubble bath & lotions.
* In the laundry room for stain remover sprays, stain sticks and cleaners.
Use turntables in your home as a DIY Organization trick to have easy access to what you need with a quick spin!
Tags: bamboo, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, kitchen, kitchen organizing product, Laundry Room Organizing, professional organizer, Storables, turntables
Cabinet Shelf from Storables
Yes, another organizing product I love and use for clients as well as in my own home! Cabinet shelves are a great way to increase your space in cabinets and separate items for easy access. In my kitchen I use them in one cupboard to separate bowls and in another cupboard to separate large plates from small plates and yet another cupboard to separate cups from water bottle lids and straws. This minimizes the need to take one thing down to access another. The cabinet shelf gives you one more way to take advantage of wasted space above other items being stored.
Areas of the home you can use shelf cabinets to your advantage:
- Kitchen cupboards
- Pantries
- Laundry shelves
- Under bathroom sinks
Here is my short video showing you how to use shelf cabinets in your own home!
Tags: Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, increase space, kitchen, organizing product, professional organizer, shelf cabinets, Storables
Storage Containers for Refrigerator Organization
Lately I’ve been doing a bit of kitchen organizing in my very own refrigerator. For some reason I’ve never had a really good set of matching storage containers for leftovers. I’ve had random pieces of tupperware in various sizes along with a delicate balancing act of leftovers on plates covered in plastic wrap. Ya, the plate thing really doesn’t work. It seems obvious, as it should, that it was time to purchase some storage pieces for the refrigerator. At first I really wanted glass storage containers for food safety. Well, it turns out they are both expensive and heavy. I finally decided to go ahead with plastic when I found BPA Free plus a $5 off coupon from Bed, Bath & Beyond!
BPA Free Food Storage Containers
In general, square containers will be more efficient in the refrigerator than round containers. As you can see, these containers fit one inside the other with their lids on. The problem with that was they were like nesting dolls. I had to take the lid off of each one to get to the next one inside. That would drive me crazy and be very time consuming. I solved this problem by storing all the containers together on a shelf and storing the lids in a drawer. That did separate the sets, but it works for me. I know right where the storage containers are and I know right where the lids are and they all match. Done.
Food Storage Lids
Stay on top of kitchen organizing with affordable, yet safe products!
Tags: Bath & Beyond, Bed, Kitchen Organizing, plates, refrigerator, storage containers, storage sets
His name is John, he’s a lovely shade of green and I really don’t even want to look at him right now. What exactly does my lawn mower have to do with home organization? Good question, let me tell you my tale…
Between being busy and waiting for my lawn to dry out (I live in the northwest-Helloooo….), my grass was crazy tall. Like, put on your waders and hope for the best kinda tall. Last week the sun came out and it was now, never or wait for a call from the HOA. I chose now. Two days in a row worth of mowing -big sigh. The front yard really wasn’t that bad, it’s small and I zipped through it quickly. But my oh my, the back yard was a real party. A party that went like this: mow up a strip, mow down a strip, kill the mower, dig the wet grass out of the mower, dump the bag. I found myself half crying and half swearing while admittedly getting a good upper body workout from all the bag hefting. As I was swearing and really tempted to kick John, I realized how letting my yard get out of hand was a lot like letting clutter get out of hand. If we don’t stay on top of it all, it takes us far longer to get the job done once we do find the strength tackle it, usually at a point where we have no other choice. Needless to say, it also makes our job much more overwhelming.
So today, just a few days later, I got John out again for another run at it. It was time to bring him down a notch and cut the grass even shorter. Hopefully this will buy me some time. Mow, mow, heft, mow, mow, heft-thank goodness for my homemade chocolate chip cookies giving me the strength to go on. Well, even John pooped out and I had to run to get him some fresh gas. I don’t know, I suppose he’s really not so bad. In an act of good faith, I loaded him up with some Sta-Bil to extend the olive branch so we could make another run at it. Fall is closing in on us and I suppose I probably won’t be seeing much of John for a while. I sure hope it’s true that distance makes the heart grow fonder or else I see the possibility of a love/hate relationship developing here.
Staying on top of your home organization projects and maintenance helps prevent crying and swearing-pinky promise.
Tags: clutter, Home Organization, home organizing projects, lawn mower, northwest
Last night I was teaching a home organization class on how to declutter the home and how to let go of excess belongings. Getting organized usually goes hand-in-hand with making some decisions on what to let go and also what to keep. It’s not about getting rid of everything, it’s about making decisions about what items are truly of value to you, and yes, emotional value counts.
So after the class, in my own kitchen, I thought for a second that I may have broken the plate that you see in the photo. Now this is a very old plate and it belonged to my oma (grandma). This got me thinking about how important it is to actually use and enjoy the belongings that we choose to keep. I could have easily stored the plate away for “safe keeping” to protect it and preserve it. But if I stored it away on a top shelf or maybe even in a box in the closet, how could I enjoy it? How could I tell visitors, “Oh, that plate belonged to my oma and we were really, really close.”
So, when you are ready to start making decisions in your own home about what to keep, make sure that you honor those items in a way that you can use them, display them and enjoy them. If it’s something that truly is fragile, then display it in a safe way secured up high or in a shadow box. There are no guarantees that you won’t break it, but there are no guarantees that you will break it either. I’d rather take a chance and love what I have until I can’t love it anymore! Oh, and for extra insurance, you can always take a photo of it before handling “just in case.”
Tags: Home Organization
The liner that you place under a dish rack is a quick, easy and inexpensive fix for keeping things clean under your kitchen sink. I place my garbage can and another small basket filled with scrubbing supplies on mine. It is so easy to pull out, scrub down, dry and place back under the sink. It beats having little spills hit and stick to the wood, which requires a lot more scrubbing. My plastic liner has lasted for many years.
Stay on top of home organization and take a cleaning shortcut with a dish rack liner!
Tags: cleaning, dish rack, garbage can, Home Organization, kitchen sink, supplies
Since the kitchen is such a vital center of the home, I look at my kitchen as an important area for home organization, which also means keeping it clean-multiple times a day. Ug. Did I mention that the worst chore to me is cleaning out the dishwasher? But, since staying on top of the kitchen is a necessary evil, I love it when I find shortcuts and easy fixes! So, here is one that I love for keeping your flat stove top clean:
Take a bottle of the spray oven cleaner that you would use to clean the inside of your oven, spray it on the burners and then turn them all on for a few seconds. Turn them back off, let the stove top cool a bit and then just wipe clean!
Super easy and it really works to clean quickly!
Tags: chore, cleaning, Home Organization, kitchen, oven cleaner, shortcuts, stove top
