Spring is here, and while it’s a great time to air out the house, go through the closets and get rid of what’s been building up over winter, it is also the perfect time to declutter your kitchen. When I think about tackling my kitchen I get a bit overwhelmed because it’s an area of my home that I use every day, so I find that it’s easiest to take it in chunks, and I am starting with the cupboards.
More specifically, I’ll be starting with the cupboard that houses all of the canned foods in my kitchen, the pastas, whole grains and rice (that isn’t in larger bulk containers in the pantry cabinets) and foods like dried fruit and some random ingredients here and there. It happens to be the smallest as well, and it seemed like a good place to start my project for that reason.
Step 1:
Empty the cupboards. Starting with a bare cupboard serves many purposes. It helps you assess the true amount of space you have, and it also forces you to see all of the possible items that were hiding behind one another in the cupboard before.
Step 2:
Categorize the items that have been removed. It’s easiest to locate things if you group them together. Plus, it will help you when you’re taking inventory and going grocery shopping so you know exactly what it is you do have and don’t have.
Step 3:
Clean out the cupboards. Using a natural, non-toxic cleaner, give all of the cupboards a good wipe down to remove any crumbs or dust that have built up.
Step 4:
Decide what to put back into the cupboard. Throw away expired food items, and determine what you’re actually going to use. That can of beets that you had an odd craving for but aren’t really interested in, will you really eat them before they expire? Donate any unexpired items that you won’t use to the local food shelter. Items that don’t have clear expiration dates can be tricky, so check to see how long things are shelf stable once they are opened or in their unopened packages to be sure.
Step 5:
Put the food back on the shelves. After determining what you’re keeping, what you’re tossing and what you’re donating, restocking is an easy task. Try to stock by food variety. For instance, I put all my grains on one shelf. I then places the taller packages in the back so that they would be easily visible once the cupboard was full. This way I’m not forgetting that I have something and buying it before I use it, only to let the old package expire.
I also determined that I needed to invest in a few containers for the foods I buy in the bulk food section. Having them stored in the bags is frustrating, and they go bad faster that way. Storing them in airtight, see-through containers will keep them fresh longer and make them easier to organize on the shelves.
What have you been doing to spring clean your kitchen? Which areas do you find to be the most difficult for you? (My difficult area is the cupboard with all the spices and baking supplies.)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Great Tips…I too am a professional organizer and actually subscribe to very organizing techniques!
Please continue to share your ideas, I love to hear what other organizers are up to!
Love this post and your blog! Everything neat and organized always makes my home feel peaceful.
I have to admit that I like to keep my cupboards uncluttered in the first place. I make most of my own foods, which means that I probably only have about 20 different staples at any given time (flour, sugar, dried beans, rice, etc). I combine these main ingredients to make a variety of food–which means I actually use them all and hardly ever have expired items.
About once a month, I pull everything out of ONE cupboard, dust and clean, make sure nothing got hidden or lost in the back, and consolidate containers (I buy food in bulk).
It makes my cleanup simple.
I have 2 little ones and I found that if I even break it down to one shelf at a time it helps. I was amazed at how quickly I got through my cabinets when I just decided to do this one shelf. Also when I did one shelf at a time, I could step away and then come back to it easily when I had to deal w/ the frequent interruptions of a 2 y/o and a baby
That’s a very good point, Debbie. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had my projects interrupted by my kids right in the middle of them. Doing everything in smaller bits and pieces seems to cure having everything strewn all across the dinner table, which then get shoved aside and moved from surface to surface as you get interrupted a second and third time.
Hi! I’m from the Twin Cities too. :)
I love a clean and organized kitchen! We did some major organization in ours over the past year. Luckily we came up with some clutter-prevention systems that actually worked for us. I wrote more about our organizational techniques in this blog post if you want to check it out:
http://chateauwhitman.blogspot.com/2010/02/organized-kitchen.html