Cleaning and Organizing the Inside of Your Kitchen Cabinets

Cleaning out and organizing your kitchen cabinets can be a big task, but it's a great way to make your kitchen more functional and efficient. Here are some helpful steps for thoroughly cleaning and organizing your kitchen cabinets:

1. Remove everything from the cabinets: Take out all of the items from the cabinets, including dishes, glasses, food storage containers, baking equipment, pots and pans, and any other items that are stored in the cabinets.
2. Discard any items that are damaged or no longer needed: As you remove items from the cabinets, be sure to safely throw away any items that are broken or that you no longer use.
3. Wipe down the inside of the cabinets: Use a mixture of warm water and dish soap, if appropriate, to wipe down the inside of the cabinets. Be sure to get into the corners and along the edges.
4. Sort items by type: As you put items back in the cabinets, try to group similar items together. For example, you could keep all of your baking equipment in one cabinet and all of your pots and pans in another.
5. Use bins or organizers: Consider using bins or organizers to keep items organized and easy to find. This can be especially helpful for smaller items, like bags of tea or packets of hot chocolate mix.

By following these steps, you can thoroughly clean and organize your kitchen cabinets, making it easier to find what you need and keeping your kitchen running smoothly.

Optimize Your Kitchen Organization and Simplify Your Life

The kitchen is easily the busiest room in our homes. From cooking and entertaining to a place for your kids to do their homework, play board games or work on their arts and crafts projects. It can be easily overrun with art supplies, outdated spices and unused or damaged utensils. 

Go through your kitchen and appropriately discard anything you don't use, along with any food or spices kept in the kitchen that are beyond their expiration dates. Then take everything out of your cupboards and drawers, and clean inside them. This would be a good time to replace any cupboard and drawer liners with fresh, new ones. 

 

Store your pots and pans, nesting the pots and pans together to conserve space. Make sure you keep the matching lids for them. This is also a good time to make sure handles are securely fastened, so keep a screwdriver handy to tighten down skillet handles or pot lids if necessary. 

You can keep your dishes near your eating area or your dishwasher to shorten meal preparation or cleanup time. Plastic storage containers should be inventoried to ensure each has a matching lid and that they are free from cracks or other damage. You may decide to store them near your refrigerator to ease meal cleanup time. 

 

You could alphabetize your spices and keep them on a spice rack or in a nearby cupboard on a revolving rack. Store food items that you use on a daily in a place you can easily grab them when needed. Organize your pantry so that similar canned goods are in the same place and can be found easily when it’s time to cook meals. You can use airtight food storage containers to lengthen the shelf life of your foods.

If you have small appliances on your kitchen countertop that you don’t use on a regular basis, you could store them in a nearby cupboard or pantry. A storage cabinet for those appliances that are used on a regular basis keeps them out of site and dust free.

Making Time To Organize Your House

 

Photo Credits: By Barbara Raskauskas

Many people say they don't have enough time to get organized, but little do they realize that a well organized home or office environment will probably save them time in the long run. It may seem overwhelming if you think of organizing your whole house, but if you break down the work into smaller projects that can be realistically accomplished, it may seem like a feasible plan.

So many moms are extremely busy with their normal everyday homemaker responsibilities, such as taking care of their children, preparing healthy meals, running errands, grocery shopping, and routinely cleaning the house. In today's society many moms not only work hard in their homes, but they may also hold down a part-time or full-time job. Where do women find the necessary available time to actually complete organizing projects at home? No wonder women may feel stressed when they think of adding additional tasks to their already full daily schedule.

A positive way to plan your organizing projects is to write down some short-term and long-term goals of what you would like to accomplish and add a specific time period that you want the work to be finished. For example, one organizing project may be to clean out, declutter, and organize your bedroom closet. Short-term goals may include organizing one shelf or section of the closet for just 15 to 30 minutes a day until the whole closet is totally organized.

Another example would be a long-term goal of organizing your complete kitchen area. The short-term goal may be to declutter one shelf a day in each kitchen cabinet for 15 to 30 minutes.

Listed below are some other great examples of what you can possibly be motivated to organize or clean during a time period of 15 to 30 minutes.

Clean out and organize one desk drawer.

Wipe your kitchen and bathroom counter tops and make sure the surfaces are free of unnecessary clutter.

Sort and organize your purse.

Organize one to two bookshelves and check to see if you have any books you might want to donate.

Sort and organize one pantry shelf in your kitchen.

Organize your cosmetics and check for an expired dates.

Fold one or two baskets of clean laundry.

Make a meal plan for the upcoming week.

Make a current grocery list.

Wipe one or two shelves clean in the refrigerator.

Clean out and organize one dresser drawer.

Sort through a rack of clothes for any items you may no longer need or want anymore.

Organize your wallet.

Sort through and organize one bathroom shelf in your bathroom cabinet.

Go through your magazine collection to check for any magazines you want to donate.

Walk through each room in your home and look for any items that need to be put back where they originally belong.

These are just a few examples of what can be accomplished in a short time period. Just a little bit of dedicated time spent consistently each day will help you develop a good habit of organizing. One wonderful benefit that you will quickly realize is that once a certain area in your home is nicely organized, it will be so much easier to maintain that area. Home organization can be enjoyable and hopefully save you time and effort when you do your daily household chores in the future!

So, please don't think of “all or nothing” when you begin to visualize your organizing projects. Even a small amount of time each day should produce some long lasting beneficial results for you and your family.

I used to be extremely guilty of the “all or none” excuse for not starting many organizing projects in the past. However, I quickly learned there isn't hardly any occasion when a busy mom finds herself with 4 hours or more of uninterrupted time. So, recently I have gotten into the habit of doing a small amount of organizing each day and by the end of each week, I can appreciate my accomplishments.

I seem to feel more relaxed and productive with my work when my home and office environment are organized. I can focus and concentrate better on my tasks. I try to plan my organization for each room in my house while keeping in mind the main function I would like for each specific room.

For example, I divide my family room into three different zones, such as the reading area, the television area, and the computer area. I don't personally think there is just "one" correct way to organize a house because everyone will probably individualize their plans according to their own lifestyle.

Lastly, I found that once I had completed my organizational projects for the first room in my house, I was really motivated to continue with the rest of the house. And don't forget that you can reward yourself for a good job done by watching your favorite movie, reading your favorite book, writing your blog, or treating yourself to a great lunch. Positive reinforcement is a great motivator!