Alright! It is time for some nice practical information to help you get the heart of your home healthy.
The kitchen tends to be the most cluttered room in the house (in a pretty close tie with the garage and home office) making it the perfect room to begin the decluttering series I’ll be bringing to you over the coming months.
Why does the kitchen become so cluttered? There are a bunch of reasons. Food is so central to our lives that we spend a lot of time in our kitchens. Things from other rooms easily get deposited in the kitchen on tables and counters. Maybe gnomes come in during the night and throw stuff around. Hey, you don’t know.
The kitchen is also one of the areas of the house that needs multiple organizational systems. Without those systems to control refrigerated, frozen and shelf stable foods, as well as all of those dishes, pots, pans, gadgets, and any other items that have gotten designated to the kitchen, it falls to ruin pretty quickly and easily.
We need to always know where something goes when we’re done with it, otherwise we’re prone to leaving it out or shoving it somewhere it doesn’t belong. If you pull the ketchup out do you know exactly where it goes back? Yes? Great then it will be easy to take the 3 seconds to put it back right now. How about the pizza cutter? That lid that you had to buy specially to fit your largest pan?
But I’m getting ahead of myself because you can’t create a system out of clutter. Decluttering must be the first step in any organizing plan.
Decluttering Basics
Using the kitchen as our example, we’ll start with general decluttering steps. I’ll ask you to refer back to this section in future articles in this series.
1. Divide your space into sections. For example, the kitchen might be divided into:
Pantry
Refrigerator
Freezer
Under the sink
Dishes
Pots and pans
Glassware
1.a. Break any area that is still too overwhelming down into subcategories, i.e.:
Pantry
Cereals
Grains
Spices
Vitamins
Baking goods
Chunk it down as much as you need before starting. Write it down, put it in your notes in your phone, whatever works for you. Create a record of your plan so you don’t get lost midway.
1. Take everything out of the space you are working with.
I fought this one. Why? Maybe because it seemed like more work.
However, in the end I actually created more work by not taking everything out of the first closet I decluttered in my house. I had to come back to that closet a month later and start all over by removing everything before I was able to really declutter and organize it.
You don’t have time for extra work so take my word for it and empty out any area you’re focusing on. Be it a closet, cabinet, shelf, drawer or section of a counter.
2. Do a first look declutter
Once everything is out of the space you’ve chosen to focus on and spread out in front of you, go through it quickly and toss anything that is garbage. Do not make excuses for garbage. Get it out of your home.
Broken items
Out of code items
Empty wrappers, receipts, etc.
Anything with mold
Rodent or insect damaged things
3. Gather like with like
Do this while everything is still out.
Put all of the condiments together. All of the cans together.
Separate the plastic cups from the mugs, the mugs from the glass, and into categories like tumbler and wine.
4. Declutter
This is the time to start making cuts. Answer these questions for anything you aren’t sure about.
Do you use it?
Do you like it?
If you don’t know if you like it or not, do you dislike it?
Do you have more than one?
Did you know you had it?
If you knew you had it would you have known where it was?
Be honest with yourself. Also take into account this space is used by others in your house. I would have tossed all of our plastic cups, but I knew my husband used some of them. One by one I held all of our plastic cups up to him to let him decide which ones he used and which ones I could toss. To his credit he did cut them back by half!
Decide on a System
Now that you’ve decluttered it’s time to figure out how to put the remainder back in its home. The first step is figuring out what system you want to employ.
I’ve reorganized my pantry every couple of years most of my adult life, and it used to always return to chaos within a few months. I didn’t question why. I figured that was just the way it went.
I was wrong.
Once I decluttered and created a system that worked for my husband and me the pantry remained in order from then on. I can tell when there’s a tweak to be made when I notice chaos trying to come in and adjust as needed.
A system is more than order. It’s an intentional plan to be used long-term.
Where do you want things to go? What needs to be at eye level? What doesn’t get used all that often so could go on a high shelf? Are there categories you want next to each other for ease of use?
Are there things that have been in one place for years and you realize they would be better in a different place? Do it now. I discovered after 13 years of living in our house that I had my pots and pans in too small of a cabinet and my flatware in too large of a drawer. I made a few changes and everything works much better.
Think it through.
Are you going to gather like items in bins or baskets? I love this system, but it isn’t for everyone, figure this out for yourself.
Do you have deep shelves and would benefit from risers to be able to see what’s at the back? Do you have tall shelves or small cabinets and could use additional shelves to make better use of the space?
Pinterest is a great place to look for ideas. Plug in searches like ‘home organization’, ‘small pantry organization’, or ‘freezer drawer organization’.
You do not have to go spend a ton of money on organizational items. Retail sales of home organization products reached $19.5 billion in 2021. Don’t let organizational items become a new kind of clutter in your home or a financial burden.
See what you have around the house you can use like bins or risers. Go to the dollar store and see what fabulous stuff they have that you can get creative with.
After you have a working system, you may want to upgrade, but it can be a good idea to try out your new system before investing too much money into it.
Mindfully Return Things to Their Homes
When working with the non-food items, I recommend putting the most important things in first, then begin to fill with the next most important.
If you get to a point where the shelf is getting full but not all of the stuff is back in the cabinet, you may want to reconsider if there are more cuts you can make.
Make the stuff fit the container. Don’t try to make the container fit the stuff.
Take a Break
This is tiring work so only do as much as you have energy for in this moment. Don’t steal energy from another moment to get one more thing decluttered.
Moving Forward
Repeat these steps as many times in as many sections as you need to get your space decluttered and re-organized.
Keep an eye out for my upcoming blogs on Decluttering Bathrooms, Closets, Storage Areas, and Special Items. Bit by bit you can get your home to reflect the person you want to be.
There are so many emotional things that will come up when decluttering that you could not have anticipated. We can address as little or as much as you need in your coaching sessions.
My Harmonious Home Program is a 12-week program to help you address your home and life in a step-by-step approach.
Together we will get you to the home and life you deserve!