Sometimes starting is the hardest part. When your entire kitchen is cluttered and messy, knowing where to begin with purging and organization is hard. In this episode you will learn exactly where to begin and how to go about finally getting your kitchen organized.
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Full Episode Transcription (not edited):
Sometimes starting is the hardest part. When your entire kitchen is cluttered and messy. Knowing where to begin with purging an organization can be hard. In this episode, I’m answering another listener question and you will learn exactly where to begin and how to go about finally getting your kitchen organized.
(00:17):
Hey friends, quick tips that make a big impact in your daily life. Life are my favorite ways to implement systems around the house. I’ve been sharing easy strategies and my go-to organizing products for tip Tuesday on the intentional edit Instagram feed for a few years. Now I’m excited to bring it to the podcast with sure episodes answering your questions every Tuesday. If you want me to answer your questions, go to the podcast page on intentional, edit.com and submit your questions there. Let’s get started on this tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast.
(00:48):
Hey friends, thanks for joining me for episode 46, a tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast. Today, I am answering a listener question all about kitchen organizing and what to do with a me messy kitchen. But first I want to remind you, if you have not joined the Facebook group for the intentional edit podcast community, please head over to Facebook and join that group. You can find the community over at declutter organized and create systems to simplify your home and life. It’s easy to find if you, you search that on Facebook or just head down in the description of the podcast and you can click on the link that will take you directly there and you can join the group. And we can talk over there and have little conversations back and forth and help each other out with organization and decluttering, creating systems and routines and all things that go into our busy home and lives. The question that came in that I will be answering for this tip Tuesday episode of the intentional edit podcast is
(01:50):
Our kitchen counters are full of small appliances, food, lunch, boxes, and papers. Where should I put this? So it doesn’t seem like a mess all the time. We have too much stuff, but the thought of going through all the cupboards and drawers is overwhelming. I don’t know where to begin, but the kitchen needs to be organized and what to do with all the things we do not use. Thank you so much for sending me that question. If you have a question that you want me to answer on a future tip Tuesday episode, go to intentional, edit.com and a little button will pop up that says record and out and you can leave me a message. All you have to do is ask the question. It’s like leaving a voicemail for a friend, and I will answer your question on a future tip Tuesday episode. Let’s talk all things, kitchen organization today.
(02:36):
This could be a long episode. I’m going to try to keep it very short and sweet and right. So the point and go to some of the basics that you you can do when your kitchen is feeling cluttered. Like you have too much stuff on the counters, your cabinets are full, the drawers are full and you don’t know what to do. Of course, when you’re in that situation, it feels overwhelming. And just walking by your kitchen, glancing at the kitchen, the stuff makes you it’s a heavy feeling and it can make you feel overwhelmed. It can make you feel stressed, especially if you are already acknowledging that that’s happening, that it’s probably negatively affecting you more than you even realize. And it’s time to do something about that when it comes to any type of organization. The first thing you have to do is purge.
(03:23):
You have to declutter and get rid of all of those items that are no longer needed used or things that you don’t want anymore to get into the purging and how you’re gonna go about purging and decluttering and getting rid of these things that you just don’t need. Go listen to episode three and episode eight, those episodes give you the exact process with examples of how to purge and declutter. It they’re step by step instructions in episodes three and eight. So definitely head over there and listen to those. Then you can follow that purging plan when you are tackling the different areas, your kitchen, because following a plan and knowing what questions to ask yourself so that you can make the decisions about keeping something or donating. It is essential to having sex with the end result, which is keeping your home organized. So you have to declutter just like any other space.
(04:15):
The kitchen is not any different. You have to do the decluttering and the purging. You’ll go through that process before you can do any organizing. And with the organizing of the physical belongings, you have to create systems to keep these things organized when the idea or the task of organizing and going through all of this stuff seems overwhelming. I want you to break it down into small manageable steps, pick one, be at a time and go from there. You may pick one drawer. If you have 10 minutes or you have 30 minutes pick what can easily be done in that amount of time, start with a drawer, start with a cabinet, start with one shelf in a cabinet. It doesn’t matter what you do. A lot of times I say to start with a place is irritating you the most. If you have a situation where a drawer is so full, it’s having trouble closing some of the time, or you have so many glasses or you’ve received so many of those plastic cups that come with large drinks that your cabinet is overflowing and you don’t have a place for anymore.
(05:18):
Start with one of those places. Follow the urgent guide in episodes three and eight, do the decluttering step by step. Even if it’s just one shelf. If you follow it, you will have things that you can get rid of. As you move through one drawer to another drawer, to another cabinet, to another shelf and you get it all cleaned out. Then you can move things around and change where they go based on what makes sense. You have to think about the placement for ease of use. Your mugs should be near your coffee cup. If you have drinks that you use a lot that you drink a lot in the refrigerator cups should be near the refrigerator, spatulas and things that you use when you’re cooking. And you’re at the cooktop need to be near the cooktop. They should not be in a drawer across the kitchen.
(06:07):
Do what makes sense for how you use things. And you have to think about ease of roll. If you’re standing in this space, packing lunches, what can go there? What do you need to when you pack lunches, maybe cutting boards, knives, things like that, because those are things that you use. But all of the things that go into a lunchbox should be close by. Do you use reusable containers, zip block bags, things like that, so that when you’re making the lunches, all of those things are there. Same thing when you’re cooking at the stoves stop. Same thing. When you’re baking, all of your baking items can go in one place. You’re creating zones. Think in terms of creating zones for your kitchen and things will stay more organized. And it will be easy to find things because you will know where they go. They get put away based on their zone, hard to reach spots or crazy corner cabinets, where it’s hard to get things in and out.
(07:00):
Those spots are four things that are rarely used. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing that you only take out once a year for a special meal. Those things don’t need to be front and center. They can be in the hard to reach locations or up high, where you need to grab a sub stool to reach them. The things that you use every day and the most often, those things need to be in spots where it’s easier to get to think ease of retrieval for those things. Now let’s quickly talk about the counters because you did mention that your counters have stuff all over them. When our counters are messy and we have things on our counters, it is stressful. You have to clean the counters to cook. You have to clean the counters. If you want to use them for a project. And it’s something we see all the time.
(07:45):
So it can be aggravating and irritating, designate a home for what you mentioned when I read that question. So I think it was lunch boxes, papers, food, small appliances, any of those things that can have, have a home and live someplace else, like the papers, papers don’t belong in the kitchen. If you have some type of a command center or desk, or the papers really belong to your kids for homework or assignments that they’ve brought home, like art projects and things coming up with systems to deal with those immediately is key to making the kitchen state clutter free from papers, having a designated spot where your papers can go. So that mom knows that these are action items that need to be looked at every day. Also dealing with the mail as soon as it comes in, when you get your mail from the mail mailbox, walk over to the trash and recycling cans, go through your mail.
(08:37):
There. Most of it is probably junk mail. Then the things that are important, go to your designated spot for action items. That’s how we keep papers off the counter. In terms of the lunch boxes, come up with a designated spot for the lunch boxes. That might be a basket in a pantry someplace or a shelf where they go on the weekends during the week, the lunch boxes might come home, get immediately cleaned out and then be lined up in a spot on the counter where they’re cleaned and ready to go for tomorrow. Or you pack the lunches the night before, and they actually go into the refrigerator and a designated area. That’s always waiting there for the lunch boxes. Sunday through Friday, we want to think smarter, not harder. Come up with systems that work for your family to keep things organized and orderly in terms of the small appliances that are all over the counters.
(09:25):
If you don’t use these on a regular basis, if you’re not using these at least once a week, they don’t need to be on your counter. If you have the space, really, if you’re not using them a come both times a week. So a lot of people have a blender sitting on the counter or a toaster sitting on the counter, but their only things that are used maybe once or twice a month, those appliances don’t need to live on the counter. They can go in a cabinet. And if it’s something that you really don’t use, often it can go in a cabinet that is a little harder to get to just because it’s an appliance. It doesn’t need to be plugged in on the counter. If it’s not something you use something like a coffee pot. If you’re using that every day, that’s when it makes sense to be on the counter.
(10:04):
When you do this ruthless, purging and decluttering, following the steps that I already mentioned, it is easy to come up with the space. You need to store these things because you will be getting of things that no longer serve. You find a cabinet drawer, maybe a pantry space or some location after you have done the decluttering. And then those items that you don’t use very often can go there instead of sitting on the counter and that frees up some of your space, the less you have on the counters, the less likely it is for people start piling things and use the counters as a dumping ground, because it appears as a clean, organized, orderly space instead of a catch all for everything. If you have two coffee drinkers in the home and you have 35 coffee mugs, that doesn’t make sense, you can eliminate some of those, change your mindset, a around when you’re on a vacation or you see a mug with your favorite phrase on it.
(11:01):
If you don’t need it and you don’t have a place to store it, then why are you purchasing it? And if it’s so important that you need to purchase it, you have to have this thing and bring it home. Then one of those other mugs needs to go because two people aren’t getting through 35 coffee mugs in a week or two, they’re just taking a of space and causing clutter and making it so that other things don’t have a room for a space to go to. I hope those tips answered some of your questions when it comes to organizing the kitchen and really getting your counters clean so that you feel good when you’re in the kitchen. And it’s not a stressful place to be based on the clutter that is in there. Always start your organizing projects with decluttering and purging. Then you can move on to the organization part and make sure that when you are organizing, you are creating systems that make sense to keep the spaces organized and orderly.
(11:55):
Thank you for listening to another episode of the intentional edit podcast. If you haven’t yet joined the Facebook group, head over to Facebook and join the group that I created specifically for the intentional edit podcast community. It is called declutter organize and create systems to simplify your home and life, or you, you can scroll down in the podcast description and the link will take you directly there. Just click on that link and head over to the Facebook group to join. Thanks for joining me for this tip Tuesday episode, I will meet you back here later in the week for another episode of the intentional edit podcast.
(12:29):
Thanks for listening to another tip Tuesday episode on the intentional edit podcast. Keep submitting your questions so that I can keep answering them on these episodes. They’re quick episodes and I love to share actionable solutions for you to implement at home. You can always send me an email or direct message on Instagram, but I have added a cool way to submit voice questions on the website. It’s honestly my favorite way to take questions. Now, head of over to intentional edit.com, click on the podcast page and scroll down to where it says, submit your questions for the podcast. Ask me anything there. And you can even be featured on the show. Questions can be about creating systems in your house, decluttering, how to manage family schedules, getting kids on board with organizing, managing, and maintaining systems. Honestly, they can be personal questions. Some things you wanna know about how I do something in my house. I want to know what you want to know if you’re struggling with it. Other people are too ready set, go over right now to intentional edit.com and ask your questions.
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Lauren is the founder of Intentional Edit, a home organization and lifestyle company focused on consciously editing to create efficient and organized spaces. Lauren believes that a functional home that looks and feels good has a positive influence on all aspects of life. Creating systems that allow for the home to function more efficiently, therefore, eliminating most of the clutter and chaos is her priority. While trends come and go organization is always in style!
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