Top 5 Things You Can Do to Declutter Your Kitchen

Clutter is a part of almost everyone’s life in one way or another. Whether it’s too many pairs of shoes in a closet or too much athletic equipment in the garage, clutter can slowly take control of your space, time, and money. One surprising area of the home that clutter can take hold of is the kitchen. While you might think it would be the last room in the home to become cluttered, it can actually be one of the first. Fortunately, it is also one of the easiest rooms to declutter with a few simple steps.

1. Out with the Old: Containers, That Is
Go through the kitchen and collect every storage container you can find, disposable or long-term, and put them on the table. Start by making sure each one has a lid that fits it, and look for ones that are cracked or heavily warped from too much microwave use. Dispose of these, then see how many remain. Ask yourself how often you need leftover containers to help decide how many to keep. Donate the rest or give them to friends.

2. Apply Common Sense to Appliances
Do you have a waffle maker you received as a gift, but you don’t like waffles? How about a blender that you never use to blend? If you have small kitchen appliances that are collecting dust, they could be getting use in some else’s home. Take all of them off the shelves and out of the cabinets, and think about whether or not you need them. If you use them only once a year, or never, it’s time to let them find another kitchen to occupy.

3. Cut Loose the Cutlery
Take out all the eating and serving utensils you have and count them up. Most people don’t realize how many wooden cooking spoons they have until they see them all together. Use reasonable judgment based on your family size as to how many cutting knives or serving spoons you really need. If you rarely entertain, you may realize you don’t need three sets of table settings. Give what you don’t need a good home with someone else.

4. Track the Towels
Do the same thing for your kitchen dishcloths and dishtowels that you’ve done for other items. This is another area where we tend to accumulate too many items. Most families need seven dishcloths and four dishtowels for each laundry cycle. Adjust this based on your actual usage. Unlike unused appliances or excessive spoons, extra cloths make great cleaning rags. Store a few in the garage and with the cleaning supplies.

5. Do an Overall Assessment
Now that you’ve cleaned up and cleared out specific items, look at the entire kitchen. Have you had enough of refrigerator magnets? Are there more markers and pens than you can ever use? Keep a realistic amount of other items and pack up the rest. The object isn’t to get rid of everything you have: just the things you have too many of.