Spring Clean Your Kitchen: Organizing the Heart of the Home

Spring is a great time to hold yourself accountable to create spaces and organizational systems in your home that work for the whole family. Let’s start with the kitchen!

The kitchen is the heart of the home. When it’s set up for the whole family to use more efficiently, life is much easier!

Kitchen

Think about functionality first.

1. High use items go in closest cabinets to your dishwasher. Plates, glasses, and silverware are in every dishwasher load. Make your life easier by having them within a few steps to ease unloading.

2. Remove unused, excess cooking utensils. Often, we see that clients have 6 wooden spoons, but only actually use 2. By removing the excess, it’s easier to find exactly what you are looking for. No excuses, you won’t miss any of it!

3. Remove ALL unnecessary items. Has your family grown out of sippy cups, plastic placemats, and tiny silverware? Let it go.

4. If it doesn’t have a lid, get rid of it! Pair all of your leftover storage containers with their lid. Any excess lids or containers that don’t have a buddy, recycle them!

Fridge

Let’s not play “What’s that smell?”.

1. Clean it! Remove every item and wipe down your shelves, drawers, and bins.

2. Trash expired and “never going to eat” items. Since everything is out for cleaning, go through everything and only put back items that are current. Anything expired needs to go.

3. Utilize containers. If something spills, a container is easier to clean than removing all the shelves. Group like items and use clear bins to keep them together.

4. Turntables are for universal use! Using turntables on your top shelf means that you’re not digging or removing 20 items to find that jar of pickles in the back. Spin for the win!

Pro Tip: Create an “Eat Soon!” bin for leftovers or items near expiration.

Pantry

Focus on reducing the clutter.

1. Remove any food that your family won’t/shouldn’t eat. This tip sounds like a no-brainer but everyone has old food shoved in the back of their pantry! Remove snacks that no one likes, half-eaten boxes of stale food (When did you even open that?), expired foods, seasonal foods (Highly unlikely you will use the pumpkin puree in the summer!) & unnecessary food (Is that baby food? Aren’t your kids teenagers now?). You get the idea! Donate what can go to a local food bank or charity and trash the rest.

2. Remove items that shouldn’t be in the pantry. The pantry is for food, small appliances, entertaining items, etc. Put those tools back in the garage. Put those office supplies back in the office. It’s called logical organizing and you will be happy those items are in their place.

3. Create Zones

Place your highest-use items in the prime real estate spot front & center. Items that only get used once a month go up high. For instance, snacks and breakfast are important. Put them in a spot where everyone in the family can reach them. Baking, entertaining, and surplus go at the top if only used once a month.

4. Decant

Removing items from their original packaging reduces visual clutter and makes your space so pretty and practical. Baking staples, cereal, snacks, rice, pasta, etc. are all great items to start with.

Pro Tip: Avoid purchasing containers in multi-packs. Typically, the small size is just too small. Instead, choose one size for nice sight lines on your shelves.

If you’re having a hard time getting all of this done, don’t despair! The kitchen is one of the hardest areas in the home to take on. Let my team help you get your space in order! Call me to schedule your consultation today.

Click here to purchase a gift certificate. Use the promo code ‘FITLIFE’ for $50 off your purchase. The code expires on 5/31/23. Only one gift certificate can be used per session booked with 2B Organized ® Branson.

About the Author:

Leslie Norman is the owner of 2B Organized ® Branson. Professional organizing is a career that found her. As she learned to manage her career and her young family, she realized that organization was the key to finding balance in her life so she could make time for the people and things that mattered most to her. For the past seven years she has helped clients throughout the Ozarks simplify and organize their spaces to find balance in their own lives. Leslie lives in Springfield with her husband, three children, and three dogs.