It hits me every single January: the desire to clean hard, declutter, and organize. This year it's not nearly as big a task as in the past, thanks to the fruit basket turnover of the whole house late last year. BUT, there's always room for improvement. I stumbled upon this calendar for decluttering on Pinterest.
I am fortunate that I don't need to do a lot of work anyway, but I love that this is broken down into daily tasks, so the job of organizing is never overwhelming. Yes, I know that I've started a week late on posting this but some days the 'task' is to read about her recommendations and suggestions on organizing and storage. That's not hard duty and you can quickly catch up to date just by following the suggestions.
And this does tie in with the USE IT UP challenge. I definitely found some things to USE and some that I need to use up!
Because I am ahead of the game, I was able to sort out my spices today, as well as the dish cupboard, under the sink, and one bank of cabinets where we keep things like snacks, cooking oils and such, and tea/pastas. Honestly, I did most of this during commercials while I watched The Kitchen on Food channel.
I thought I was doing pretty well at decluttering last autumn but I managed to pull all this from the cabinets:
And that doesn't include the never been used pressure cooker nor the dried milk container I've set aside to see if John wants for his shed storage.
I thought I was on top of my kitchen until I found some of my spices expired in 2012...Yep. I tossed some spices and should have tossed a few more that are a little old but not as old as those I threw away. I also discovered some dried split peas I'd kept too long. They had mold growing in the bottom of jar. Yuck!
I went through the baking cupboard and all I really needed to do there was to straighten it up. That leaves me the little cupboard where I keep vases and water that I've drawn up to store. I may tackle that cupboard this evening...or do it tomorrow since I'll be finished with the kitchen after this point.
Let me know if you've joined in and how it's going for you all.
Let me know if you've joined in and how it's going for you all.
10 comments:
Hi,I too started decluttering my kitchen last week. I ended up throwing away a few canned goods that had expired far to long ago. This week I will finish up by going thru pans and dishes and small appliances. I don't need all the kitchen stuff I needed over the years so I am down sizing.weg
I don't know what it is about a new year but it does make me want to organize more. We've lived in our home 38 years and just the other day we decided to put up a letter holder with key hooks by the back entry door. I asked my hubby why it took us 38 years to do this one simple thing?! It's really a lovely thing to have. I've organized a few other areas this past week that I'm loving. Pam
I had a lot of old plant containers. The kind they used to give you from the florist when you got a potted plant when you were in the hospital and such. I had them on a shelf. Then lately I stepped back and thought do I want to wash them and put them all back? Again! NO! So now they are gone and I am on to other things. Why did I take so long to realize I could change out things? I loved seeing them but they do not mean much to me now. Let someone else enjoy these collectables. !! :-) Sarah
I so need to go through all my spices. I threw a bunch out in the Fall also but did not get through them all. Sigh...another thing to add to my to do list.
Rather than throw away herbs and spices, I combine them and use in soups. Expired spices aren't "bad" so much as having lost flavor and potency. You'll need to use more but this is easy in soup.
Great minds think alike! LOL. My mantra for the year. PURGE, PURGE, PURGE.Gramna D
The kitchen is actually one of my most organized areas. As part of my cleaning schedule, the kitchen is Week # 2 of the month. This week, in fact. During this week, I have a daily chore in there. And one day every month is to organize and clean a drawer or shelf. I cycle around the entire thing about once a year.
I saw the decluttering calendar about the junk drawer. I have never had a junk drawer in my adult life. I certainly remember them from my childhood...I never quite understood the point of it lol. Why on earth were my parents keeping dead batteries and empty envelopes lol?! The closest I have to that is the drawer where I keep the boxed alum. foil, wax paper, etc. I keep a little basket in the very front with several tools. Scissors, rubber bands, a Sharpie, letter opener, & one of those weighted thingies to hold a cookbook open.
I am doing the kitchen decluttering challenge.. I have decluttered my "TERRIBLE' kitchen drawer, that holds the bills/ mail until I do them.. Found a much more doable answer to it..[a $2 home organizer /bill book at Dollar general}.Works perfect. It has little compartments to put your bills in, until time to pay them. it has a page to write all items in, and mark off as they are done.. Love it, and my drawer holds this book,phone book and clean as can be..
I have done a couple of the kitchen cabinets, and found several items to donate, and several cool whip/butter dishes to throw out. [Wonder how all these things accumulate so fast? ha
Best wishes on your kitchen..
We have our son, DIL and baby Granddaughter staying with us right now. The kitchen is on the to do list once the household returns to normal. I did it all towards the end of last year but the constant heat and humidity mean it all needs doing again. Hubby does most of the grocery shopping and has a habit of opening the pantry door and just pushing in the new items. It really just needs to be organised so that we can see just how much of everything that we have.
I get the itchy do something to clean and declutter every evening g when I c one in from the hospital but I so exhausted that all I can do is survival chores and go to bed. Someday l8fe will be more normal. We might go home today.
Post a Comment