Your kitchen accumulates a great deal of clutter, aka tools and devices that are really neat, but just don’t get used. Well, it’s time to clean out that mess, and let your kitchen stand out as a beautiful and functional area of your home, not the place where the drawers don’t close and every cabinet you open is subject to spill out. Use this as a checklist to get started. The general rule here is: if it’s not special enough to use at least once a year, get rid of it!
1. Cabinets
Go through each cabinet, one at a time, pulling everything out. Then, put everything that you still use back in. Once you see how much nicer it looks in there, you will be less likely to try and stuff everything back in it. Get rid of the rest. Leave extra space where you can, because there is a really good chance you’re going to need a new home for some of the items on your countertops.
2. Drawers
Just like cabinets, go through each one individually, pulling everything out, and replacing only what you use. Is your silverware drawer overflowing? I get it, you hate doing dishes, so the more flatware the better, right? It’s ok to have extras, but if there are 4 people in your home, and you have 15 forks, you are not saving yourself any trouble. And keep in mind, you probably don’t need more than one food thermometor.
3. Countertops
Is your countertop full of appliances? Does it take a long time to clean, because you have too many items to move? Take inventory of everything you have on there, and get rid of or find a place that is out of sight for everything that doesn’t get used daily. Sure, the breadmaker makes you look really cool, but if you’re only using it a handful of times a year, does it really need to take up that much space? Or maybe you keep the blender up there thinking it will motivate you to make healthy smoothies every day. But if you’re not, put it somewhere you can easily get to, but is out of sight.
4. Pantry
The pantry is one of the easiest areas to clutter. You buy something because it’s on sale, or you convince yourself you will eat it, and then before you know it, it has been in the back of the pantry for over a year collecting dust. Throw out all food that is past it’s expiration date, and donate food that is still good, but has been there long enough to where you know you aren’t going to do anything with it. And be realistic, just because those canned beats are good for you, doesn’t mean you will convince yourself that you like them.
5. Decor
Just like any other part of your home, decor can be easy to bypass in your cleaning adventure, especially if it has been there for so long it just seems necessary because you’re used to it. Your decor puts the whole room together, it creates the feel of the area, so have some fun with it! But don’t overdo it, for example if you can’t see more than the edges of the windowsill behind the kitchen sink, you have more on there than you need! Try reducing it to just your favorite picture, or a little plant.
