Our kitchen is one of the most used rooms in our home. As a family of five, the kitchen is full of a variety of items we use on a daily basis. From dishes and sippy cups to pots, pans, foods, and seasonings, the kitchen is home to many of our necessities. I have quickly learned to declutter your kitchen is a very important activity that must not go overlooked.
Because we utilize the kitchen so often (at least three times a day), it can easily become cluttered with all types of random things – which can pile up and become one big mess if you aren’t careful. Before decluttering my kitchen countertop last week, there was a Crayon, a hot wheel car, two legos, a paintbrush, a broken cup, an empty Amazon box, and a magazine all randomly hanging out in the kitchen waiting for me to toss it all into the garbage.
To avoid clutter in your home, It’s nice to set a designated time (once a day for me) to focus on different areas of your home to tidy up and get rid of clutter.THIS post was written after taking thirty minutes to tackle the unwanted items in my kitchen.
When decluttering, I specially aim to clean and clear out:
- All countertops and surfaces
- The inside and outside of the refrigerator
- The pantry
- All drawers
- Cabinets
In my home, there are problem areas that clutter the fastest. When cleaning and decluttering your kitchen, be sure to attack the problem areas first.
How Often Should You Declutter Your Kitchen?
You should get rid of unnecessary clutter in your kitchen as often as necessary. We have 5 people living in our home, with three of them being children under the age of ten, so I may need to declutter my kitchen more often than someone who doesn’t have any children. Whenever you notice unnecessary junk piling up or random items hanging around in your kitchen, that’s a good reminder that it may be time to declutter your space.
As you declutter your kitchen, what do you do with the things you get rid of?
Any perishable food items go into the trash or recycling. Plastics that I no longer want but aren’t in good enough condition to donate, I put in the recycling bin. Anything in good condition I no longer use gets donated to local families in need.
What do you do after you declutter your kitchen?
After getting rid of all unnecessary clutter, I like to wipe down all surfaces and countertops to finish the job. Cleaning the space after cleaning out the clutter is like adding a cherry to the top of an ice cream sundae. It just finishes the job.
To keep your kitchen clutter low, declutter, and tidy daily. As soon as you see a mess piling up, tackle it head-on. Keep reading for more tips on how to quickly declutter your kitchen.
10 THINGS TO DECLUTTER IN YOUR KITCHEN
1. Countertops. Clearing the kitchen countertops and surfaces may be the easiest way to declutter your kitchen. I always begin cleaning the kitchen with decluttering the countertops, giving myself more working space to clean and declutter the rest of the kitchen.
2. Junk drawers. The drawers in our kitchen are home to fast food sauce packets, lonely juice box straws, and sporks with no home. How does all of that random clutter get into the drawers? I’m not sure. The only thing I know is it’s my job to clear out the clutter or it will stay in the drawers for years to come.
3. Worn or rusted knives and utensils. Knives, cooking spoons, spatulas, and other utensils should be decluttered often. If you notice your utensils are rusting, falling apart, or aren’t working as good as they used to, it’s safe to say it’s time to get rid of them.
4. Expired spices and seasonings. Many times, people remember to check their pantry for expired food, but they leave their spices, seasonings, sauces, and flavorings unchecked for years. Check the expiration dates on any seasoning that you haven’t used in a while.
5. Coffee mugs. They say every coffee mug has a story. However, you don’t need a thousand stories hanging out in your kitchen cabinet. Keep one or two coffee mugs that mean the most to you and get rid of the rest. If you have a matching set, even better. Consider donating your random mugs or selling them at a yard sale or on eBay.
6. Anything chipped or broken. Chipped or broken plates and dinnerware is not safe to use, so get rid of it. The less space it takes up in your cabinets the better.
7. Old plastic items and random plastic pieces. Plastic clutter in the kitchen can pile up quickly. From sippy cups and Tupperware tops and bowls, random plastic can be found throughout your kitchen, and need to be decluttered often. If you can, purchase fewer plastic items and consider purchasing glass or silicone to help the environment and keep plastic clutter to a minimum.
8. Old dishcloths and sponges. Dishcloths, sponges, scrubbing brushes, and cleaning towels need to be decluttered and replaced often. Because they hold bacteria, it is important to wash or replace your dishcloths and sponges often. I use silicone scrubbers to clean my dishes, and I throw them in the dishwasher at the end of the night to be cleaned. I put my dishcloths and cleaning towels in the washing machine at least once a week to be cleaned.
8. Refrigerator clutter. The inside isn’t the only part of your refrigerator that needs to be cleaned often. Your kitchen will look less cluttered when there is less paper clutter hanging from the front of your refrigerator.
We all love our children, but let’s be honest, all of those drawings that they want you to hang on the refrigerator can become…messy. Once a week, declutter your kitchen by removing all clutter from the outside of your refrigerator such as overdue reminders, children’s drawings, and random promotional magnets.
9. Worn pots and pans. If taken care of, quality pots and pans can last five years or longer. However, if you have any cookware that is starting to fall apart, rust, has scratches, or is scoured on the bottom, it’s time to declutter your kitchen of any pots and pans that have run their course.
10. Random plastic shopping bags. accumulated from the month. If you are like me, then you have hundreds of these bags that have accumulated under your kitchen sink for no reason at all. Remove these bags from your kitchen, drop them in a recycling bin, and free yourself from the unnecessary clutter of these random plastic shopping bags.
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