February Challenge - Organizing & Cleaning the Kitchen

Hi all! We're into February now, which means we will be organizing & cleaning our kitchens!  

How did you do with the January Challenge?  If you did everyday last month, awesome, good for you! Pat yourself on the back.  If not, don't worry, we'll be organizing basically everything throughout the year.  Remember, a little bit of organizing in your home is WAY better than none at all.  You are more organized this year than you were last year and that is huge. 

Organizing & Cleaning the Kitchen

There are oodles of ways to organize a kitchen.  You must create a space that will work for you and your family.  Now is a good time to step back, look at your entire kitchen and figure out what will be the best way to organize it, in a way that will work for you.

For a little kitchen inspiration, I'm including some previous kitchen posts here on the blog:

Organizing a Kitchen in 4 steps:

1. Remove Everything
Take everything out one at a time, group like items together on the counters or tables.

2 - Wipe it Down
Wipe down the entire interior and exterior of the space with hot soapy water. Doors, shelves and drawers.

3 - Purge
Simplify - Throw out expired foods, donate any items that you no longer use or need.

4 - Place Items Back In
Keeping like items together (just as you grouped them together when you took them out) place items in baskets, bins, containers, jars, etc. (if possible) and place back into your zoned spaces, keeping categories together.

Solutions, Tips & Tricks in the Kitchen:

• Create Zones in the kitchen - Prep Zone - Cooking Zone - Baking Zone -Cleaning Zone - Storage Zone - Food Zone

• Tupperware or glass jars are great for storing dry foods

• Use a basket to store packet items

• Seperate Lids from Bases

• Use Pots & Pans Dividers, Baking Sheet Racks, Lid Dividers or Lid Racks

• Use a Knife Block or Mount a Magnetic Knife Rack on the Wall in the Prep Zone

• Drawer Organizers are great for organizing utensils, kitchen tools and junk drawers

• Get Creative with Spices. Mount a magnetic spice rack to the wall.

• Baskets are great for containing like items together in the pantry, cabinets and even under the kitchen sink

• Magazine holders work great to keep cookbooks organized

• If you have a smaller pantry add a clear plastic over the door shoe organizer for more food storage

• Lazy Susan rounders are perfect use for corners

• Island carts  add more counter space and more storage space as well

• Add open shelves on the wall and store pretty jars filled with flour, sugar, brown sugar, oats, etc.

• Create a coffee bar or coffee station

• Use command hooks to hang gloves inside the cabinet door under the kitchen sink

• Mount a basket inside the cabinet under the kitchen sink to hold sponges

• Store plastic bags, saran wrap, tin-foil etc. in a drawer near the refrigerator

• Use a lower drawer or cabinet that children can reach and organize childrens cups, plates and bowls.  Use baskets to seperate the cups, lids, plates and bowls

• Hard to reach spaces in a cabinet is the perfect place to store items that you don’t use often  (small appliances, crockpot, roasting pan, serving dishes, party platters, etc.)

• Remove most everything off the front of the refrigerator door.  It’ll make a big difference in how “clean” the kitchen looks.

• Command Center - create a command center in your kitchen. 

• KEEP counters clear - if you don’t use it daily, store it elsewhere.  Clean and clutter free counters will keep the kitchen feeling clean and organized
  
   

To keep a clean kitchen, practice these everyday chores:

• Clear the counters and wipe them down after each meal

• Do the dishes in the morning and load throughout the day. Put the dishwasher going in the evening.  

• Sweep or vaacum the kitchen in the evening.
  

There you have it. Tips, Tricks & Solutions to a cleaner, more organized kitchen.

May you be a little inspired!

Until next time,
DaNita