A cluttered kitchen can be overwhelming and make it difficult to enjoy cooking and meal preparation. A messy kitchen can also affect your mood and create stress. Fortunately, with just a few simple steps, you can transform your kitchen into a functional and clutter-free space. In this blog post, we’ll go through 10 easy steps for a clutter-free kitchen.
Welcome to the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series! We will be starting in the kitchen this month using my DIY Kitchen Declutter. Each day is dedicated to spending only 30 minutes decluttering your specific daily task. We will be working 5 days a week, so you can take 2 days to enjoy time with your loved ones. Now, let’s look at 10 steps for a clutter-free kitchen.
10 Easy Steps for a Clutter-Free Kitchen
- Start with a plan
The first step to a clutter-free kitchen is to create a plan. Take a few minutes to identify problem areas and prioritize what needs to be organized. Make a list of items that you want to keep, donate, or discard.
- Clear your counters
One of the quickest ways to declutter your kitchen is to clear your counters. Remove any items that don’t belong in the kitchen and find a proper place for them. Keep frequently used items on the counters, but be sure to group them together to avoid clutter.
- Organize your pantry
The pantry is one of the most important areas to organize in your kitchen. Use clear containers to store dry goods, and label them with the contents and expiration dates. This will help you easily identify what you have and what you need to restock.
- Purge your fridge
The fridge can easily become cluttered with expired or unused items. Take a few minutes each week to purge your fridge of anything that’s expired or no longer needed. This will help keep your fridge clean and organized.
- Use drawer dividers
Drawer dividers are a great way to keep utensils, spices, and other small items organized. Use them to separate items by category, and label each section to make it easy to find what you need.
- Maximize your cabinets
Maximize your cabinet space by using shelf risers, lazy Susans, and pull-out drawers. These items will help you make the most of your cabinet space and keep everything easily accessible.
- Hang your pots and pans
Hanging your pots and pans is a great way to save cabinet space and keep them easily accessible. Use a pot rack or hooks to hang your pots and pans, and consider hanging your measuring cups and spoons as well.
- Store appliances wisely
Appliances can take up a lot of space on your counters and in your cabinets. Store appliances that you use frequently on the counters, and keep those that you use less frequently in a cabinet or pantry.
- Use vertical space
Maximize your kitchen’s vertical space by installing shelves, hooks, and other storage solutions. Use these items to store items that you don’t use frequently, such as large serving platters or seasonal items.
- Clean as you go
Finally, one of the best ways to keep your kitchen clutter-free is to clean as you go. This means putting items away as soon as you’re done using them, and wiping down counters and surfaces regularly. By doing this, you’ll maintain a clean and organized kitchen that’s always ready for your next meal.
In conclusion, a clutter-free kitchen is essential for a stress-free cooking experience. By following these 10 easy steps, you can transform your kitchen into an organized and functional space that you’ll love spending time in. Remember to start with a plan, clear your counters, organize your pantry, purge your fridge, use drawer dividers, maximize your cabinets, hang your pots and pans, store appliances wisely, use vertical space, and clean as you go.
Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home. You can get that here.
You can get your printable Daily Housekeeping Routine and Deep Cleaning Your House Schedule here. This 15 page printable kit is delivered digitally to your email for you to print and personalize.
What Does a Deep Clean Include? It includes a daily schedule, calendar pages, and deep cleaning checklists for every room and area of your home.
Below is a sample page of what you’ll get in my printable set designed to help you create your personal Housekeeping Schedule Printable.
Maybe your house is clean but cluttered. If so, you need to do a DIY Kitchen Declutter. Does a Cluttered House Cause Stress? Let’s look at a reputable, mental health site to answer that They have given us 8 ways mess leads to stress. According to Psychology Today:
Clutter can play a significant role in how we feel about our homes, our workplaces, and ourselves. Can a Messy House Affect Your Mood? How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? Messy homes and work spaces leave us feeling anxious, helpless, and overwhelmed. Yet, rarely is clutter recognized as a significant source of stress in our lives. (source)
Why does mess lead to so much stress? (source)
- Clutter bombards our minds with excessive stimuli (visual, olfactory, tactile), causing our senses to work overtime on stimuli that aren’t necessary or important. (source)
- Clutter distracts us by drawing our attention away from what our focus should be on. (source)
- Clutter makes it more difficult to relax, both physically and mentally.(source)
- Clutter constantly signals to our brains that our work is never done.(source)
- Clutter makes us anxious because we’re never sure what it’s going to take to get through to the bottom of the pile. (source)
- Clutter creates feelings of guilt (“I should be more organized”) and embarrassment, especially when others unexpectedly drop by our homes or work spaces. (source)
- Clutter inhibits creativity and productivity by invading the open spaces that allow most people to think, brainstorm, and problem solve.(source)
- Clutter frustrates us by preventing us from locating what we need quickly (e.g. files and paperwork lost in the “pile” or keys swallowed up by the clutter). (source)
Overwhelmed by a Messy House? It can really affect you negatively. How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? One way is to have a plan like a DIY Kitchen Declutter. What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? I have a room by room specific Printable House Cleaning Checklist linked above. How to Fix Cluttered House Issues: For a clean, simplistic look, one of the best Deep Cleaning Home Tips is to declutter a room before cleaning and then use an Easy House Cleaning Schedule to maintain it. How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? As you can already see, there are at least 8 ways we become negatively affected by clutter. Also, I though it might be thought provoking to look at some statistics on clutter.
- US consumers buy 40% of the world’s toys, but bear only 3% of the world’s children.
- Most people wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time. (source )
- 9.4% of U.S. households rent a storage unit. (source)
- People do not look at 80% of the papers and information they keep.(source)
- The average American house is double the size it was in the 1950s–and getting bigger. (source.)
- The U.S. Department of Energy reports that one-quarter of people with two-car garages have so much stuff in there that they can’t park a car. (https://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-statistics-of-clutter/)
- According to the National Soap and Detergent Association, getting rid of clutter would eliminate 40 percent of housework in the average home.(https://www.becomingminimalist.com/the-statistics-of-clutter/)
Today, we’ll lay out the solutions to get you some Help for Cluttered Homes using my DIY Kitchen Declutter plan. Plus, we’ll look at a few ways to answer the question:What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? A Printable House Cleaning Checklist will help you keep your home clean and maintained. I’ll even give you my Deep Clean Checklist and House Cleaning Tips to help you get started. Maybe you are thinking: My House Is So Cluttered, I Don’t Know Where to Start. How can I recognize clutter? Let’s address those questions. I have a visual below to help. Also, check out these 5 Important Guidelines to keep you focused as you declutter:
A few guidelines to keep you on task for your DIY Kitchen Declutter:
1.Only spend time on your specific daily task.
2.Do not get side-tracked or distracted.
3.Work within a time of day that you have the most energy and stamina.
4.Avoid thinking too long about whether to keep or discard an item. Recruit help if you are stuck in the decision process.
5.Avoid cleaning during your declutter. Getting rid of the clutter is your priority. Cleaning can be accomplished later.
More Deep Cleaning Home Tips can be found below. Knowing How to Be Ruthless When Decluttering can certainly speed the process. Maybe you are wondering: Should I Clean or Declutter First? My opinion is to declutter, first. What is the Proper Way to Clean Your House? I always declutter a room first. Why? Often, a clean room doesn’t look clean if it’s filled with clutter. Let’s look at a few questions, below, to help you along.
When overwhelmed by a Messy House, you need to know how How To Clean a Dirty House in the easiest way possible. How Do you Make an Easy House Cleaning Schedule? What Cleaning Should Be Done Daily? My recommendation is once weekly on the areas I’ll outline in my House Cleaning Planner. Can a Messy House Affect Your Mood and Cause Stress? It certainly does when you can’t find anything.
How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? We’re going to work on creating a schedule and a “home” for everything, so you always know where to find your things. This is one important solution I provide to readers looking for Help for Cluttered Homes. Much of the clutter we create is because we have simply laid something down and not given it a proper home.
What Should I Declutter First? Knowing this will show you How to Be Ruthless When Decluttering. I recommend you start with one small area, such as a shelf or drawer.This is a good solution for How to Fix Cluttered House Issues. Use these questions below to help you determine whether to keep or toss any item. This is a helpful tip for how to declutter and organize your bathroom.
HOW TO DECLUTTER with a DIY Kitchen Declutter:
Supplies Needed:
1. boxes -preferably ones you can donate (Avoid plastic storage bins because you may be tempted to just store the items and not part with them.
2. sturdy trash bags
3. marker/pen to label boxes
DIY Kitchen Declutter Tips: How To Motivate Yourself to Declutter Your Home: I like to put on some upbeat music. You’ll also want to dress for cleaning. Don’t wear your nice clothes and shoes. Instead, grab some clothes you can bend and move in and wear comfortable tennis shoes. How To Clean a Dirty House using an Easy House Cleaning Schedule can be done in simple weekly steps I’ll outline below. How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? A Messy House Affect Your Mood and Cause Stress. One way it causes stress is that it creates the feeling that your work is never done. To fix that, let’s start with a small project. Again, start with an easy project, so you can see instant progress. One shelf or one drawer is a good place to start.
Your task today for August 16th is to: DIY Kitchen Declutter: Declutter your serving dishes.
A quick recap of Yesterday’s Task: Yesterday, August 15th Task was to declutter your fine china, silver, and crystal.
How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess? Avoid using storage bins to declutter. Storage bins tend to tell your brain to “store” the items for later. That is just delaying decisions. If you aren’t getting rid of items when you declutter, you are not truly decluttering. This is why I recommend a trash bag, also. A trash bag tells your brain to “trash” the item.
What Do You Throw Away When Decluttering? How Do You Know If Your House Is Cluttered? An honest outsider can help you see what you have become accustomed to. How Does Clutter Affect Your Life? Invite an honest friend or family member to help you answer that question. Perhaps you are dealing with years of accumulated clutter. You may even be a hoarder.
Can a Messy House Affect Your Mood and Cause Stress? It certainly does cause undue stress when the mess is a large one. It can be very overwhelming. Often, we get stuck because we don’t know where to start. How to Start Decluttering Your House can be easy if we take it in small steps. I want to show you how to take a baby step approach to decluttering. I want to help you make it easier. If you lack time, I have a blog post providing a quick solution for Help for Cluttered Homes on the One Day Declutter process I use. You’ll find the link to that post at the end of this article.
If You feel Overwhelmed by a Messy House, I want to help try to ease the overwhelm. How Do You Declutter Without Being Overwhelmed? With my DIY Kitchen Declutter, we’re going to do it slowly and thoroughly in just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. How Do You Get Rid of Clutter In Your Home? Obviously, recycle if you have that option. The boxes you use should be ones you are willing to part with, so I recommend sturdy cardboard boxes. As to donations, there are many charities that will come pick up your donations at your home.
I use one in particular where you can book an appointment for pick-up online. This is so convenient, as it saves you the hassle of hauling stuff away yourself. Scheduling that pick-up also motivates you to declutter by a certain date.
Bonus: Here is a video with some ideas for a DIY Kitchen Declutter. For me, I can’t think clearly when surrounded by clutter and messes. Maybe this describes you, too. Check out this great video I found that will show you how to clean your home using simple steps.
If You’re Looking for some Decluttering Made Easy Tips… – Maybe you just need a simple, step- by- step process like this and my DIY Declutter checklists for each room.
What Should I Declutter First? How To Motivate Yourself to Declutter Your Home: We’ve already stated that a small area is a good place to start. It can be done quickly and gives you instant gratification. Think of one small area in your home that you use daily that could use a makeover.
How To Motivate Yourself to Declutter Your Home: Start small. Instantly, I think of my top bathroom drawer and my kitchen silverware drawer. Another idea would be to declutter one shelf. In my own kitchen, the shelf that needs the most attention right now is one of my pantry shelves.Overwhelmed by a Messy House?A Cluttered House Can Cause Stress. It is stressful for me to lose time searching for things because I don’t have a clear idea of where these items belong. Bonus tip: It helps to remove everything from that shelf or drawer as you get started. Then, you can see what is actually in there and only put back the items you use.
How Do You Deal With a Cluttered Mess?
How to Declutter with my DIY Kitchen Declutter
1. Start by eliminating trash first- use a sturdy trash bag
2. Sort items by category if needed so you can see what you have
3.Get rid of duplicate items, broken items, outgrown clothes and shoes, anything you’ll never use again.
4. Box up the donations and trash/recycle the rest
5.Select a charity to donate your items and schedule the pick-up if that is an option
In my cabinets, I just reorganized the pieces to make everything look neat and orderly again. I also located these pieces that I had to discard. All of these items belonged to other serving pieces that I no longer had. I couldn’t think of any way to repurpose them, so these are going into my discards for donation.
With my fine china, I also keep our wedding cake topper from 19 years ago. I remember I looked far and wide to locate one that had two blondes, both a groom and bride. Lol.
Remember, as you are decluttering and organizing, avoid jumping into another category. You can see from these photos that I have more decluttering to do in terms of cups and other categories. But, resist the urge. We will cover that later. Stay on your current task. If you finish early, wipe down that area.
Bonus Tip: I have very few silver pieces, but I keep what I do have stored in their boxes to protect the finish. On my blog, you can find a tutorial on how to clean silver here.
Another special tip: Never, ever put your crystal, fine china, or silver in the dishwasher. These items are delicate and must be washed by hand. The dishwasher detergent will destroy the finish. I use these sparingly. When I stack and store the plates, bowls, and saucers, I place a folded white napkin between each piece to keep the finish from being scraped. I suggest only using a white napkin as a colorful napkin may bleed color onto your fine china.
How are you enjoying this series? I hope it has been helpful and encouraging for you. I am right here with you to complete those daily tasks and move toward the finish line slowly.
Remember, slow and daily habits are the most lasting. If you attempt to make a change too quickly or too dramatically, you’ll likely lose stamina and burn out, returning to your old ways.
But, this isn’t you! You are going to make great progress, slowly and steadily. You are going to make lasting changes and form new habits that you’ll keep.
If you feel like the process is too minimal, take some photos of your own “before and after” results. This will keep you motivated to continue. If you are willing, comment and share your results with the group. We’ll continue to cheer you on and send you those “virtual high-fives.”
A word for Newbies:
If this is your first day or first post, we welcome you to the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series. The goal is to declutter 30 minutes per day, 5 days a week. We started August 12th, so you can review the previous posts if you’d like. Each day we begin a daily task.
Subscribe to my blog for this information to be sent to you via email. Share with a friend and recruit some support to join us. We are improving our homes and our lives one daily task at a time.
Need to deep clean? I have lists for you to guide you along.
My How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen list can be found here.
My How to Deep Clean Your Bathroom list can be found here.
My How to Deep Clean Your Kids’ Rooms list can be found here.
My How to Deep Clean Your Living Room list can be found here.
My How to Deep Clean Your Bedroom list can be found here.
Also, to keep up the general housework, you may need to create a daily housekeeping schedule that suits your specific needs. To do so, I have created a helpful series you can read here.
Need to Declutter Every room? Use this DIY Kitchen Declutter for your kitchen. Also, I have declutter checklists for every room and every space in your home to guide you along below.
Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home. You can sign up here.
Also, remember that if you are struggling to decide if an item is clutter, you can use these questions below to help you determine whether to keep or toss any item.
How to Declutter the Guest Room or Your Kid’s Room checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Laundry Room and Patio checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Coat Closet/Hall Closet/Linen Closet checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Home Office checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Attic checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Garage checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Living Room checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Kitchen Checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Entry/Foyer/Mudroom checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Clothing checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Bedroom checklist can be found here.
How to Declutter Your Bathroom checklist can be found here.
Happy Decluttering!
To Subscribe to this Declutter Series, drop me a comment below. Your email will be sent to me but will not be posted publicly. You’ll receive a daily declutter task via email for the daily task we are working on. You can unsubscribe at any time.
New to deemiddleton.com and don’t know where to start? I recommend going in this order:
Step 1: Check out this post on the 1st step you should take to get organized. Also, you can get the complete digital printable copy of the Year Long Thorough Declutter Series Calendar and Checklists here. The printable digital download is delivered to your email. It includes 25 pages of printable calendar pages and checklists to help you declutter every room in your home. You can sign up here.
Step 2: Create a daily Housekeeping Schedule. You can use this series to start to set up your own schedule. You can also use this simplified weekly schedule.If you often ask: What is the fastest way to clean a dirty house? Or, if you struggle to get organized and have tried and failed time and again, you can likely find out which of these 11 reasons cause you to fail to get organized.
Step 3: How do you remove clutter?.…Sign up for the Declutter Series and get your entire home decluttered in just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.”Declutter Your Home” checklists are provided in each email.
Step 4: What is the fastest way to clean a dirty house? Use a timer and use the Deep Cleaning Checklists above. They will help you get your home sparkling after you’ve decluttered.
Interested in becoming a full-time blogger like me? Check out my blogging series. At the top of every page on my blog, you’ll find a drop down menu. Just select the BLOGGING category.
Check out the most popular posts on deemiddleton.com:
14 Things That Make Your Home Look Cluttered
How to Create a Daily Housekeeping Schedule
How to Clean House When You Are Completely Overwhelmed By Clutter
What is Preventing You From Getting Organized?
Also, check out a great post on decluttering over here from becomingminimalist.com. Joshua Becker has some great tips on decluttering and minimalism.
For further reading, check out the fly lady here. She has some great cleaning and decluttering ideas plus excellent organization tips to get you started.
I hope you have benefitted from this DIY Kitchen Declutter series. To Subscribe to this Declutter Series, drop me a comment below. Your email will be sent to me but will not be posted publicly. You’ll receive a daily declutter task via email for the daily task we are working on. You can unsubscribe at any time.
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