Go Organize: Conquer Clutter in 3 Simple Steps (10 page)

Muffin tins and cookie sheets can be stored above the refrigerator if you don't use them weekly or in a cupboard with slots made for this purpose. Some stoves have a drawer under the oven, and they could be stored here.

Tip:
Here's a method to get cookie sheets and muffin tins to stand up in a cupboard. Measure your cupboard from the top to the bottom. Then purchase two expandable curtain rods that fit your cupboard's measurements. Place one rod in the front of the cupboard about 3″ (8cm) from the front edge and the other rod 8″ (20cm) to 12″ (30cm) directly behind the first rod in a straight line. When you store your cookie sheets, cutting boards, trays, or muffin tins, they will stand up between the wall and these rods.

Baking Supplies and Other Food:
Take all of your baking supplies and other food out of the cupboards and wipe out the shelves. Before putting the items back in the cupboard, check expiration dates on all items and throw away the expired ones. Wash off the outside of any containers that have gotten grungy. If you have baking supplies like nuts, chocolate chips, or other items that come in bags, put them in containers as they will stack better and take up less space. To prevent nuts from turning rancid (because of their natural oils), store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator or in the freezer where they will last for up to a year. If stored in the refrigerator, they will last half as long as in the freezer because they may be exposed to moisture.

If you use a lazy Susan for your spices or condiments and it is stained or a color you don't like anymore, now is the time to get a new one. You will be amazed at what a difference it makes to see a new one when you open your cupboard.

Tip:
Organizing spices alphabetically makes locating them fast and easy. Smell all of your spices before you put them back in the cupboard. If you can't smell them or they aren't as strong as they used to be, they've lost flavor and you need to replace them.

Depending on the size and location of your pantry, work hand-in-hand organizing your canned food, boxes of prepared food, and other food items that are in your cupboards along with your pantry. In the pantry, you can keep more food items, and if it is a walk-in pantry, bulky appliances can be kept in it. Keep your most-often-used foods in your cupboards and use your pantry to store more of the same items and food that comes in larger sizes.

Pantry

Take everything out shelf by shelf and put likes together on the table or counter. Wash the shelves and, as you put items back, check the expiration dates on all canned goods and packages or anything else that has expiration dates. Contain items like pasta, mixes, seasonings pouches, and chips in baskets or plastic containers and label these containers. Have a place for everything and label those places on the shelf. When you are out of an item, there is still a space for it when you purchase more. This works for other items as well.

Tip:
If you buy food items in bulk, separate the packages into smaller sizes and only keep a month's supply in the pantry or cupboard. The rest can be stored elsewhere in containers with tight-fitting lids to keep out humidity and bugs if these are a problem where you live. They could be stored in an armoire or on a closet shelf. If heat and humidity isn't a concern, they could be stored on a shelf in the garage.

Keep all like items together: Pasta (contain in a container) and boxed items such as cake mixes and pancake mixes, crackers, cereals all go together. Canned goods can be placed together by type in rows on another shelf. Vegetables can be together in one area, soup in another, and canned fruit in another. Put the newer cans or boxes in back and rotate the older items to the front.

Keep the things you use most often in the easiest to reach and to see places — in the premium space (see to page 24). Place large items like olive oil, vinegar, and bottled sauces on a turntable or lazy Susan. They will be easier for you to reach and to see what you have. If these are extra items, store them in secondary spaces, easy to get to but not some place you need to access daily.

Place miscellaneous products together. Things like wax paper, foil, and plastic wraps. Plastic storage bags of all sizes can be placed in containers to keep them all together. This also makes it easier to put them back. For some reason, it is easier to get things out than it is to put them back, so you want to make it as convenient as possible to return things to the designated area. If you have room in a kitchen drawer or cupboard, paper products can be placed there and the extras kept in the pantry.

Tip:
Label the shelves in the pantry so everyone will know where the designated place is for each item. They can put things on the shelves after a trip to the store because they know where they belong. It saves time and space, and the pantry stays organized.

Spices could be stored in the pantry on your new turntable or lazy Susan, or on a wall-mounted rack on the inside of the pantry door. Canisters of flour, sugar, and other dry goods can also be kept in the pantry. What you keep in your pantry depends on the size of your kitchen and pantry. If you kitchen is small and your pantry is just a small closet and is a part of your cupboards, then what you put here will be what you frequently use. If you have a walk-in pantry, this will be the place you will store more paper products, food items, and extra things that you use in the kitchen.

Tip:
When you are checking the expiration dates on your cans of food and boxed items, or you if are just looking to see what you have, and you find an item you have had for a long time but it hasn't expired, make a menu to use that specific food that week. If you don't plan on using it, donate it to your local food bank.

Junk Drawer

When you're through with this drawer, you'll be calling it a resource drawer. Take everything out and wipe it clean. Junk drawers, lost-and-hopefully-found drawers (a.k.a. resource drawers) are actually a premium space in the kitchen because everyone uses them all the time.

The trick to keeping a junk drawer organized is to add containers for all the things that belong here. Use oblong containers for screwdrivers, pliers, scissors, and other small tools. Use small containers for stick pins, tacks, screws, keys, rubber bands, and tape. Ice cube trays make a good container for small things. This drawer is home to only things you use on a regular basis and you want right at your finger tips. Everything else is placed in the BE basket to be taken to its home after you finish here for the day.

Extra electrical cords or telephone cords can be secured with a rubber band or folded inside empty toilet paper rolls and placed in the hanging shoe organizer in the entryway closet or placed in a drawer that is not in the kitchen. Or cut the toe off a sock and fold cords up in the sock for storage.

Tip:
Put all tape used in the home in one drawer (masking tape, duct tape, clear tape for wrapping gifts, and packing tape). Then, when you need any kind of tape, you know right where to find it. It is also good to have tape you use most often in the resource drawer.

Countertops

Countertops are premium spaces in many kitchens. Remove all the appliances you keep on the counters that you use only use once every six months. Refer to the section on bulky appliances (on page 79) for ideas on where to store them.

If your appliances are large and take up a lot of space, consider looking for smaller, streamlined appliances to keep on your countertops. They take up less space and have many combined functions (i.e., many rice cookers are also steamers, so you don't need two separate appliances, or get a toaster oven that is also a toaster). Many appliances (such as the microwave, toaster oven, television, radio, can opener, or paper towel holder) can be mounted under the overhead cupboards. If you have room, purchase a mini kitchen island on wheels. This will give you more counter space and storage space underneath as well.

If your mail gets tossed on the kitchen counter, put an attractive basket in the corner for it to land in. Or attach a mail holder on the wall. More will be discussed about mail in Chapter 11.

Refrigerator and Freezer

Remove everything from the refrigerator. Wash it out with baking soda to give it a fresh smell (two tablespoons of soda to about one pint of water). The important thing about organizing the refrigerator is to keep like items together: condiments on the door, milk and juices on the top shelf, yogurt, cottage cheese, and eggs on another shelf. Refrigerators have meat drawers and crisper bins for fruits and vegetables. Wash your fruits and vegetables before you put them in the refrigerator. Use these spaces for their intended uses. It keeps like items together and your refrigerator organized. Don't crowd the food in the refrigerator or freezer so tight that air can't circulate.

Store food in the refrigerator from 34–40ºF (1–4ºC). Food spoils rapidly above 40ºF (3ºC). The temperature in frostless and self-defrosting refrigerators is fairly uniform throughout the refrigerator; this includes the storage area on the door. If your refrigerator must be defrosted manually, the coldest area outside the freezing unit is the chill tray just below it. The area at the bottom is the warmest.

The door area is usually several degrees higher than the rest of the refrigerator. The temperature in the freezer should be 0ºF (-18ºC). Check the temperatures periodically. Appliance thermometers are the best way of knowing these temperatures and are generally inexpensive.

Once a week, take a look through your refrigerator and throw away any leftovers and toss any vegetables and fruits that are no longer edible.

To make fixing lunches easier, keep everything needed to pack a lunch in a container in the fridge. Bread, meats, cheese, lettuce in small bags and even the bottles of mayo, mustard, and so forth can be in one place to save time looking for lunch fixings. In a cupboard or in the pantry, place everything else that is needed to makes lunches in a basket; crackers, treats, bread, and plastic sacks can all be contained. In the rush of the morning, there are only two containers to grab.

The easiest way to organize the refrigerator and freezer is with containers. (It's always about containers isn't it?) Put the meat in a container, the vegetables in another container, and the fruits in another container. Boxes of TV dinners or other things that come in boxes can stack nicely by themselves, or place them in a container.

Tip:
Store an opened box of baking soda in your refrigerator and freezer to help eliminate odors. Replace it every three months. It may need replacing sooner if it loses its effectiveness and there are odors in the refrigerator. Date the box with a permanent marker to remind you when to replace it. Most refrigerator stains can be easily removed by cleaning with baking soda, and it leaves your refrigerator smelling fresh.

WRAP UP

There is a peace you feel when your kitchen is organized. Take a look at it now and compare it to the before photo. Wow! What a big difference. I am proud of you, and I know what a big difference this will make to you in your life.

You have successfully done these things in your kitchen, and these steps will help you keep it organized:

 


• You organized the inside of your cupboards! When you open your cupboards you feel joy. You might find yourself opening your cupboard doors just to look inside because they now have a bright feeling instead of being dark.
  

 


• You have reclaimed your counters. No more cooking surrounded by clutter. A basket for mail has solved the problem of mail all over the counter. Don't you feel great? You have accomplished a lot.
  

 


• Appliances have been put away, and you are only keeping what you use. You got rid of the ones you never used — goodbye guilt.
  

 


• It is easy to cook, set the table, and wash up because everything is easily accessible from cupboards to the table to the dishwasher and back into the cupboards again.
  

 


• The trash is contained, which makes a big difference in the look and feel in the room.
  

 


• You now have resource drawers instead of junk drawers.
  

 


• You labeled shelves in the pantry to make it easier to find things and put them away.
  

 


• The refrigerator and freezer are clean, and there is a place for everything you store there. (You may not eat out as much because you know what you will fix for dinner, and you'll save money.)