Kitchen Cupboards and Drawers

This week we are working on sorting out the kitchen cupboards and drawers.

My cupboards refuse to stay sorted! I just have too much stuff!

What’s in the drawer?

Starting with the drawers, empty them out and get rid of anything broken! Last week we looked at the function of our kitchens, anything in those drawers that do not fit the function, needs to go.

What the end result should be is, drawers you can open and close easily and where you are able to find what you are looking for!

Challenging cupboards

For your cupboards, the aim is to be able to get to things without having to stack and unstack anything first. I’m still working on that after having done this declutter assignment for the last 3 years.

You need to be a little tougher on yourself here and get rid of the chipped plates no matter how sentimental and useful they are. These are dangerous, especially if you have young children or do the dishes by hand. Someone can easily cut themselves.

Stop mugging about!

I think you can never have too many coffee mugs but if you haven’t the space to keep them then it is time to clear out.

It is not a good idea to pull out everything from all the cupboards at once as this may just become overwhelming. One cupboard at a time works best.

Then sort by what you use daily, weekly and rarely. The rarely gets put back at the back and the daily, where you will be able to reach it easily.

In the zone!

If you have the space to do it, you should try and create ‘zones’ in your kitchen. Placing your chopping boards where you would prep your veg, your pots and pans where you would cook and your cups and saucers near your kettle or boiling water source.

This may help you with efficiently getting meals out and not having to scrounge around for things you need.

As you unpack your cupboards, before putting items back, work out if you really need that item and how many of it do you need. Water/juice bottles are an example of items that just seem to multiply.

Storage capacity

Food storage containers are also another item that you need to monitor. If you often have left overs or you cook in bulk then you may need quite a few, however, if your house is anything like mine then there usually aren’t any left overs at all, you don’t need too many containers.

If you want to buy fancy organising gadgets to help you keep your kitchen cupboards neat and tidy, please wait until ALL your cupboards and drawers are sorted, so that you can make good decisions on what to buy and not end up with stuff you don’t need or won’t fit.

Remember to ask yourself these questions before putting something back in your cupboard.

1. When did I use this last?
2. Does it still work?
3. Do I have all the pieces?
4. Does it fit in with my kitchen functions?

Every day I will cover a different area of the kitchen cupboard in the Facebook group, small tasks to prevent overwhelm.

I will be posting pictures of my sorting in the Facebook group (the ones in this post are my before) and would love you to do the same. If you haven’t joined the group yet, now is a good time to do so. Want to read more? Here is the link to last years post on this What’s in the drawer?