Organize Your Kitchen With Guest Glynnis Whitwer
We are into week two of our online study of A Life That Says Welcome. This week we will tackle some practical tasks for getting our homes company-ready and strategies for cooking. (Chapters 4-7)
Today, my ministry partner, clever friend and fellow-author of an organizing book Glynnis Whitwer is here to help us get our acts together in the kitchen.
Remember, you can comment on all posts until the end of the study. Winners announced the day after Easter. So, be sure to catch up on the posts from over the weekend. They were fabulous. I am learning a ton from our guests and from you all too!
Now, for today’s guest:
Glynnis Whitwer is on staff with Proverbs 31 Ministries as the Senior Editor of the P31 Woman magazine. She is one of the writers of Encouragement for Today, the Proverbs 31 e-mail devotions, with over 500,000 daily readers. Her newest book, I Used to be So Organized, was released last fall. Glynnis, her husband Tod, and their five children live in Glendale, Arizona. Visit www.GlynnisWhitwer.com for more information.
I’ve discovered many of life’s blessings happen in my kitchen. This room unites the values I hold dear: home, family and sharing life with others. This is why keeping it organized and clutter-free is a top priority for me. It’s not so I can boast of my alphabetized spices or labeled storage containers. An organized kitchen helps keep me focused on what’s important, instead of mentally drained by a mess.
Here’s the problem with a disorganized kitchen as I see it. When there’s no clear counter space, I’m discouraged from starting anything. Instead of making an affordable and healthy dinner, I am tempted to pick something up. I can’t even imagine reaching out to anyone when I can’t even take care of my own family.
All my lovely ideas for hospitality evaporate as clutter drains me of creative energy. Years ago I realized a well-managed life, one where I minister to my family and others, started in my kitchen.
So, in order to bring in more beauty, peace and order into my life and into the lives of those I love, I have declared a war on kitchen clutter. If that appeals to you, here are some suggestions for how to de-cluttering the kitchen.
1) Sort through and remove all clutter from on top of your counters.
Put away, recycle, toss and file those items you know what to do with. If you don’t know where to start, pick a spot and work your way clockwise. If you need to make decisions on other items, put those in a large box for later decision-making. Wash and put away dishes. Clean your counters and sink. Now stand back and survey your accomplishment with joy! (clap, clap, clap … that’s from me).
2) Move many of your everyday kitchen appliances out of sight (toaster, bread maker, waffle iron, etc).
Clear counters will refresh you, and give you a clean palate for creativity. You might need to work on step 3 at the same time so you have room to store these items.
3) Eliminate extra, unwanted, broken, chipped and incomplete items.
Start with one cabinet or shelf and completely remove every item. If you don’t use it, set it aside to give away, sell or toss. Be honest and ruthless. I know this will be hard, because many of us are well intentioned. I really intended to make fondue for my family … someday. But I had to be honest with myself.
Clean the shelves with warm soapy water and return the items you want to keep, including those items that were previously stored on your counter.
4) Store seldom-used appliances elsewhere.
Can you store larger items outside your kitchen? If you are holding out hope that you will start to use your waffle iron, then consider a shelf in an outside storage cabinet, extra bedroom or linen closet. I have a shelf in my garage for larger items I don’t often use.
Another option is to purchase extra kitchen storage, like a free-standing cottage-style pantry or rolling island. Consider buying something with doors to reduce visual clutter.
Great ideas, Glynnis!
Now, to be entered to win a copy of Glynnis’ book I Used to Be So Organized, tell us either your greatest kitchen organization dilemma or one tip you have when it comes to the kitchen.
REMEMBER: We are also interacting over at Karen Ehman’s Book Studies on Facebook. Click here to “like” the page & join us.
And, for this coming Friday’s idea swap and share, be thinking of your best decorating idea, tip, centerpiece or DIY project.
Most helpful to me: do one or at most two loads of laundry a day & put away. Do one easy (towels, sheets, sox) & one more delicate or difficult. If I do more I feel as though I’ve been inside laundry tub all day & nothing else gets done.
Put organizing table or small shelving outside kitchen area. Train kids to leave stuff there from school. Try to persuade husband to put his papers & keys on his personal shelf near door as he walks in. No non-food into kitchen helps.
Clean up as I cook; soak nasty pots during dinner. all washed & cleared right after dinner. If won’t scrub clean, pot soaks overnight. Keep dishwasher emptied daily so can refill.
Keep bill & to do organizer near kitchen or in special place for instant walk to & deposit.
Do 5 min. straighten up each a.m. & before bed. Straight but not immaculate is peaceful to body and mind.
I’ve struggled for years w clutter & now (w no small children now) am much more organized and can do quick stuff in 1 – 5 min. but didn’t know how in early years.
Each night make my to do list out. Have tiny notebook in purse for items to do or needed for each day of this week (& next) I used to often say “when I have time” & never get it on my list.
Now I’m going thru entire house again to tidy up organization, throw out/give, reduce possessions & therefore be able to extend hospitality.
Now I’m trying simple, inexpensive entertaining: soup, or coffee, or dessert. Just to do it.with special longtime and new friends
If I straighten one drawer every few days, great progress. AND NOW I have a file cabinet!
Pick a spot, any spot and it’s probably a problem. One thing I learned from a class last fall which I have yet to do is to sort (for example the utensil drawer) the items in the drawer into 4 containers labeled A, B, C, and D. A’s are items you use almost daily. B’s you use weekly. C’s are a little less often. D’s are items you wonder why you thought it was a good idea to get in the first place. A’s and B’s get returned to the drawer. C’s get a new home in a drawer or in a box on a shelf that is not in prime kitchen real estate (eye to hip level). D’s–recycle, sell or donate. Every drawer and cupboard should be looked at this way having A’s and B’s in the prime spaces of your drawers and shelves. The hard part is finding the time to do this. The one tip I have for my spice cupboard is kid shoe boxes! My shelves are deep but not very high. And most of spice bottles didn’t fit in the 2 tiered lazy susan. So now they are in shoe boxes. I just reach up, pull out the box and find my spice. A little sticky note on the front lets me know which box has which spice.
I like to run the dishwasher at night and empty it first thing in the morning. That way I can load dishes in as I use them throughout the day.
My biggest frustration is Tupperware. I always have bowls but no lids or vice verse. Drives me crazy! Maybe they go where the lost socks go. :o)
Having an Inventory list is how I stay organized in my home. I have an inventory list for the kitchen, freezer, “pantry” a cupboard with 2 spinning shelves, appliances and dishes used only once in a while, I have the bulk my recipes on my computer and the favorites on recipes cards in a recipe box. When I use an Item from the freezer or pantry I write it on my shopping list. This has helped me not run out of things and also saves me money because I am not buying duplicates ( how many jars of cinnamon does one girl need). Keeping my freezer, pantry and cupboards organized makes cooking a meal faster and much more enjoyable. Deep cleaning my kitchen once a year also helps with the clutter. I take a long hard look at the appliances and gadgets and knives I have not used. This is some times very hard as some of you know. For the items I decide to part with I will ask family and friends if they have use for them, they usually do. I give the rest to our church and our local Help Center. I do my “One Year” Rule for clothes, books, CD’s, DVD’s, etc. Doing these two things help me keep my clutter managible.
In the same way I’ve made choices to clear and organize the clutter of things in my home, I’ve made the same to choices to clear the clutter of things in my life, and this is pleasing to my Lord.
Thanks ladies and Glynnis.
My greatest dilemma was I love to display the fruits and veggies on my island, but I also love all of my glass hurricanes and vases so I decided to combine the two. Now the bananas are artfully displayed in the hurricane vase and the onions on in a pretty bowl and I’m happy!
I am a military wife with 9 kids. We’ve moved a lot and I am a “single” mom most of the time. I was blessed with the organizational bug, thank goodness! My top 5 tips for the kitchen:
1. Store “like” with “like” !!
2. Use disposable foil pans for really messy dishes whenever you can to save on clean-up (or reduce time spent ‘soaking” in the sink.)
3. Use all square and rectangular food storage containers. They store better in the cabinet and the fridge. I have only 3 sizes in the same brand and it has saved my marriage! (My husband HATES looking for matching lids!)
4. Place a pretty rectangular basket on your kitchen counter (about 3-4 inches deep) for ALL the papers and clutter. Go through it every other day and put stuff where it belongs. This keeps it contained but still where it’s handy!
5. Set up an organizational wall area. I have a large dry erase board, large calendar and cork board hanging on my kitchen wall. If you want, you can buy ones with frames or have custom frames made to match your decor so they look less “industrial.” EVERYTHING my family needs to know is in this area!
We have this lovely island in the kitchen that is perfect for projects! Unfortunately it is also a clutter magnet, so I just keep working at it.
When my kids were in early elementary, they came home with lots of colorful work papers. I used double-sized squares to mount a poster board on the pantry door for one child’s work, and another on the door to the basement. They hung their favorite papers during the month, including a calendar for assignments due, field trips, etc. I didn’t have to worry about papers everywhere, or sticking tape to the door or the walls. At the end of the month, I would choose a few to save, and start over. I have to admit, those “saved” papers are stored in the basement — another “need to clean” area! By 4th grade, there were a lot fewer papers. Now, my kids are in middle school and HS — , remember these “treasures” only come home for a few years. Enjoy them while you can!
Ditto to the catch-all counter. It is a large bar/sitting area in my kitchen. I have tried everything to keeping it clean. I tried making that the place to have our family meals and before I knew it we were back into living room in front of the TV (pet peeve) and I put plant in the middle to look all pretty and the poor plant soon was covered up and almost died from lack of sun & oxygen. The other thing I have trouble with is tupperware. I open the cabinet and it all falls out. Clutter…clutter…clutter It is my enemy!!
I like to sort/organize in the kitchen or where it’s most needed while I’m on the phone. I’ll tidy up a cabinet here and there and it might take a couple of days….depends on how much time I spend on the phone!! :) I do make a habit though of giving away stuff that is not being used to a local thrift store. My house has been a lot less cluttered since I started doing this!!!!
I DEFINATELY have a catch-all counter for papers, etc….its my office, and it doesn’t look too bad directly after I do a “pitch and pile” but it doesn’t take long for the clutter to “breed and have babies”. One kitchen organization tip I have used (for those of us that are sure that if we pitch, we’ll miss) is to remove everything from the utensil drawer and put it in a box in the garage. Then walk out to the garage to find what you need…that soup dipper, or the slotted spoon, or whatever. If you used it, then it can go back into the drawer. To speed things up, you can start with those 6 or 8 things you KNOW you use on a regular basis, then start to add. The unused gadgets and utensils STAY in the garage, and then at a set time, go to the Goodwill or even the sandbox!!
Wow, the kitchen is grand central. Paper, mail, reminder notes, computer. Where to even start?? I long for the days of clutterfree countertops!
I have a very small kitchen with hardly no counter space it’s hard to figure out what get to be out on the counter.
One part of my counter serves as a desk and accumulates alot of paper! Definitely looks cluttered!
My biggest dilemma is trying to find space for things in small spaces. We did find a home for our oven pans, they are stored in the oven until we have to use it to cook. Not sure how organized it may appear, but it gets those pans off my counter! =)
Isn’t it funny that we all have the same issues—whether kitchens are big or small. Clutter is the enemy and it truly does drain our energy! Best of luck ladies :)
my biggest dilmena is too little counter space. On one section, my microwaves sits taking up the entire counter area, on the other section I have a toaster oven taking up most the counter area. on the last remaining sections I have slow-cooker, ice tea maker, toaster, taking up the entire area. so I have no counter space for fixing food. it drives me crazy. I’m going to use the tip of storing the small appliances that I don’t use frequently… they may even go on the spare bedroom closet self. That would help. I think I will find a used table/stand to put my microwave on which can sit just off the kitchen in the dining room. Just a half step away. I may even try to find a used cabinet of some sort I can put in the dining room to store christmas dishes, seasonal items, etc. I will also clean out my cabinets that store plastic items and toss items that don’t have mates. that will free up storage space.
I too was tired of the junk mail stacking up in places all over the kitchen. When one pile got to high we would just start another pile. We finally “fixed” that problem by putting up an outdoor wall mount mailbox on the wall right inside the door we come in from the garage. That way I hang up my keys and put new mail in the box. It doesn’t solve the problem of still needing to go through the mail, but at least it isn’t an unsightly mess in my kitchen!
My biggest problem in the kitchen is my husband. I was brought up with my dad teaching me to be organized and clean. My husband however, goes for what ever is quickest. I organize the pantry and the next day, it looks as if a tornado has wiped through it. I finally gave up but now I just get lazy looking at it. I plan on organizing thanks to Glynnis. So, THANK YOU GLYNNINS!!!!
We recently remodeled our kitchen and it stayed organized the first year and then slowly went back to unorganized. The one thing the new kitchen has that has stayed organized is the great spice rack in the pantry. It works great.
Oh it is wonderful to know that I am not the only one who has kitchen counters you can’t see.
I really need to tackle the kitchen, I like the idea of one cupboard at a time.
My biggest kitchen dilemma is that I organize everything in a “Everything in it’s Place” manner but if y husband tries to he,p by putting stuff away, he doesn’t care about that same organization and just tosses stuff in a cabinet even if it isn’t the right cabinet or drawer.
The biggest help I’ve found is shining my sink before bed. This helps me to keep that sink free from dishes and when I wake up in the morning and go to the kitchen it is SO nice to start the day not feeling behind!
Sounds like a FlyLady tip. A shining sink definitely makes you feel better and clean!
My greatest kitchen dilemma is all of the mail that piles up on my counter. It’s usually something that isn’t ready to be filed away, it’s just “pending”, like bills and school papers. The pile just keeps getting bigger and bigger!!
I run a day care and can not seem to get on top of all the clutter. I have the baby gone this week so we dove into to different cabinets in the kitchen. It feels good to get them cleaned and rotate the items that need to be used up. But I look around and think I need at least 30 more days like today.