Room of the Month: January - Kitchen

One of my goals is to work through my house to "cleanse" it so to speak. It's inevitable that with a family and especially 4 children things begin to pile up and overtake the people living in the things. Also, I realized that I never really "moved in" my kitchen. LOL. We've been here for 8 years! I had a 2 week old at the time and things got put in my kitchen in the most logical place at the time and stayed there. Well, after you add pantry space, and more appliances, and more spoons, and dishes, and lived there a while, some things aren't as logical as they once were. This hit me hard during the holidays. All of the sudden, nothing made sense in my kitchen!

This spurred a reorganizing, cleaning out bug in me and I was ready to go after Christmas. My friend Kim and I hit Ikea and started the process. Jason and I went back the next week to bat clean up (as shared in my Project Life Post). I don't have before pictures, but I do have a few afters:



This cabinet had a spinning organizer that wouldn't spin because the space was so tight. Our vitamins and medicines were on the top shelf, and inconvenient to reach and return. The basket of utensils was on the counter. It didn't bother me there as I love baskets, but for a change and a cleaner look, I moved it.



This was my silverware drawer. My silverware is now in a wire caddy with mason jars in it, and it sits on the counter. I like that it's movable. I like that something so used is out in the open. That's practical to me and this particular thing is not an eyesore.
I got 2 dividers from the Container Store and put other cooking, food prep utensils in there. My ultimate vision includes getting rid of all the stained, melted, old utensils and replacing them with 1 set that is clean, matched, and nesting..Priorities.



My "other" drawer in the kitchen. More food prep utensils. The odd size version. I have an electric knife. Never has it been used on food, so soon, it will go out to my sewing closet (in the garage) to live with the stuff I do use it with. LOL. I have only used it to cut foam for bench cushions and such.



My improved laundry room pantry. I love these red bins from Ikea. Still working on this project, but this is already better!

My inspiration for this project comes from 2 sources. One is an article my mom saved from Womans Day in January of 2001. It was called "Room of the Month." It encourages you to take 1 room a month to focus on extra projects. That makes sense in my brain and if I did half the stuff listed, things here would be much improved! Here is the kitchen list:

DECLUTTER
*Empty cupboards, drawers, and other storage units and group similar items, making piles for things to keep, donate, toss or store elsewhere. Check for bugs. Ew.
*Strip bulletin boards and fridge doors, tossing the outdated and finding a proper home for the rest
*Cull recipe boxes or rarely used cookbooks to toss or store elsewhere.
CLEAN
*Vacuum and clean shelves, walls, baseboards, ceiling, cupboards, light fixtures, windows, screens, and curtains. Whew!
*Clean microwave, kitchen fans, stovetop, and oven
*Empty refrigerator. Clean gaskets, shelves, storage bins, and freezer compartment; vacuum coils.
MAINTAIN
*Rearrange cupboards so items are closest to where you use them.
*Store duplicate utensils or seldom-used items in a labeled box in the basement or give away.
*Divide the bulletin board to give each family member a special section to check for messages and reminders.
*Clean out the fridge before shopping
*Quick clean a drawer once a month while you are talking on the phone.
*Restock fridge and pantry shelves by grouping food in categories (vegetables, condiments, dairy). Freezer too!
*Label and date canned goods as they are stored. Use old before new.
*Use ziptop bags or canisters to seal out bugs from flour rice and pasta.

Okay, some of this I am not going to do. Some things I need to do are not on here. It's a great start though! Because I'm rearranging cabinets and drawers they are naturally getting cleaned as I go.

The other source is a declutter and organizing calendar from . She uses one month to declutter and one month to organize with an action a day. It has some great suggestions too.

This gave me a game plan. I figure if I do things on these pages, I'll be better off than I was before even if I don't get finished! I have more pics and more to do, so there is more to come!