Day 9 of The 10 Days to a Tidy Home Challenge: Tidy Up the Kitchen

Welcome to Day 9 of the 10 Days to a Tidy House Challenge! A few days ago I shared a crazy idea that I had with you guys: decluttering and tidying up your house in just 10 days. (You can read more in the introduction to the challenge HERE.) It must have struck a chord with several of you, because I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the response! So, thank you for joining me. I’ll be posting pictures and lists of the items I’ve decluttered on my Facebook page throughout the challenge. You’re welcome to follow me and share your own experience as well!

We’re almost there! Tomorrow we will have a tidy house! I know that it has been tough (believe me, the office tidying challenge nearly did me in!), but I also know that it has been worth it. My house is free of 20 HUGE garbage bags of clutter. Plus, many of my problem areas–like the office–are now under control. I hope you’ve experienced similar encouragement and success.

Now, I’m not going to lie–today’s challenge may be our toughest yet. However, we are so close. Don’t give up! Remember, you can take things at your own pace. If this challenge takes you several days, that’s ok! Life happens and we need to give ourselves grace.

Today we will Tidy Up the Kitchen. Are you ready?

Today We Will Do Four Things:

Tidy the Refrigerator
Organize the Pantry
Take Back the Kitchen Counters
Tidy the Cupboards

Tidy the Refrigerator

For this first step, I want you to put on a pair of gloves, blast some music, and spend no more than 20 minutes tidying your refrigerator and freezer. Here’s the plan:

Take Everything Out First, take everything out of the refrigerator and freezer. Don’t worry about sorting or tossing yet, just get it out of there.

Clean the Surfaces Next, get a bottle of your favorite cleaner and wipe down the surfaces. This doesn’t have to be a deep clean, but we may as well disinfect and clean while it’s empty.

Throw Out Expired Items Then, take a look at all of the food. Do you have leftovers that are way past their prime? Apples that are rotten? Molding cheese? Sour cream that expired three weeks ago? Throw it out.

Neatly Return All Items Finally, put everything back in. Try to organize as you do so. Do you want to keep all of the dairy together? Leftovers in an assigned spot? Newer items in the back so the older get used up first? Do you have small children who need easy access to their snacks? Make a plan and organize in order to reduce future waste.

If you were a bit disgusted by some of the items that you found and want to eliminate your food waste, you might find these articles helpful:

Organize Your Fridge and Reduce Food Waste by Imperfect Homemaker

How to Cut Down on Food Waste by Seeing the Lovely

Organize the Pantry

Our next challenge area is the pantry. The amount of time that you will need to spend will vary dramatically depending on the size of your pantry and how well you currently have it organized. I didn’t have a dedicated pantry space until we moved into our house three years ago. I was delighted to have a small closet in the kitchen to use. However, before that I generally dedicated one or two shelves in the kitchen or hallway that served as a pantry–a place to keep dry goods, canned goods, baking supplies, etc. Whatever your set up, let’s get organizing! Here’s the plan:

Take Everything Out Begin by taking all of the items out of the pantry. If you have spices or baking supplies somewhere else, go ahead and take those out too.

Wipe Down Shelves Next, wipe down the shelves. I am always a little grossed out by how dirty this space can get. I seem to always find spilled flour, grains of rice, or some random raisins. Eew!

Discard Expired or Unused Items Then, it’s time to go through and look at expiration dates. I am a spice hoarder. I have found spices that expired five years ago. Yuck! Also think about how often you use certain items. Did you get a type of canned soup because it was on sale, and now you have no desire to use it? As you are sorting, be sure to fill a box of items that you wish to take to your church or local food bank for those in need. You can also give opened items to friends who will use it. Did you once purchase a 10 pound bag of quinoa only to discover that you hate the stuff? Maybe your neighbor can use it.

Organize Finally, it’s time to return items in an organized manner. You can dedicate certain shelves for certain types of items: a baking staples shelf, canned food shelf, etc. Some people like to buy glass containers to put rice, flour, beans, etc. into. It is definitely not necessary, but if that way of organizing will spark joy for you, go for it!

When you are considering pantry organization, you might want to take a look at these great articles:

Quickly Organize the Pantry from Organizing Moms

How to Organize a Kitchen Pantry by Just a Girl and Her Blog

Take Back the Kitchen Counters

Now let’s declutter our kitchen counters. In my house, kitchen counters seem to be the designated dumping grounds. It’s time to change that! I positively drool over empty, clean countertops. (Like the one in the picture above. How I wish that were mine!) They seem so much neater, and add a feeling of calm to the kitchen. Take a minute to think about your ideal kitchen. What would you want out on the counters? Are there some things that are simpler to store there? Or, would you rather keep everything in cupboards and have cleared counter space? Decide on a plan that fits your family.

Because we do not have a lot of storage space in the kitchen, I am going to have to have some appliances on the counters. It’s not my ideal, but if I organize them neatly, I can live with it.

Now that we’ve dreamed and come up with a plan for what stays on top and what goes below, let’s begin:

Take Everything Off the Counters First, remove all items from the countertops. Put them on the kitchen table or other space. This may involve washing some dishes, putting away dry ones, or sorting mail and other papers.

Clean it Up Next, do a good wipe down of the counter space. Clean those crumbs from under the toaster and get into those corners. Also, wipe down the appliances you’ve removed.

Sort into Two Piles Sort the items into two piles: things to keep on the counter and things to remove. I, for example, am going to find another place to keep lunch boxes and water bottles. For some reason they’ve claimed their territory on the corner counter right now. Not cool!

Return Items to Counters Finally, take the items that you will be keeping on the counter and put them into a designated place. Hold onto the “store elsewhere” pile for a minute.

Phew! We’re almost finished!

Tidy Up the Cupboards

Finally, we’re going to tidy our cupboards. Again, depending on the amount of storage space you have in your kitchen, this could be quite the task. We don’t have a large kitchen, and so our cupboards feel quite crowded and messy. It can be hard for me to find the items that I need, which kind of defeats the purpose! So, I am going to attempt to declutter A LOT of items.

Remove Items from Cupboards First, you’ll need to take out all of the items you currently have stored. Appliances, dishes, mixing bowls, etc. Get them out!

Wipe Down Cupboards This would be a great task for little hands! If you have children, put them to work wiping the cupboards out while you begin to sort. If not (or if they are too little) put on some music or listen to a podcast. Let’s get cleaning! (On the bright side, we won’t have to do as much spring cleaning in the kitchen this year.)

Sort Items into Three Piles Now it’s time to sort the items, remembering that we are decluttering here. It’s time to let go of some things. Sort into three piles:

Items to Keep Kitchen utensils and appliances that you use regularly and are in good shape.
Items to Donate Kitchen gear that is in good shape, but you just don’t use often.
–Items to Trash Items that are broken.

Organize It’s time to get creative. Just because you have ALWAYS had your cups in a certain cupboard doesn’t mean that you need to keep them there. What makes the most sense with the layout of your kitchen? What items do you want small children to have easy access to? Which ones do you want out of reach? I have one cupboard that I always open with fear and trembling. It is a sort of catch-all that has children’s plastic plates and utensils, cloth napkins and napkin rings, paper goods, and some party items thrown in for good measure. I will definitely be reorganizing it!

As you are organizing your kitchen, here are some articles that might be helpful:

Taming the Black Hole Under the Kitchen Sink by Blue I Style

Get More Storage in Your Kitchen Cabinets by Green With Decor

You did it! After a ton of work, you now have an organized, functional kitchen! Now, go soak in the tub for the rest of the night. 🙂