Simple: 30 Ways to Declutter Your Life (5 page)

For me the kitchen is tricky.

The kitchen is the space where you
want
to have important items handy. The kitchen is the space where you want open areas and clutter-free countertops so that you can create, display, and enjoy food with your family.

Your kitchen is one of the most important areas of your home, but it's also one of the easiest to let get messy.

If you live in a small space, you're going to have to try even harder to keep your kitchen clutter-free.

Living in a tiny home means that you have to be picky and choosy about which items you need which items you can live without. Just remember this: you can have a clean, clutter-free house or you can have all of the kitchen utensils you see on TV. You can't have both.

For families with larger kitchens, a different type of clutter problem arises: you have so much space that it seems
wrong
not to fill it up. If you have a lot of cupboard space, you probably hold onto items longer than you need to because, hey, you can't see it. Why
not
hang onto those extra bowls that someone forgot at your house? Why
not
keep your old set of dishes after you buy a new set? After all, you have room for it!

In this chapter, we'll talk about a few ways that you can start to declutter your kitchen. No matter how big or small your space might be, you
can
attack that clutter monster and get your room under control.

Your kitchen should be a comfortable, relaxing space that you can spend time in. Your kitchen shouldn't be a source of stress, resentment, or anxiety.

Declutter Tip #21: Store bagged food items in plastic containers

If you find that you tend to throw bags of chips, bags of cereal, or bags of flour into your cupboards, you may have spent a lot of time searching for the exact foods that you want.

Banish the bags, and you may find that your kitchen cupboards stay cleaner, neater, and more organized.

You can use any type of containers in any size. You don't
need
to have expensive Tupperware or pricy metal containers.
Rubbermaid
sells inexpensive containers that stack neatly on top of each other. Glad does, as well. You can get these on Amazon, at Wal-Mart, at Target, or even at Ikea.

Make sure that you get plenty of containers. After all, you aren't going to be storing your Cheerios and Lucky Charms together. (Or
are
you?) Each container should hold one type of item. Get one container for your flour, one for your sugar, and one for your cereal. Each time you buy something bagged at the store, simply empty it into the containers. Not only will your cupboards be neater, but your food will last longer and you won't have to worry about insects or other problems.

Declutter Tip #22: Remember that you don't have to fill every cupboard

Having a big kitchen can be fantastic when you have friends over or when you host a holiday get-together. Unfortunately, the downside to having a large kitchen is that you might be tempted to fill every nook and cranny with stuff.

Stop!

You do not have to fill every cupboard in your kitchen.

Can you? Absolutely.

Can you do it without making things cluttery? Of course.

You don't
have
to fill your cupboards, though.

Take a look at the cupboards in your kitchen. How many are full of half-finished art projects? How many have dishes in them that you haven't used in five years? How many have food that is no longer good? Do you have a "lid" drawer? Do you have a drawer of utensils that are broken?

Banish the clutter.

Kiss your unused junk goodbye.

Whether or not you end up with empty cupboards is up to you, but remember that you don't have to fill your cupboards to have a complete or fulfilling house. If you downsize your kitchen utensils or unused items and you end up with an empty cupboard, that's fine! It's
okay
to have empty and extra space in your house. Don't be in such a hurry to fill it up.

Declutter Tip #23: Banish the junk drawer

When we first got married, my husband and I lived in a small apartment. I had unpacked the kitchen boxes and was starting on the bathroom when he asked me, "Hey, what's all this stuff in here for?"

Glancing over to where he was pointing, I looked confused. "That's the junk drawer," I told him.

Obviously.

With a raised eyebrow, he closed the drawer and didn't speak of the junk drawer again.

If you're like most homeowners, you have a similar drawer in your kitchen. For some reason, it's easy to have an extra drawer that you shove stuff in that you don't know where to put. The problem with this isn't that you have a drawer for random objects. The problem is that this drawer tends to fill up and most people don't regularly empty the drawer.

What do you do with the receipt from the new television set? Junk drawer.

Where should you put that extra can opener? Junk drawer.

You have half a bottle of superglue. Junk drawer.

Someone sent you a card with school pictures of their kids. You don't have time to find a frame for the pictures, so where should you put them? Duh. The junk drawer.

If you want to have a clean, organized kitchen, you need to get rid of the junk drawer.

Ditching your junk drawer is going to be hard and it's going to take time, but you can do it. You'll love the freedom that comes from not having a junk full of unused, unwanted stuff.

Instead of shoving things into a drawer and forgetting about them, force yourself to find a place for each item. If you can't find a place for something, chances are that you don't need it and can simply toss it in the garbage or donate it.

Declutter Tip #24: Give away the second crock pot

Do you really need two crock pots?

I didn't think so.

Yes, I know that some families use multiple crock pots.

Most don't.

If you have extra kitchen utensils or appliances that you don't need or use, get rid of them. If you haven't used something in over a year, you don't need it and can safely discard it.

Declutter Tip #25: Start with one shelf and one shelf only.

Decluttering your kitchen can be an overwhelming process. While there's nothing wrong with realizing that you have a lot of work to do, it's important that you avoid taking on too much at once.

Why not, though?

Why not tackle everything in one afternoon?

Wouldn't that be simpler?

Wouldn't it be easier?

The problem isn't that it would be easier to tackle everything at once. The problem is that if you pull everything out of your cupboards and pile them in the middle of your kitchen floor, you're going to have the contents of your entire kitchen on the floor. Instead of picking everything up and sorting through everything, what's
more
likely to happen is that you'll get tired and overwhelmed. If that happens, instead of getting everything clean, you'll take a break. Then it'll be dinner time, and it's going to be easier to shove everything back into the wrong cupboards or push it to the side than to finish sorting things before supper.

The other thing that's going to happen is that your kids might need you, which will also result in you not being able to finish cleaning.

Unless you
know
that you're going to be able to dedicate a few hours to the care and cleaning of your kitchen, just take things slowly. Start with one shelf in one cupboard and get it completely clean and organized. Then, when you're finished, you can move on to the next thing in your kitchen.

Remember that the goal is to declutter and downsize. It's not to get everything finished as quickly as possible.

Getting organized is exciting, fun, and freeing.

The feeling you get when you donate bags of junk you don't want and won't miss can't be countered.

The way that you relax when you walk into a clean room that used to be overwhelming is amazing. The appearance of a tidy house is something you can be proud of.

After all, you did it.

You beat your clutter.

Once you've finished decluttering and downsizing your house, though, the maintenance part kicks in.

This is where a lot of people tend to get bogged down. After all, cleaning your house was hard work.

Shouldn't the work be over?

Unfortunately, sometimes maintaining what you've organized can be just as difficult as getting organized in the first place. It's important to take the time to maintain your newly-cleaned home, though. If you don't, you'll find that you're working twice as hard to get your home back in shape.

I recently cleaned my son's bedroom.

It took less than two hours for the entire room to become messy again.

I heard him playing in his bedroom, but I didn't want to look. I kept telling myself that it wouldn't be that bad, that we'd straighten things up before bedtime, and that he'd like having a clean room so much that he would inevitably want to help me.

Wishful thinking, I know.

All of a sudden, I heard a tiny voice.

"Mommy?"

I turned around and my son was standing in front of me with a toy.

"My room is all messy and I stepped on this Lego. Can we throw it away so it won't hurt me again? And then will you clean my bedroom for me?"

In the end, we came up with some solutions to help maintain the messy bedroom and keep things as neat as possible without being uptight about it. For example, now my son will play with one toy or set of toys. He'll then clean it up before he gets out a new set of toys. This keeps sets of toys (such as Lego bricks or puzzle pieces) together, but it also makes cleaning up the room a lot less overwhelming.

If you've also been struggling to figure out how to maintain your home's new appearance, there are a few ways that you can easily manage your clutter on an ongoing basis without spending hours each week straightening up.

Declutter Tip #26: Spend 5 minutes a day in each room.

Five minutes doesn't sound like a lot of time, but you'd be surprised how much you can get done in five minutes. Consider listening to some music and spending one song-length's amount of time in each room of your house.

Don't worry about making each room look perfect. A lived-in home will never be completely perfect.

Just spend about five minutes in each room and conquer the "big" stuff. Is there laundry on your bed? Spend five minutes folding it and putting it away.

Are there empty boxes in your living room from mail you recently received? Spend five minutes breaking them down and hauling them to your recycling bin.

No matter what your problem areas tend to be, just spend a few minutes every single day on them. This is a low-stress, simple way to get things under control and to manage your clutter on an ongoing basis.

Declutter Tip #27: Don't stress out over the little things.

My son's destruction of his bedroom could be a really stressful thing. After all, I had spend most of the morning cleaning, organizing, and decluttering his bedroom.

You know what, though?

He's a kid.

And kids need to have fun and be able to relax.

In the end, my son's messy bedroom was easily fixable and not worth getting upset about. You know what else isn't worth getting upset about? Someone accidentally leaving their shoes out, muddy footprints on your kitchen floor, dishes left in front of the television set, and laundry that was left
next
to the basket instead of
inside
of it.

We all have those little things that bother us and that cause us anxiety, but part of organization means learning to let the little things go. Don't stress out or become obsessive when it comes to cleanliness.

You should absolutely try to maintain an organized home, but you also need to know when to let things go.

If you find that you cannot handle your stress, especially your stress related to your roommates or family members, it's important that you be proactive in countering your stress.

What are some simple ways to do this?

*Go for a run

*Take a Yoga class

*Go swimming

*Read a calming book

*Look at some magazines

*Take a long bath

*Take a nap

*Talk with a friend (don't complain to your friend - just talk to your friend)

*Get a manicure

*Cuddle with your spouse

*Watch a movie that you enjoy

*Go to dinner with a friend

*Use some lavender-scented candles in your home

These are just a few ways that you can start to unwind. Of course, chances are that you have your own go-to methods of de-stressing. That's great! Remember that what matters isn't
how
you relax, but that you take the time to do it.