How To Organize Your Kitchen Cabinets

How To Store Your Dish Towels

Yes. This was my kitchen cabinet last month BEFORE I started my fall cleaning. Take a good long look. It happens to the best of us.

Kitchen Cabinet: Before

Kitchen Cabinet: Before

As you can see I am a collector of kitchen gadgets of all kinds. Yogurt maker? Check. The Magic Bullet? Check. I could go on but I think the pictures tell the full story. EEK! Time to clean it UP!

How To Organize Your Kitchen Cabinets

Materials:

• All purpose cleaning spray
• Old rag or dish towel
• Storage bins
• Label Maker

Directions:

• Take EVERYTHING out of the cabinets.
• Wipe down the insides of the cabinets with all purpose cleaning spray.
• Let the sorting begin! Make four piles.
• Junk: unusable, broken: need to be recycled or taken to the dump
• Keep in the kitchen: Items that are in good repair that you use AT-LEAST TWICE A MONTH. (tell the truth)
• Keep in storage: Items that are in good repair that you use less than once a month. Items for entertaining, small electrical appliances etc...
• Donate: Items that are still working but are a bit warn and not used often.
• Remember you only want to keep items that you absolutely love and use.
• For more tips on how to de-clutter take a look at this post Simple Steps to De-Clutter Your House.
• Take all of the Items that will remain in the kitchen and wipe them down with your all purpose cleaner. 
• Place them neatly into the clean cabinets.

Organized Cabinet

Organized Kitchen Gadgets

Organized Cabinets (usually there is a large pot and a frying pan in this cabinet as well but they were being used)

How To Store Your Dish Towels

Did you notice I even have empty shelves? Nice. But does that mean I can take some out of my storage pile and put it back in? NO. You want only what you use everyday in the kitchen. Think very hard about what you actually NEED. You will be amazed at how much better your kitchen will feel without so much STUFF in it. 

• Take your Large Storage Bins and label them according to what you have to store. Entertaining, small kitchen appliances, glassware, etc...
• Remember where ever you chose to store these items they should be neat and tidy.
• Place your bins in an easy to reach area of your basement or closet.

 I have open shelving in the basement so I have very neatly arranged my extra wine glasses and dishes. I kept 6 wine glasses upstairs in the kitchen for us to use. If we have more than 4 people over who are drinking wine, chances are I will need other things for entertaining anyway. So into storage they go. On the other hand I probably have more sippy cups than the average kitchen. Take some time to think about how you use your space. Only keep what is useful for you during an average week. It takes less time to get it out of storage then it does to deal with clutter on a daily basis.

Link Parties~