Your kitchen gets more use than most of the rooms in your home, especially if you are preparing and cooking real food on a regular basis.  It’s important to have an organized kitchen so that you can quickly prepare meals and still have time for all of your day’s activities.  Today, I have put together 10 tips for organizing your kitchen.  Since we busy moms barely have time to brush our teeth, I have made sure that each of these simple organization projects will take 10 minutes or less.  A little hustle and a little planning come together to create a kitchen that functions better for you and your family.

10 Ways to Organize Your Kitchen in 10 Minutes or Less!

 

These tasks are designed to be worked 10 minutes at a time.  Look at your schedule and carve out at least 10 minutes each day to work on your kitchen.  Set a timer and work for 10 minutes.  When the timer goes off, you are done till tomorrow. If you have more time that’s great.  Reset your timer and work another 10 minutes.  If you only have 10 minutes, you are not behind because you are working the program as it is designed.  Slow but sure gets you there faster than putting off a big project indefinitely.  

1. Declutter duplicates.  You don’t need 32 spatulas and 5 crock pots in your kitchen.  Work one cupboard at a time until your 10 minutes are up.  Read this article for more information on decluttering your duplicates.

2. Group “like items” together.  I like to group my baking items together in a dollar store plastic tub.  Each time I go to bake, I simply pull out the tub and get to work.  No digging through cupboards looking for everything I need.  The plastic tub also contains the powdery mess of flour and other baking ingredients and keeps my cupboards cleaner.   Measuring cups and spoons should also be stored together.  Give some thought to things you use all at once and make sure you place them together in your kitchen cupboard and drawers.

3. Create a snack station.  We use a big basket and empty all of our packaged snacks into the basket.  The kiddos can easily find snacks after school and I can easily see when the snacks need to be refilled.  I keep snack bars, bags of homemade popcorn, whole wheat pretzels, and other healthy snacks in the basket.  I do the same thing in the refrigerator for refrigerated items like yogurt and cheese.

4. Divide drawers. Drawer dividers help to keep your cutlery and other utensils neatly separated and easy to find.  I also use drawer dividers to store scissors, black markers, and chalk in the kitchen.  

5. If you like open shelving try baskets.  Baskets will keep everything contained and give an organized look to your open shelving. Open shelving is a great way to be able to grab things quickly when preparing for meals.  The most common complaint I hear about open shelves is they are can be difficult to keep things looking neat.  Baskets are a fantastic solution!

6. Categorize food in your panty.  I have seen plenty of pantries with everything quickly shoved on the shelves and the door slammed.  That is one way to deal with being in a hurry.  A better way to save time down the road is to put like items together.  All of your pasta should be together.  All of your oils should be together.  Sweeteners should be together.  Think about all of the time you will save when you can quickly grab the items you want rather than digging through the shelves and driving yourself crazy.  

7. Ditch the packaging.  Store all of your staples in clear containers.  Pretty containers make me happy.  Happy me wants to spend more time in the kitchen.  It’s also so much easier to find things when we can see what we are looking for.

8. Rethink your space.  Take a look around your kitchen.  Are there walls, doors, or shelves that you could use differently?  Can you hang your pots on a hook?  Can you put your pretty dishes out on display rather than hidden in cupboards which are better for the ugly stuff?  Can you hang an organizer inside a cupboard door for additional storage?  I often joke that we should move out of our house every 10 years and then move back in.  We would likely organize things differently if we were moving in for the first time.  Live in your space how you actually use the space rather than “how it’s always been.”

9. Eliminate items you no longer use.  Maybe you have a whole cupboard devoted to sippy cups and your baby is now 10.  Just think about all of the space you could free up by getting rid of things you no longer use.  I bet you have small appliances taking up valuable real estate that you never use. Do you buy new tea towels and oven mitts and keep the old? Only keep what you use and love.

10. Organize your plastic storage containers.  Pull it all out and make sure you have lids to match.  Ditch those that don’t have lids. Consider tossing anything that is not in good shape.  Have you used it in the microwave too many times and you are embarrassed for anyone to see it?  Maybe you should just get rid of it and clear the space in the cupboards for other items.  

There you go!  I hope this is the motivation you need to start your kitchen organization.  Set your timer for 10 minutes, move quickly, and see how much you can get done.  Repeat the same routine tomorrow and the next day.  Really make your kitchen your happy place!  

Leave me a comment and let me know what you are working on.  Let’s motivate each other and share ideas.  Thanksgiving is coming soon and a more organized kitchen is certainly going to help us on this big kitchen day.