New Year’s resolution to declutter the kitchen
Now that Christmas and the New Year have passed, it’s time to look forward to 2022 and a period of new beginnings. A popular new year’s resolution is to make more space and January is the perfect time to get rid of all the clutter that’s accumulated over the previous 12-24months and to make a fresh start.
Physical clutter in the home can have a direct impact on mental health. Letting go of excess ‘stuff’ helps us feel more in control and less anxious and starting the new year off with a well-organised home and clear mind is one of the best ways (and least expensive!) to feel more positive about the year ahead.
Decluttering the home can seem overwhelming. The secret to success is breaking the project down into bite size pieces and tackling the house room by room to clear out anything you don’t use or love.
One of the hardest and most daunting rooms to clear and declutter is the kitchen – the hub of any home. Kitchens can easily become a dumping ground for paper, post, sports bags, and dirty laundry among other things. A well-functioning kitchen will allow you to place your hands on what you need, when you need it, and it’s safer if you have small children around, too.
Nothing looks better than an organised kitchen, and having a clean and clear space to prepare, cook and serve food makes a big difference to day-to-day well-being. Being organised, however, isn’t necessarily easy.
Below are several steps to getting going:
- • Decide how much time to commit to decluttering the kitchen and stick to it. It could be 15 mins per day or one entire weekend.
- • Set a completion date.
- • Share your kitchen decluttering resolution with family and get them on board.
- • If you haven’t used an item within the last 12-18months, get rid of it.
- • Decide whether the unwanted item is to be recycled, donated, sold, or thrown out.
- • Make sure everything has its place in the cupboards or drawers.
- • Check expiry dates on all food, spices, tins etc and get rid of anything that’s out of date.
- • Decant packaged food such as sugar and flour into storage jars to make the most of all available space.
- • Streamline surfaces by finding space for occasional-use gadgets in cupboards. The clearer the surfaces, the more room for food preparation and cooking.
- • Dedicate a shelf-racking system to each food type ie. packets, tins, perishables to make more of the space and make food easier to find.
- • Organise food and Tupperware containers so that similar shapes are stacked inside each other. Make sure there’s a matching top for each bottom – and throw out those you don’t need.
- • Clear out old kitchen utensils that are no longer used or exist in multiple. Use drawer inserts to contain utensils, and cutlery, so that they stay neat and organized.
- • Donate unused cookbooks. Rip regularly used recipes out of magazines and store in a binder
- • Go through the freezer and toss items that have expired or look freezer burned.
- • Take stock of all glasses and mugs. Recycle any chipped or broken glasses. Hold onto favourite or matching sets of mugs, work out how many are really needed and donate the rest.
And finally, the bits and bobs or junk drawer. Most kitchens have one full of miscellaneous items! Look for old batteries, candles, tools, phone chargers etc and if they haven’t been used in the last 12months, bin! 10th Jan 2022
The Compare Network
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