They say that the kitchen is the heart of the home, and nothing could be truer, especially when you are preparing meals for your family.
Sometimes the challenge in a kitchen is having space to prepare meals. Whether you have a small kitchen, too much stuff, not enough counter space, don’t know where to start, or all of the above, do not fret. I’ve outlined my step-by-step process below so that you can reclaim your kitchen and start reaping the benefits of being able to prepare meals easily and comfortably in your home.
Creating a plan and having a clear goal of what you want to accomplish is the key to success in any project. This may sound ridiculous, especially if you think, duh, clean up the kitchen! But the kitchen is TOO BIG OF AN AREA to not break it down into smaller projects.
Here’s what I suggest:
Step 1: Download the Free Color Coordinating chart here. This chart will help you to gain control of your kitchen by keeping things separate as you decide what you want to do with them. It will allow you to edit and reduce items that you no longer want without fear of something going in the wrong spot.
Step 2: Get a small table that you can work from. This helps avoid the pain of constantly bending over. Trust me, this is one of the biggest mistakes I see clients make. When the body is in pain from a task, it remembers and will cause resistance to doing the task in the future.
Step 3) If you want to move things from one cabinet to another, write out what the cabinet will be used for on a post-it note and place it on the outside of the kitchen cabinet. This helps you remember what you have decided should go in that cabinet. It also helps family members know where to look for the items that have been moved.
When we remodeled our kitchen, post-it-notes lived on the outside of the cabinets for almost a month before everyone remembered where things were and where they went when emptying the dishwasher. (This was so helpful and avoided arguments and frustration of not being able to find things.)
Step 4) Start with the lower cabinets (usually the ones that you don’t get into very often). These lower cabinets frequently house the items that you do not use regularly and maybe even items you forgot you had. Editing those items out of your cabinets makes room for the items that you do want that currently are sitting on the kitchen counter.
Step 5) Take everything out of one cabinet. Taking everything out of one cabinet and then putting back the items that you do want may seem like double duty in the work department, but trust me, it’s all part of the mental game of feeling like you have an abundance vs feeling like you are losing things.
Step 6) As you find things that you no longer use, want, or need, those things can go either into the white donate bag or into the garbage, depending on your determination.
Step 7) Sort through, donate, toss, and place back all the “keep” items that came out of the cabinet BEFORE moving on to the next cabinet!
There are quite a few benefits to having your kitchen feel enjoyable to be in, for example, meals prepared at home are generally healthier. You will also find that you have more time, as going and getting food takes time and exposes you to the stress of driving, not to mention the amount of money you save can be significant. You can use that money you saved and put it in your vacation fund!
