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Clean and Scentsible

8 Steps to An Organized Kitchen {February HOD}

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Get your kitchen decluttered and organized once and for all with these 8 simple steps to an organized kitchen. 

Organized kitchen pantry cupboard.

How to Clean and Organize the Kitchen

February is here and it’s time to move on to our first full room space for this year’s Household Organization Diet!  I hope you all had some success with the 31 Day Decluttering Challenge last month.  Remember that it’s not about perfection – just progress – so even if you missed some days {or even a whole week or two!}, don’t use it as an excuse to stop.  Continue to move forwards at whatever speed you can and don’t give up!  Intentionally scheduling in some organization time – and actually sticking to it – can really help you to tackle your goals.  I know you can do it!

This month will be dedicated to cleaning and organizing the kitchen. The kitchen is the heart of the home – the place where friends and family gather and delicious meals are enjoyed together.  Having an organized and decluttered kitchen will make it easier to find what you’re looking for, cut down on your meal prep time, and create a more relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere for your whole family to relax.   Don’t invite clutter to the dinner table! 😉

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So… are you ready to get your kitchen cleaned, decluttered, and organized?   Here are the tasks for this month…

February Task List

Everything you need to get your kitchen cleaned, decluttered, and organized. Kitchen tasks for The Household Organization Diet.DOWNLOAD THE KITCHEN TASKS SHEET HERE
DOWNLOAD A BLANK KITCHEN TASKS SHEET HERE

You can find the link for all of my kitchen cleaning tutorials HERE as well as a ton of kitchen organization ideas HERE and HERE.  Be sure to bookmark or save these pages in some way so you can refer back to them throughout the month.

How to declutter and organize the kitchen. Step by step process.

February Calendar

As I mentioned above, the best way to reach your goals is to write down a plan!  Use the calendar below to write in when you’re going to get each of the above tasks done.  I always like to give myself double the time that I think something is going to take, but any time that you can devote is better than nothing!  Think about how you work best and what fits into your schedule. Do you like to do a shorter period of time each day, or would you be better off picking one day per week to do a larger amount of time?  You might need to play around with the schedule a bit, but you’ll find your grove.  Place the calendar somewhere that you will see it regularly and stick to it!

Free Printable February 2018 CalendarDOWNLOAD THE FEBRUARY CALENDAR HERE

February Notes

The other thing that I like to do each month, is write down little project ideas, repairs that may need to get done, and any other thoughts that I have on the room that I’m working on.  I try to stay focused as much as possible on the one room instead of letting my mind wander to other projects or things that I want to change elsewhere in the house.  This helps to keep your time focused on the current tasks and makes things a little less overwhelming.

Blank notes worksheet for The Household Organization Diet.

Now that you’re ready to get going, here’s a step by step plan to decluttering and organizing your kitchen.

8 Steps to An Organized Kitchen

Set a Realistic Time Frame.

The time it will take to organize your kitchen will obviously vary depending on the size of your kitchen and the current clutter-level.  Some of you may be able to tackle it all in a few hours, others may need a whole day, and others may need the whole month. The biggest thing when starting the organization process is to set yourself up for success and set realistic time frames.  If it’s been a while since you’ve organized, start small with a cupboard or two and see how it goes – it may take longer than you think!  Only tackle what you can FINISH in your designated time frame.  You want to see your accomplishment when your time is up – not a bigger mess!  So decide how much time you have, set the timer, and get to work. {You can find my step by step process for how to declutter ANY space HERE.}

Declutter, declutter, declutter.

I find that decluttering the kitchen is often one of the easiest rooms to declutter as we don’t usually have as much emotional attachment to items like we might in other rooms.  For the most part, it’s generally quite obvious whether we really need an item or not.  And, on the off chance that you do give an item away that you need in the future, kitchen items are easy to borrow for the odd dinner party or large family gathering that you may happen to need it.  Be ruthless when it comes to the decluttering process and the rest of the organization {as well as the maintenance!} will be so much simpler.  I am a big fan of completely emptying out each space when you’re decluttering. Start with these 20 items to declutter from your kitchen now.  They may not ALL be applicable to you, but they’ll give you a good place to start.  You’ll find a free decluttering printables and lots of decluttering tips to help you out.

Decluttered and organized kitchen.

Completely empty out the space that you’re working on.

It may seem like a lot of work, but completely emptying out the spaces that you’re organizing is definitely worth it in the end.  Taking all of your items out of your drawers and cupboards really lets you see HOW MUCH STUFF you have – and what you can really afford to get rid of. Once the space is empty, it’s easier to see the different ways you could work your organization systems. If your current organization method isn’t working for you, switch things up and move items around until you find something that works for you.

Divide and Conquer.

As you’re emptying the items out of your cupboards or drawers, sort them into five categories: trash, recycling, donations, belongs elsewhere, and keep.  Have your trash bags and recycling bins handy so you can place the items directly into them.  You only want to touch each item once to cut down on time. Find a large box for items to donate and take this directly out to your car when you’re finished. Use a basket or laundry bin to collect any items that you find in the kitchen that should go somewhere else in your home.  Sort all items that you’re going to keep into similar categories.  Move quickly through this process – you really shouldn’t have to think too hard about where each item should go.

Organize by zones.

So now it’s time to put those “keep” items back into your cupboards and drawers. Try to organize all of your kitchen items by function in specific areas of the kitchen.  For example, all of your baking items would be in one section, all spices in a second section, and any cleaning supplies in another section.  If you don’t like the functional organization system {or it just doesn’t work with your kitchen design}, come up with some other organization plan that works for you.  Be sure to have a basic plan in mind before you start loading all of your cupboard spaces back up and try to keep similar items together as much as possible.

Organized kitchen pantry cupboard.

Create functional {clutter-free} kitchen counter space.

The kitchen counter is PRIME real estate in the kitchen so you want to make sure that you’re only storing items on it that you need daily.  Keep the items corralled on trays to make for pretty yet practical displays and try to keep the front 2/3rds of the counter clear at all times to allow for prep work.  Find all of my tips on how to keep your counters clutter-free HERE.

How to keep your kitchen counters clutter-free. Use a cake stand to corral cleaning supplies beside your sink.

Keep the papers under control.

Kitchen counters and tables often seem to attract paperwork – despite it not actually belonging there!  If you do need to keep papers in the kitchen, have a dedicated file box or paper trays in a corner to store papers out of the way. If you have a larger space, create a kitchen command center to organize everything off of your counters and other flat surfaces.

Kitchen command center with wall mounted organization center and file folders.

Utilize the inside of your cabinet doors.

Cabinet doors hold a ton of unused storage space, so get creative with what you do with them!  Add adhesive storage bins for water bottles or food wrap, hang command hooks for oven mitts or cooking utensils, or use office file holders to store recipes.  I have storage added to almost all of my kitchen cupboards and it’s really provided a lot of free space in the cabinets.  I have a whole post on this coming later this month so stay tuned for all of my ideas.

Lots of great tips to organize your cleaning supplies for quick and easy cleaning! Use the inside of your cupboards to add extra storage to keep your cleaning supplies close by where you need them.

Whew!  You made it through!  It may seem like a lot of work, but if you do it thoroughly the first time, it should really only require minimal maintenance to keep it decluttered and organized for good!

More Kitchen Organization Ideas

If you’re looking for more kitchen organization ideas for specific areas of your kitchen, check out these posts. There are tons of ideas for any sized kitchen!

Great kitchen organization hacks!

Easy Kitchen Organization Ideas

Great tips for organizing cleaning products for quick and easy cleaning.

Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink

How to organize kitchen cabinets.

How to Organize Kitchen Cabinets

The Home Decluttering Diet

Let me know if you have any questions or need any further ideas!  If you like this plan, be sure to grab my book, The Home Decluttering Diet, for more organization tips and tricks.  It’s so nice to have everything in one place!

The Home Decluttering Diet. This step by step plan will help you declutter and organize your home once and for all! Learn to create {and maintain} the home that you've always wanted to have.

******************************

This post is part of The Household Organization Diet.  If you need some organization inspiration, check out THIS POST  to learn more about the plan and THIS POST for all of the 2018 updates.

The Household Organization Diet. A yearly plan to get every space in your home decluttered, cleaned, and organized!

It’s updated on the first of every month with the new plan so don’t forget to bookmark it! You CAN get that house cleaned and organized once and for all!  To see all of the previous posts click the Get Organized tab at the top of the blog and go to The Household Organization Diet.  I also have all of the posts pinned to my Household Organization Diet Pinterest Board.  Start at any time and make sure you are following along so you don’t miss out…

INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / PINTEREST / NEWSLETTER

{P.S. The WHOLE YEAR of printables for The Household Organization Diet is available to my email subscribers, so be sure to sign up if this plan is for you!}

8 steps to an organized kitchen. Once you get the proper systems in place, it takes very little maintenance to keep it that way!

Happy Organizing!

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Comments

  1. Ellen from Ask Away says

    February 1, 2018 at 5:02 am

    AMEN! I still need to figure out a theme for my kitchen. hmmmm

    Reply
    • Jenn Lifford says

      February 1, 2018 at 11:15 pm

      lol! I love doing that stuff. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Charlene Asay says

    February 5, 2018 at 8:09 pm

    These are all great tips. Now I need to get to work!

    Reply
  3. Sandra L Garth says

    February 7, 2018 at 12:31 pm

    Thank you for the printables and great suggestions.

    Reply
    • Bibi Majeed says

      February 8, 2018 at 4:41 pm

      How can I get to the Printables. Please advice. Thank you.

      Reply
      • Jenn Lifford says

        February 10, 2018 at 12:52 pm

        You just have to click on the links in the post to download them. 🙂

        Reply
  4. Bibi Majeed says

    February 8, 2018 at 4:40 pm

    How can i get the printable. These ideas are so great. Very inspiring. I look at each video and learn from each one of them. My kitchen is not too big. I live in an apt with a small kitchen.

    Reply
  5. Vicki says

    February 11, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    Oh my gosh, I dream of my kitchen being this organised. We moved into our new home a year ago and I promised myself nothing would come into the house without being organised, but that didn’t happen. I am now wanting to go through and declutter and organise everything, this will help me a great deal!

    Reply
    • Jenn Lifford says

      February 16, 2018 at 10:24 am

      You can do it!! Once you get started, it just gets easier. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Quirky Homemaker says

    February 12, 2018 at 9:48 am

    Hey! Saw this post on some of the parties last week and have featured it in a roundup for organizational/cleaning help. Thanks for the great printables!

    Reply
  7. Quirky Homemaker says

    February 12, 2018 at 9:48 am

    Hey! Saw this post on some of the parties last week and have featured it in a roundup for organizational/cleaning help. Thanks for the great printables!

    Reply
    • Jenn Lifford says

      February 18, 2018 at 12:01 pm

      Thanks so much! Hope the printables are helfpul for you. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Amber Bailey says

    February 12, 2018 at 10:09 am

    Your kitchen is goals, I love how open and airy it is!
    Thank you for all the organization printables, and all the organization tips!

    Reply
    • Jenn Lifford says

      February 14, 2018 at 1:31 pm

      Thanks! I hope it’s helpful for you!

      Reply
  9. Julie says

    February 12, 2018 at 3:38 pm

    Most of my kitchen is where I want it to be at. There are just couple area that I want to reorganize. I want to buy a large basket to store water, gatorade, etc. when it’s not in the fridge. Otherwise, it tends to be on the floor or the counter after I buy the whole case. I also want to buy some more storage baskets to organize items such as juice boxes. Having an organized kitchen will make my life must easier.

    Reply
    • Jenn Lifford says

      February 18, 2018 at 12:00 pm

      Little tweaks can make a big difference! Sounds like you have a good plan. 🙂

      Reply
  10. Sherry says

    February 14, 2018 at 7:41 pm

    I have been cleaning this year and this post was a great read. I will feature it this week at Home Sweet Home! Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    • Jenn Lifford says

      February 18, 2018 at 12:01 pm

      Thanks so much Sherry!

      Reply
  11. Roberta says

    March 1, 2018 at 3:07 am

    Hi. Thanks for your guides. I’m trying but postponing for later is too strong a habit for me. ☹️

    Please probably a silly question to some but does the baking soda method work for gas ovens? Because I’m afraid to put large amounts of water in it.

    Thanks

    Roberta

    Reply
    • Jenn Lifford says

      March 1, 2018 at 9:09 pm

      The hardest part is just getting started – it definitely gets easier after that! For the baking soda cleaning, I’ve never had a gas oven so I’m not sure. You really don’t have to use much water though. It’s more of a paste with the baking soda and then you can just use a wet microfiber cloth to wipe it down. Don’t use too much paste though – it can be hard to get rid of the residue if there’s too much. You can always add more!

      Reply
  12. Roseann Hampton says

    January 4, 2019 at 4:59 pm

    Thanks so much for sharing with us at the Snickerdoodle Link Party! This will be one of my features tomorrow!

    Reply
  13. Jenny says

    January 5, 2019 at 10:26 am

    Great steps, I can’t stand a messy kitchen. I’ll be featuring your post tomorrow at Merry Monday, Hope to see you at the party!

    Reply

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Put Your House on a Diet

The Home Organization Diet. Put your home on a diet for a clutter-free, happy, and healthy home!

Meet Jenn

Hi there! I'm Jenn, mommy to two busy {and very cute!} boys and wife to a very tolerant hubby. I love all things crafty and creative and have created this blog to share my ideas and favorite finds. I hope you enjoy your visit! Read More…

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