2008 May | The Organizer Lady

Our kitchens are often the busiest room in our homes. From cooking and entertaining to a place for your kids to do their homework, play board games or work on their arts and crafts projects, it can be easily overrun with art supplies, outdated spices and unused or damaged utensils. Having an organized kitchen can help simply your life when your kitchen is the used so often for so many things.

Go through your kitchen and discard anything you don’t use, along with any food, spices or medicines kept in the kitchen that are beyond their expiration dates. Then take everything out of your cupboards and drawers, and wash the insides with warm soapy water. Rinse, let dry and replace cupboard and drawer liners with fresh, new ones.

Store pots, pans and cooking utensils near the stove, nesting the pots and pans together to conserve space. Make sure each one you choose to keep has a matching lid. This is also a good time to make sure handles are securely fastened, so keep a screwdriver handy to tighten down skillet handles or pot lids if necessary.

Keep your dishes and silverware near your eating area or your dishwasher to shorten meal preparation and cleanup time. Plastic storage containers should be inventoried to ensure each has a matching lid and that they are free from cracks or other damage. Store them near your refrigerator to ease meal cleanup time.

Store food items and spices that you use on a daily in a place you can easily grab them when needed. Having a revolving spice rack for your most used spices saves time in searching for the ones you want and it organizes them neatly. Utilize airtight food storage containers to lengthen the shelf life of your foods.

Organize your pantry so that similar canned goods are in the same place and can be found easily and quickly when it’s time to cook meals. Make sure your children can easily reach items they use on a regular basis. Also make sure items such as knives, scissors, and household chemicals are out of reach of small children.

If you have small appliances on your kitchen counter top that you don’t use on a regular basis, remove them and store there in a nearby storage cupboard or pantry. Use the counter top for those appliances that are used on a regular basis and store the not as used items to help reduce the counter top clutter.

Organizing your kitchen gives it a neat and appearance, plus it reduces clutter and helps maintain an organized home, thus simplifying your life.

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You don’t have to spend a fortune on fancy closet organizing systems to organize your own closet, but it does require taking an honest look at your belongings and your habits. With some creativity and some planning, you can create a closet that’s organized and easy to maintain.

First of all, it’s imperative that you take a look at what’s currently in your closet before you can begin to organize it. If there is clothes that haven’t been worn in a year or more, worn out shoes, outdated handbags, and accessories that you no longer use, get rid of them. They are only taking up your valuable space. You’ll be pleasantly surprised just how much space you can free up by purging beforehand, and it also means less to contend with during the organization process.

Next, take a look at what you’re left with. Try to organize your clothes based on what groups together well as outfits, group like colors together, and organize shoes and accessories into casual, sport, professional, formal, and dressy categories.

Now that you know what you’re left with, it’s time to place it back into your closet in a neat and organized fashion. Look around your home for unused baskets and bins. Consider installing a couple of extra shelves if the need warrants. Affordable shelving units and brackets can be found in more home organization sections of your favorite hardware or discount store.

You can also make great use of your space simply by using lengths of chain to hang items on in your closet. You can purchase plastic or metal chain in different lengths depending on your needs. Links should be large enough to accommodate your style of hanger – whether metal or plastic. Hardware or do-it yourself stores will cut the chain the length that you request. Attach the chain to your closet rod with a hook; these can also be found at the hardware or do-it-yourself store. Or you can simply loop the chain over the hook of a sturdy coat hanger. Hang clothing items, one hanger per link. This simple, inexpensive method can help you store several items in the space of just one.

With a little discipline, some creativity, and a free afternoon, your closet will soon be organized, easy to use, and simple to maintain… all without breaking your budget.

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