Decrapification: The kitchen

Hellooooo there! First things first – the randomly drawn winner of the $50 HomeGoods gift card is Wanda from Bunco Babes! Wanda, email me your address and I’ll get that sent out to you!

I know I’ve been going on and on about the big boy room and I am REALLY hoping to show you this week. (Finishing touches are SO close to done!!) But even when I’m working on a cutie patootie room for my cute patoot, I still can’t help but declutter and organize around the joint.  ;)

It still amazes me to no end that I can go through a space once, and still find more CRAP just a couple months later. I don’t know if I missed it the first time, was just lazy, or as time goes on and more comes into the house, I feel the need decrapify even more stuff.

I just went through the kitchen a couple months ago, but this week I found more crapwehaven’tused for YEARS:

Travel coffee mug for coffee we don’t drink?

Check.

Disney cup that has leaked every. single. time. we’ve used it?

Check.

Kitty treats that are healthy so the cats won’t touch them?

Check.

The other stuff is random things that I haven’t needed for a very long time – odd bowls, containers without lids, a steamer we haven’t used for seven years. (Really.)

I use the same “rules” for items around the house that I use for clothes. What’s the rule – if you haven’t worn it in six months it’s out? Well, the rules are the same for stuff – just longer. I go by a year or two for kitchen stuff. (Or seven. Whatever.)

It depends on how expensive it was to begin with – but seriously, if we NEVER use it, WHY am I keeping it? Ugh!

One of our cabinets in the kitchen hold a weird mix of stuff – medicine, candy and birthday/party stuff:

The yellow baskets hold medicine/vitamins and were dollar store finds. The candy jars have lids I’m painting (for two months now) and were from Goodwill. The little gumball machine with the Halloween candy in it (?!) was a Goodwill find too.

I went through the medicine this week and ALL of this had expired:

Most of them were close to empty, except the teething tablets, that we haven’t used in two years. (Again -- ?!)

There’s a few tricks I use to keep things organized in the kitchen. I keep baking items in one drawer, randoms in another:

I got so tired of trying to find measuring spoon in the sea of utensils, I ended up separating them and it’s SO much easier.

Our cabinets had a couple drawer organizers that came with them, but I find I can fit a TON more in the drawer without the organizer:

It’s not pretty, but it works!

I’d love to buy those fab cabinet/pull out/organizer thingies someday, but until then, I use a dollar store display to keep pans and cutting boards where I want them:

These are used to display their plates, and on a trip in one day, I saw an empty one – I asked the manager if I could buy it and he told me I could take it home. For fareee! It never hurts to ask!

I secured it to the bottom of the cabinet so it won’t move around:

A free solution. You can’t beat that baby!

I use a pot rack for large pots and pan storage. They aren’t for everyone, but I do love ours:

I got this one half off at Hob Lob years ago, and it saves a TON of cabinet space. (Just make sure you hang it high enough so it doesn’t block your view!)

I use the space above the microwave for Bub stuff that makes messes – bubbles, water toys, play dough:

All things we do in the kitchen or outside so it’s a convenient spot for them. And he can’t get the bubbles out himself.  :) (Translation – get bubbles out himself and spill them everywhere.) 

There are items I’ve moved down just so he can reach them though – I’ve put all of his plates/bowls/napkins in the lazy susan so he can get them himself:

He love, love, LOVES to help now, so this is a good way for him to do that.

There are a few things we had installed when we built our house that I now know I could never eva live without. The appliance “garage” is one:

My heart goes pitter pat for this thing. I hide our blender, toaster and can opener inside. Which means we have ZERO appliances on the counter. BLISS!

I had tip out trays installed in the kitchen and the master bathroom:

OH how they ROCK. Now you can buy these in the store and it’s easy peasy to install them. I don’t know the price (share if you’ve bought them!) – but they are my secret storage space for sponges and cleaning supplies and toothbrushes and toothpaste (in the bathroom of course!)

I’ve told you all before that when we picked out our upgrades on this house all those years ago, I was hyperventilating and itching because hubby kept adding things like “surround sound” and “security system” and all I heard was “money” and “more money.”

Now, of course I’m glad he did add those things, and one of my very favorites he insisted on was our trash compactor:

It is the shizzle!! ;) I mean, really, it is. We have one bag of trash a week. Even when we have a party. Cross my heart, pinky swear. SO worth the money!!

And the best part is we don’t have to worry about a spot for a trash can or smell stinky trash. Ewweee!

I love our decrapified, organized kitchen:

It is getting a mini redo this summer though. Maybe not mini. A little more than a mini. I’m going to brighten the place up and I cannot wait!! (Nooo… I am not painting cabinets.) I don’t think.

No. I’m not.

Probably.

Seriously – I think that may put hubby over the edge. It takes a lot and that would do it.  ;)

Any great decluttering tips you follow for your kitchen? Found an organizing gadget that helps? Share with us please!

If you want to see my decluttered pantry:

Click here.