kitchen and dining room clutter

Do you struggle to stay on top of the enormous amount of clutter than can so easily accumulate in your kitchen and dining room? With so much “stuff” coming in, it’s hard to know where to go with it all and how to help the center of your home to feel calm and inviting. The holiday season is approaching…which means, cooking, baking and lots of holiday entertaining. It’s time to get your kitchen and dining room in order. Keep reading for more tips!

Clear your counter tops. Put away appliances (as many as you can) into drawers or cabinets. Take a look at some of your appliances; if you haven't used it in 12 months then it might be time to donate it to charity or a friend who could use it.

Clear your drawers. How did you ever accumulate all those little gadgets such as lemon zesters and melon ballers that are now just cluttering up your drawers? Empty the contents of a drawer into a box and put it into your garage or a closet. If you need an item, go get it, use it, and put it back in the drawer. Determine a time to clean out the box (such as a month, 3 months, 6 months, or even a year) and donate what is left in the box to charity.

Arrange zones or stations in the kitchen to make your life simpler and easier. For example, coffee, filters, mugs, and the coffee maker should be near each other to make it easy and convenient to make coffee in the morning. Another zone may be your baking zone. Include baking supplies like flour and sugar, cookie sheets, measuring cups, etc.

Make “homes” for your stuff. Is there always stuff piled up on your dining room table? Determine what the stuff is and what solutions can be made to conquer the clutter so you and your family can sit down and share a meal. For example, do you use the table for hobbies such as scrapbooking? Make sure you have a home for your scrapbooking supplies such as a plastic drawer system on wheels. Does your table get piled with mail and other papers? Designate a basket or wall folder system to house all the papers, magazines, and newspapers that come into the house. Make sure you dump the junk mail as soon as it arrives. Empty the basket on a daily basis.

With just a little determination and an afternoon of organizing, you can have your kitchen and dinning room clutter free and ready for your next batch of company!