October is the perfect time to organize your kitchen. The next few months will involve a lot of holiday cooking. Food drives begin to show up everywhere so it is a great opportunity to donate foods you have overstocked this past year. This opens up space for holiday cooking supplies.
My Kitchen Strategy:
Look at my motivation. Why work on the kitchen now? Are my counter tops cluttered? Do I have trouble finding needed items in my pantry? Do I have items taking up space in my freezer that I can’t even identify? Yep, and I want it fixed before the holidays!
Create my vision. I like to work in my kitchen so I want it to be an inviting place that is uncluttered. I want open countertops that are ready for food prep or rolling out cookie or pie dough. I want all my basic stored foods and spices organized and fresh so I can easily put my hand on what I want without missing a beat.
Brainstorm. I list all the things I can think of that will make my kitchen match my vision. Some of the tasks are: clearing out items I no longer need or love, looking for new storage ideas, organizing items for more convenience, better defining my kitchen zones (food preparation, cooking, dishes, food storage, and food serving).
Write our my goals. Writing out my goals helps me focus. I make my goals specific and measurable. I print them out and post them on my refrigerator and cross them off when met.
Develop a timeline. Here is where my calendar becomes my friend. I look at all the available times I have to work on my goals. To make this doable, I plan for some unexpected things to come up and I break down bigger goals into smaller parts. Instead of booking a day of “organizing kitchen drawers”, I schedule “organizing the knife drawer” on Oct. 4 at 3:00.
Follow the timeline. As best I can, I honor the times I have set aside to do the tasks. If something comes up and I can’t do the work at the scheduled time, I reschedule it.
Reward myself. When the kitchen zone is complete, I give myself a reward. It might be flowers on the table or a nice candlelit meal.
For more details of following this plan, visit my website www.timespaceorg.com and purchase my book, From Vision to Victory: A Workbook For Finding a Simple Path to an Organized Home, or sign up for my Zone Plan Teleclass program where I guide you through a new zone each month.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer