October is a great time to organize your kitchen. This prepares your kitchen for all the extra holiday cooking. It also gives you the opportunity to donate to the various food drives all the food that has built up over the past year through impulse buying or overbuying.
My kitchen strategy:
1. Look at your motivation. What are the organizational issues with this room? Do you feel your counter tops are too crowded? Do you have difficulty locating items? Make a list.
2. Create your vision. How do you want your kitchen to look and how do you want to feel when you are working there? Write out your vision. Your completion date for the kitchen zone is the end of the month.
3. Brainstorm. Now that you know what you want, jot down all that has to happen to make your vision come true. Some tasks might include:
Clearing out items you no longer want or use. If your counters are too cluttered, take everything off that you do not use at least weekly – maybe even daily. Look at the items you removed. Could you live without them? If so, donate them. Do you need them but just not often? Store them elsewhere. How many plastic containers or dishes do you really need? Donate extras and give yourself some much needed space.
Look for new storage ideas. I have used a small dish drainer to store lids and pie pans. Plastic bins or tubs hold like items together and make it easy to pull out the bin, select what you want, and put the bin back in its space. Consider hooks for holding items.
Organize items for more convenience. Store all materials for making coffee near the coffee pot. Place the coffeepot near the sink. Put the toaster nearby to make breakfast preparation easier. Put rarely used items on higher shelves. Find an attractive counter top container to hold frequently used cooking utensils and place it by the stove. Set up your kitchen into zones – food preparation zone, cooking zone, dishes zone, food storage zone, and food serving zone.
4. Write out your goals that you developed when working on your vision and brainstorming list.
5. Develop your timeline. Write out and put on your calendar when you plan to do each task. Be reasonable and allow some time for events that pop up. Do a little each day and schedule larger tasks like cleaning the refrigerator over the weekend.
6. Now just follow the timeline and by the end of the month you will love your new kitchen space. You are ready for the holidays!
For more details on 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.
Jonda S. Beattie Professional Organizer
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