Clutter Control and Organizing Solutions

A couple weeks back I posted a post on my other blog about how many cookbooks I owned. At first I was embarrassed because at that time I was looking at an area in our home that had cookbooks in storage that we wanted to keep but don’t use regularly.  The ones we use all the time are on a shelf in our kitchen. Okay, so that’s a lie - shelves. I knew I had a problem then, but….

Yesterday I decided to work on one small portion of our basement that is generally where we store our holiday decorations, etc. Thinking it would be seemingly simple to just organize that area by holiday, I set to work. Boy was I wrong.

Earlier in the summer we emptied out a storage unit that was bigger than most people’s garages, and so thankfully we don’t have that monthly expense anymore ($160!), but we did get a plethora of stuff to fill our basement with , that I think we just don’t need. We were going to have a fall garage sale, but now its just to cold to do it, so it has been rescheduled for spring. In the meantime, we need to be able to move in our basement, and currently we really can’t. Well we can, but you always have to be aware of what boxes are around you, what things could get knocked over, etc and one of our kids rooms is in the basement. Yeah, so it really needs to be done.

After working on only one small section of the basement yesterday (remember there are two more places I keep my cookbooks). I wound up with this mess.

Yes. They are ALL cookbooks.

Do they have a support group for Cookbookaholics?

Have you ever opened your kitchen cooking utensil drawer and not been able to find something? For whatever reason, we believe we need all sorts of gadgets and other cooking utensils to be able to make a good meal. Let me assure you, you don’t.

I recommend you grab a box or bag and open up the drawer. Make a spot on your table and begin sorting all of your items. Make a pile for measuring items, make a pile for spatulas, make a pile for whisks, ice cream scoops, pizza cutters, can openers, etc.

Now look at what you have. Do you have duplicates of anything that you notice right off? Start with those piles. Take the one you use the most, or the one in the best condition and put it back in the drawer. The other one should be placed in the box or in a bag. Continue doing this until you have done everything.

Now all you should have left on your table is everything you only have one single item of. Do you need those items? Obviously things like ice cream scoops and pizza cutter are probably a necessity but I’m sure you have items in there that you don’t need.

This is what I removed when I cleaned out my cooking utensil drawer.

The box is 11″ in width and 12″ in height. That’s a lot of stuff!

Did you know there is great satisfaction in cleaning out the fridge? It can make you feel like you have seriously accomplished something, even if you really haven’t.

First - go fill your sink up with hot, soapy water. Leave and return to fridge.

The first part of cleaning out the fridge is to remove everything from the refrigerator as quickly as possible. If you can sort it in sections on the kitchen floor - that helps a lot.

Now, as quick as you can - remove shelves and drawers and go straight to your hot water and sink. Quickly wash them well and then rinse them in cool water. You definitely want to rinse them in cool water to keep the refrigerator as cool as possible.

Once all shelves and drawers have been returned and you have wiped out any other spots that needed it, it is time to start really “cleaning out the food”. First, condense anything that you can. If you notice two bottles of open ketchup, combine them. Butter - combine it - etc. Next, throw away any leftover food that is more than a week old. Check fruits and veggies for any sign of spoilage and if not - return to refrigerator and use as soon as possible. If there is spoilage, you either need to throw it away or cut away the affected area and use the rest of it that very day. Otherwise - simply toss.

Check expiration dates as you replace bottles of dressings, condiments, sauces and anything else in the door. Throw away anything that has expired.

Now it’s time to replace everything. Place shelves into refrigerator so that organization works best. You need one slightly larger space for drinks, but beyond that you will need to look and see what you are storing to determine how much space you need.

Once all food is replaced, close the door. Remove any papers that can be removed from the outside of refrigerator door and then wipe down the doors, sides and handles.

All in all this process should take about 30-60 minutes average.

Are you a cookbook queen? I know I am - since I am majorly obsessed with cooking. And it is definitely an obsession because while I love to read and visit the book store, I almost always wind up bringing home a new cookbook or two. Yes, I’m obsessed.

So how do you deal with a cookbook obsession and organize and store it nicely? Well, if you have a great big kitchen, you definitely have an advantage, but since the rest of us know that isn’t a luxury, here are some tips and ideas to get you headed in the right direction.

•  Sort through the cookbooks you have and get rid of any that you have not referenced in at least a year or two. Even if its a handed down “special cookbook” if you aren’t using it - it is just taking up space. Get rid of it, or give it to someone else in your family to hold onto. Maybe passing it down for Christmas would be a fine idea!
• Once you have your cookbooks sorted, its time to look at which ones you love the best or use the most often. Those should probably be stored nearest your kitchen. The deal is - they don’t have to be stored IN your kitchen. If you have a bookshelf in the living room, feel free to place them there. They will look organized and you can access them at any time.
• If you have clipped recipes and recipe cards everywhere - now is the time to look into recipes boxes. You will want to get something that will store all shapes and sizes. If you have a recipe that is written on a sheet of paper, it might be nice to re-write it on a recipe card and then place all cards into a proper recipe box. This can be kept on a shelf in the kitchen or even stored next to the cookbooks out in the family room or wherever.

So where do you store your cookbooks, and how obsessed are you? Last count we have 207 cookbooks or magazine type cookbooks (I’m a Taste of Home junkie). I am in the process of weeding them down. I honestly do not use them all, and I know that.

I mentioned the other day how much I love those Utensil carousel’s or crocks that you put next to the stove to make reaching what you need a lot easier. Probably one of my favorite organizational products for the kitchen, simply because they not only provide organization, but they provide a useful solution to accessing them quickly when you need them.

Have you opened your Utensil drawer lately? It is typically filled with a wide variety of useful kitchen gadgets, spoons, serving items and other kitchen cooking paraphernalia that one sometimes needs, but doesn’t need all the time.

Cleaning out and organizing this drawer can save you a ton of time in the kitchen. Have you ever pulled out a piping hot pizza from the oven, and spent five minutes looking for the pizza cutter that should be in there somewhere? Or maybe you have decided to have ice cream for dessert and you can’t find that scoop anywhere. It happens to all of us.

One thing I learned in my organizing endeavors, is that sometimes its easier to make a shelf elsewhere, or take an unused cabinet and repurpose it to be used for things that aren’t always used. That cheese slicer, egg slicer, BBQ utensils (when you don’t have a BBQ pit or don’t BBQ very often), veggie peeler (unless you use it at least once a week or so), funnels (which for whatever reason I have very little use for unless trying to combine the remains of an older bottle of something with a newer bottle), etc.

Remove everything from your Utensil drawer. Pick it up, figure out what its purpose is, and then think about how long ago you used it. Here is how to figure out what to do with these items.

• If it has been used this week several times, and is used on a semi daily basis, it should go in a counter top Utensil crock (pictured above).
• If it has been used this week, but is only used once a week or a couple of times a month, it probably qualifies to be placed back into the Utensil drawer because you will want it handy.
• If it has been used in the past month or two, but isn’t used quite as often, it probably qualifies to have a new home elsewhere. You could place everything that fits this description in a plastic container with a lid and place it on a shelf in the basement or another room.
• If it hasn’t been used in the past year but you know you would use it again, it can be put with the other items in the container.
• If it hasn’t been used in the past year or it hasn’t been used ever. You need to seriously evaluate how important that item is to you. Can you just get rid of it? What is the likely hood that you will use it at all? It is truly just taking up valuable storage space if you stick it somewhere else. Be sure to keep that in mind.

Is your Utensil drawer organized or are you in the beginning stages of organizing the elements in your kitchen?