An easy guide for cleaning, organising and tidying your kitchen’s top 5 clutter-prone spots – perfect for keeping you busy during self-isolation.

Stuck at home and running out of things to do? Consider getting on top of your kitchen clutter. It’s one area of the home that readers say they struggle with most, and I’m not surprised! There are so many drawers, cupboards and hidey-holes in the kitchen that can accumulate clutter and mess. To help you tackle the untidiness of your kitchen, I have broken it down into five easy-to-organise areas. So pop on some tunes and make this a fun affair for the whole family (if you can get the kids and hubby to help that is!).

When approaching all these areas, there are four simple steps to follow:

1. Remove everything from the cluttered space
2. Assess all the items and decide which ones should live elsewhere
3. Purge anything you no longer need
4. Then the fun part… organise!

Here are the five areas to organise in your kitchen, plus a few tips for making each task an easy and stress-free endeavour.

1. Under The Kitchen Sink

Lots of items tend to live under our kitchen sinks, which is why it can quickly become a jungle in there. The key to a well-organised kitchen sink cupboard is to ensure that everything has a place.

Check out all my tips and tricks for How To Organise Under The Kitchen Sink here. 

2. Junk Drawer

Perhaps the biggest battle with the junk drawer is getting into the mindset that only things you actually need are to go in this drawer. It can be tempting to use this space as a dumping ground. Instead, decide what items need to live in this drawer, and which items are better housed elsewhere.

Try to allocate a shallow drawer that’s less forgiving of extra catalogues and phone chargers. Once you’ve decided on your drawer and your essential ‘junk drawer’ items, create smaller sub-sections so similar items can be easily grouped together. This will help prevent the ocean of random objects you’re so used to seeing in your junk drawer, and make finding that spare pen so much easier too!

3. Water Bottles

Over the years my water bottle collection seemingly multiplied behind closed doors. If this is you, then I have two suggestions:

Purge, purge, purge! 10 water bottles for four people is simply unnecessary. I recently culled my water bottle collection and replaced them with good quality water bottles instead – that are named! – so there’s no mess (or arguments over who owns which one).

Shop a huge range of water bottles here, or pick up one of these personalised vinyl name labels from my shop here.

Organise! If you have lots of drink bottles (and you can’t part with them) that are constantly falling over or getting shoved in the cupboard by kids, then this hack is for you. A magazine file like this Kvissle magazine files from Ikea ($14.99 set of 2) will help keep the bottles upright.

Water bottles are also renowned for getting a little slimy (yuk!). If your drink bottles are in need of a good clean, check out my easy tip for doing this here.

4. First Aid Kit

Being stuck at home is the perfect time to organise your medicine cabinet and first aid kit to ensure it’s stocked with everything you need should someone fall ill. Here’s a quick breakdown of how I organise my first aid kit:

• Dispose of all expired medicines and scripts. Make a note of what you throw so you can replenish next time you’re at the doctors and pharmacy.
• Ensure your medicine cabinet is large enough to fit everything in, and then add some labels so you can group like items together.
• Place the medicines/items you don’t use often towards the back.
• Keep the first aid kit out of reach of small hands.

LABELS – Available in The Organised Housewife Shop here. 

5. Utensil Drawer

If you’re spending more time cooking in your kitchen at the moment, you don’t want to waste that time searching for your tongs, spatulas and egg whisks. These Expandable Drawer Dividers here are a life-saver when organising any drawer in your home.

You can find my Tips To Organise Kitchen Drawers here. 

Want More Help Organising Your Home?

If you’re stuck at home at the moment and feeling overwhelmed with all the things you want to organise or clean, then my new ebook can help. My team and I realised we’re not the only ones feeling anxious and overwhelmed with self-isolation, so decided to create a Sanity Guide For Staying At Home.

This isolation handbook covers everything from managing your meals and your mind, to moving your body, minimising germs, organising the home, planning your day, balancing the budget, busting boredom and so much more! There’s six printable resources, over 90 screen-free indoor activity ideas – both for adults and kids – and this is just the beginning.

Check out the 78 page Isolation Handbook here it includes this Home Refresh Checklist. 

WHAT WILL YOU ORGANISE WHILST STUCK AT HOME?

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