It's the start of a fresh new year and it's time to say goodbye to that holiday kitchen hangover! You know it well... the 4-6 weeks of cooking, baking, and feasting with holiday dishes and decorations galore starting with Thanksgiving, then Christmas and ending with New Years.
It feels so good to clean, edit and get organized come January! So today I thought I would share a 5 day plan to do just that in only 5 hours! 1 hour per day... who's with me? !?
Day 1 - Set timer for 1 hour. Time to purge your kitchen of any holiday related items and find a permanent home for them. This includes holiday hand towels, dishes, candles and leftover decorations. Try to empty your countertops as if you were moving keeping out only the essentials. (Don't worry we'll be adding back your favorites before you know it!)
Day 2 - Find an empty storage bin. Set timer for 1 hour. Start with your perimeter kitchen cabinets looking for items that you either don't use, don't want or that don't belong. Examples of this would be odd coffee mugs, plates, utensils, mismatched tupperware or small appliance items that seldom get used. Collect these items into the empty storage bin and save for tomorrow.
Day 3 - Grab your storage bin from yesterday. Set timer for 1 hour. Today we're working on your kitchen island and any extra kitchen cabinets you may have and last but not least the pantry. Just like yesterday, go through all items looking for things you don't use, don't want or that don't belong. Collect items and put into storage bin. When it comes to food be sure to check expiration labels and dispose of anything old. If you have extra canned food or foods that you don't need, consider donating them to a local food pantry. Put these items into grocery bags you can easily drop off when it's convenient.
Day 4 - We're going all in... the refridgerator, freezer and even under the dreaded kitchen sink. You know the drill... set a timer for 1 hour. Go through all items looking for things you don't use, don't want or that don't belong. When it comes to food items, be sure to check expiration labels and dispose of anything old. When it comes to cleaning products under the sink, see if you can whittle down to the essentials or combine combine duplicate products into one bottle.
Day 5 - Congratulations you're almost there! Now that you have purged all the unnecessary items from your kitchen, you are ready to better organize what you do have. Set timer for 1 hour and get creative. Can you add bins or baskets to corral small items or group like items together? Are your everyday plates, glasses or pots and pans in the best working location? Is there still a junk drawer that could needs organizing? I found some great clear plastic bins from Tuesday Morning for our kitchen catch all drawer and absolutely love them! Joanna and Clea would be so proud! #thehomeedit Then feel free to add a few accessory items back to your countertops but remember less is more.
You should now have a storage bin with any items that no longer serve you and possibly bags of food to donate. Take these items out to your car and drop off at charity when you can. And that's it! If you want to take the 5 Day Kitchen Declutter Challenge with me, join my free FB group where I'll be popping on live to show you some serious progress in my very own kitchen next week!! Have a great weekend!
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