January Declutter Challenge: Week One Recap

What a week! My kitchen cabinets are more organized and less cluttered. My quest to declutter is successfully underway.

Day One: Kitchen Cabinets

I started the declutter challenge on Day One with the main upper cabinets near my sink. These cabinets hold my dishes, glassware, mugs, a few appliances that get frequent use like the toaster and crockpot, and our bread. These are the cabinets that get the most use so they were a great place to start.

Last year, I had removed some items we didn’t use regularly like tea cups and Rubbermaid plastic bottles. I moved these to a shelf in the guest bedroom. My plan is to consolidate existing with additional items to a tub and relocate the tub to the garage since I haven’t really used the tea cups or Rubbermaid. There are many items in the kitchen that do not get regular use but I am not yet ready to discard. Perhaps after sitting in the garage for 6 months, I will be ready to rehome them. We can only hope. But getting them out of the kitchen is the first step.

Here are the dishware and bread cabinets.

Back when I had my store, The Blue Building Antiques and Consignment, I frequented several thrift stores regularly. I was constantly buying kitchen gadgets, vintage serve ware, plates, and glassware. As you know, I have a love for all things vintage and antique. I was scooping up so many cool kitchen items but many just weren’t practical. I would eventually move them to the store inventory for resale. But I have held on to quite a bit. So a lot of those excess pieces are moving to Etsy.

I also had complimentary glasses from restaurants that we just don’t use. So, those will be donated. Basically, I sorted the glasses into sections: Daily use, coffee mugs, travel tumblers, plastic glasses and tumblers for out doors (by the pool), cocktail glasses and wine glasses. Eventually, the cocktail and wine glasses will go to a bar area in the dining room once we expand that bar area. And some glasses were just beat and placed into the trash-like the plastic we use outdoors when gardening or landscaping.

Over the sink is a smaller cupboard that holds pitchers, a coffee grinder, and my small food processor. I recently added our vitamins and supplements to this area so there were bottles seemingly everywhere. Four Rubbermaid pitchers are way too many. We no longer have 5 children seeking Koolaid in the summer. And since Pop is now in heaven watching over us, I don’t need those gallon pitchers for homemade iced tea. I am keeping one for summer but it will be in that tote in the garage.

I used a few Dollar Tree plastic baskets to corral the vitamin bottles. These will do for now until I find something more attractive and sturdy.

Day Two: Kitchen Pantry -Regularly Declutter

Day Two area of concentration was the pantry cupboards. Mr. Blu does a great job of maintaining these areas. We did have some outdated and expired items. So those were trashed. And I have identified a few areas that need small baskets or bins to better organize items like packets of taco seasoning, gravy mix, ranch mix, etc. I also rehomed some items to the “not currently using bin”.

And here is a smaller cupboard with coffee, spices, etc. There is not a real wow factor in this pantry cupboard as I have been working hard to maintain this one. So let’s call this my inspiration!!!

Day Three: Kitchen Drawers

The dreaded drawers! In my kitchen, the drawers and junk drawers go hand in hand. So I started with the utensil drawers. Our main utensil drawers was one that I sorted last January (read about that HERE) and it has remained relatively tidy. This drawer was actually the one area in the entire kitchen requiring the least attention!I continued with the next utensil drawer which merged into the junk category. The easiest way to tackle this mess was to empty all 3 drawers and begin to sort. You would not believe the things that a DIY’er tosses into a kitchen drawer. Electronics, hardware, assorted tools, a small tv (really small), curtain hardware, light bulbs, ten cell phones, cookbooks…we don’t have all day so I will just share the photo.

I sorted items into the following piles:

old electronics and accessories – cell phones, camcorders cords and chargers, extension cords, power cords for Lord knows what.
cookbooks.
hardware – screws, nails, hooks, staples, bolts, zip ties, etc., basically anything that belongs in the garage.
trash – lids without partners, parts to items long discarded, worn knives and gadgets
things to donate – items I know we will never use.
items we frequently use.

Then I placed these items into the 3 drawers.

These drawers contained happy reminders of a home well loved and lives well lived. It was fun to sort through old recipes as well.

Day Four: Under Sink

We had so many pots and pan! I donated a few, moved a couple to the camping tote, and threw a few in the trash. A future project will be to research drawer slides and lid organizers to make this space more efficient and the pots and pans more easily accessible.

Day Five: Junk Drawer-Ultimate Declutter Task

Like I stated above, I have many junk drawers. But this one is the original. It is where we drop the mail, receipts, phone chargers, coupons, etc. It is now sorted and organized. A declutter success story! This will be a weekly task as this drawer is also the “quickly hide it drawers” if someone comes over unexpectedly.

Day Six: Cleaning Supplies

Cleaning supplies are mostly stored under the sink counter. This is an area that is easier to maintain since I pull items from here on a daily basis. I will be looking for some sliding baskets to help make these supplies easier to access.

Day Seven: Fridge and Freezer

Since upgrading all of our kitchen appliances last year for My Tuscan Inspired Kitchen, And HERE is the post about the new appliances. I’ve been very conscious of keeping these areas clutter free and organized. This was a good opportunity to removed the massive amounts of Holiday Beer from the fridge and relocate it back to the overflow refrigerator in the garage. Don’t be alarmed as we don’t drink nearly as much Sam Adams as this before photo would lead you to believer.

I’m headed to the grocery store today so I left some space for new items. Below is one the french drawer in the fridge. Love this for meats, cheeses, etc. I will be searching for more organizers that will help keep these items from moving around when the drawer is opened or closed.

My kitchen is completely decluttered and reorganized! This has been both a liberating and an inspiring challenge. I am ready for Week 2. Will you join me?

Guidelines: