Tips for Organizing Your Kitchen, Bathrooms, and Closets

I’m not going to claim to be the most organized person in the world. In fact, I’ve had a lot of trouble in that area. I remember when I was raising my daughters and working two jobs sometimes, my home was a wreck more times than I’d like to admit. Unfortunately when my beautiful home was so out of sorts I didn’t have that feel good feeling about things in general. I was in my 30s and 40s at the time, and I should have been better organized. Well actually my life was great in a way; I did plenty of wonderful things with my daughters back then which I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. However, I kept kicking the can down the road when it came to organizing my home, until I finally came to my senses one day. Within one week I’d organized my kitchen, bathrooms, and closets. That was pretty much organizing the bulk of the house in only one week. I made it a family affair. Both my girls and my hubby helped out with the ordeal of de-cluttering and re-organizing. Now our home is more livable and loveable. Since that time, I’ve been careful to maintain things so we wouldn’t slip back into the old pit again. Here is what we did:

The kitchen-

1) First, remove everything from the bottom cupboards and give the cupboards a good cleaning. Use a good disinfectant like Lysol to clean with, and also use gloves for hand protection.

2) Once the cupboards are cleaned, line the floor of the cupboards with an inexpensive paper shelf liner.

3)Place pots neatly in clear plastic bins that will fit securely under the kitchen counter space. I happen to have four cabinet doors that open on the bottom of my kitchen counter space. You may have more than that, and that will be a good thing. The more space the better.

4) Make sure you put the pots that you use the most, in the front. Although this is a small space, it is nice enough for me because I also use the space that pulls out from my stove. It is located directly under the oven. Line that space with the paper shelf liner too, and place the over-flow of pots there along with your pans as well.

5) Arrange the pots so the ones you use the most you can reach without difficulty. Those pots less used are placed in the back

5)All of your plastic containers should be stored together in a plastic bin, and placed in one of the bottom cupboards.

6)Leave the space directly under the sink free for household cleaners. Place the household cleaners in a clear plastic bin also and line it with the paper shelf liner. The plastic bins will keep everything neatly organized in its space. All extra pots and pans that you don’t use anymore, should be placed aside to donate to someone who can use them.

7)Now remove everything from the top shelves. Clean the top shelves just like the bottom ones, and line with paper shelf liner.

6)Coordinate your dishes so you will have everything together. All of your plates should be together on one shelf, and the same thing for the soup bowls, cups and saucers etc.

8)Install and organizer caddy to hook your cups onto. This will keep your cups well organized and will give you more space.

9)The drinking glasses should be coordinated so the glasses you use the most are in the front.

10) You should also donate any extra dishes and glasses you don’t need, especially all odd dishes that no longer belong to a complete set.

The refrigerator is pretty much self sufficient. It has its space for the fruits and veggies, for the eggs, and a meat keeper.

1) However, the refrigerator needs to be cleaned once a week. This is a serious job and should be ongoing every week because of the possible growth of listeria. Listeria is a type of bacteria that lives in the cold climate. It has the ability of making you extremely ill and can even cause death. Cleaning the refrigerator weekly will keep you organized so your food will be safe.

2) Use a powerful germ killing agent like Lysol when you clean.

3) Avoid possible food poisoning by discarding all leftover food that was placed in the refrigerator for four days or more.

4) To cut down on throwing food away, you can always store it in a plastic container and place in the freezer.

The stove. You can be organized by making a habit of wiping the top of the stove after cooking. There may be spillage, which is easy to wipe up at this point and will be less of a problem down the road.

Your Pantry.

1) Remove everything from your pantry shelf, and then clean it well with a disinfectant. Once it is clean and dry, line the pantry with a paper shelf liner. 2)

2) Replace food. Organize foods so that they are all well coordinated. Place all cereals together, treats (cookies, candy etc) together, and can goods together. Arrange can goods so they are seen by category; such as all beans together, tomato sauce/ pasta sauce together, rice and pastas together, juices together, and etc. When you look into your pantry in the future, it should be well organized and much easier for you to go get just what it is you are looking for.

3) Some pantries are separated from the cupboards like my pantry is. In this case, you can also place some of your small appliances in there. You can place your blender in there, a small grill, a waffle iron, coffee maker and other small appliances.

The Closet

1)Take all the clothes out of the closet and lay them on a bed.

Remove everything from the closet shelf and place in a chair or somewhere in the room out of the way.

2)Dust the top oF the closet well, and then line it with a paper shelf liner. Use clear plastic storage bins to store items removed from closet.

3) Place a label on each storage bin used. You may need a label for school supplies/ books and tablets; a label for purses/wallets and belts; and a label for Christmas decorations, Christmas cards, and gift bags. Practically anything you had stored on top of your closet can go into a storage bin. Including CDs and DVDs.

4) After you finish making all the labels you need, and placing them on the plastic bins, simply place all of them on the closet shelf packed with the items you want to keep in them.

5)Remove everything from your closet floor. Clean area by vacuuming sweeping, and/or moping.

6)Once clean, place shoes in a shoe rack and keep on the closet floor, and/or get a shoe rack to hang on the closet door. If you had other items on the floor that you didn’t place into a bin on top of the closet, perhaps now is a good time to consider donating. An old turn table record player, or an old radio, are things you may want to give away.

7)Go through your clothes on the bed and determine what you wouldn’t mind giving away. Hang your clothes in the closet by category. Place all pants together, all shirts together, and etc. While organizing your closet use this time to de-clutter and give away what you could.

The Bathroom

1) IF your bathroom doesn’t have a storage shelf, I recommend that you buy yourself one. Or perhaps you can mount 2 or 3 individual shelves on the wall. This space will be used for storing bath and wash towels extra soap, bath oils, and lotions. You should fix it in a way that it will look beautiful and elegant.

2) Remove everything from under your bathroom basin. Clean well with a disinfectant spray and then line it with a paper shelf liner.

3) Get a couple of plastic storage bins to keep your supplies in. If you prefer, you can always use the better looking wicker storage bin with a cloth lining in it. In one bin, you can keep your hair combs and hair brushes in. Also use for your hair dryer, electric comb/curlers and etc.

4) The other bin can be used for Bathroom cleaning supplies (bathroom tub cleaner, tidy bowl, tile cleaner, and etc.)

5) Clean out your medicine cabinet once a month or so. Check the labels on the bottles for the expiration date and throw away all outdated medications.

6) Don’t mix medications with other items such as rat poisoning or chemicals not belonging in the medication cabinet. Accidents can very easy happen when you least expect it. If you are well organized, such accidents can be avoided.

Well these are my tips for keeping the kitchen, bathrooms and closets organized. I hope I’ve been helpful. It should be easy to maintain this set up with no problems at all. Just keep things in its place, make your bed and vacuum once a week, your house should look well kept and well organized.