Day 19 - Kitchen Counters {Net Zero Decluttering Challenge}

Have you ever felt overwhelmed during the month of December with all the stuff that enters your home? The trick I've found helps me is to declutter throughout the month. Will you join me in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge?

Each day this month I'll share some decluttering tips and ideas so you can end the month with the same number of items in your home (or maybe even less!) than what you started the month with.

Today I'm sharing tips on decluttering your kitchen counters.

Today's Suggested Decluttering Task

We talk about decluttering kitchen counters a lot in the 365 Items in 365 Days group.  It's a common problem for many people.  Things get dumped on kitchen counters and they quickly become cluttered.  Or we keep too many things out on the counters and then even just a little bit of extra stuff makes it feel really cluttered.

If you're doing a lot of holiday baking this week or preparing a holiday meal for family and friends, decluttering your counters will make it much easier for you to work!

Here are some tips to help you declutter your kitchen counters.

• Toss any garbage or recycling that is on your counters
• Sort all the paperwork and shred or recycle anything you don't need (expired coupons, school notices for past events, old fast food flyers, etc.).  Create a home for incoming paperwork if this is a common problem.
• Wash all the dirty dishes and put away all the clean ones so you can really see what's left on your counters
• Find a better home for any small appliances that you don't use every day.  Sometimes decluttering inside a few cabinets can make space for some things that normally live on our counters.  Or finding an overflow kitchen area in a basement or spare room to store things you only use a few times a year.  
• Use the backs of cabinet doors for anything you can (paper towels, dish soap, hand towels, menus, paperwork, etc.)

That should clear up some space for all your holiday kitchen tasks :)

Here are some more posts with counter decluttering tips:

Tips to Declutter Counters to Make Your Kitchen Feel Bigger

31 Days of Easy Decluttering: Day 25 Small Appliances

And if paperwork is one of your kitchen counter clutter challenges, check out my command center series.  Our command center has been working for 3 years now and it's really kept the paper clutter under control in our home.

Tips for Creating a Command Center 

(this is the first post in the series... there are links at the bottom of it to the rest of the series)

Decluttering My Kitchen Counters

For the most part, my kitchen counters have been much less cluttered in the last year or two than ever in the past.  Since I decluttered and organized my kitchen, I have been enjoying more free counter space.  Except when I get behind on doing the hand-washed dishes.  That just clutters up my counters like crazy.

Overall though, I just have a toaster and a phone in one corner, a hot beverages zone in another, and a toaster oven and crock with cooking utensils on the opposite counter.  This leaves me space to use a variety of other small appliances or to prepare foods.  I love it :)

It's been a busy week so I was behind on our hand-washed dishes so I did most of them and my kitchen's pretty much back to normal again.

My Progress in the #NetZeroClutter challenge

On the topic of kitchen appliances, remember last month when I shared my favourite new multi-purpose appliance?  I had planned to donate all the individual appliances that it replaced.  But they got buried behind our garage bins in the dining room while we had work done in our garage.  So I didn't actually donate them until recently.

1 griddle, 1 waffle maker, 1 grill, and 1 sandwich maker... donated and gone!

I also decluttered 1 blender and 1 food processor.  In the new year I'll share which multipurpose appliance replaced these!  {Yes there's a bread maker in the picture... I was planning to donate it too but it turns out I still need it and my new multipurpose appliance isn't big enough to make a 2 lb batch of dough when we're making bread.  So the bread maker stays... as long as we keep making bread :)

I also decluttered 1 frame (put a sign in it for the shelter where I decorated the Christmas tree the other day), 3 packages of chalkboard tags that I used with a client, and 1 milk pitcher (the handle broke a couple of days ago so we're using our spare one all the time now).

I kept 6 collapsible bins that I bought when I was shopping for a client.  I'll likely use them for that client (or another one) in the new year, but for now I'll count them as items in.  So that puts me at -5 items today in the #NetZeroClutter challenge and -303 overall.  Back to forward movement instead of backwards :)

What's Next For You?

Take some time today to declutter your kitchen counters.  Or anything you'd like to declutter!  Take some pictures and share your progress on social media using the hashtag #NetZeroClutter.  Let me know how you're doing in the challenge so I can cheer you on!

Sign up to receive my blog posts by email so you get each day's post in your email inbox every morning.  You can unsubscribe after the challenge is over if you don't want to continue receiving my blog posts by email.

I'd also love for you to join our 365 Items in 365 Days Facebook group as you do this challenge!  You'll be able to share with others what you're decluttering and feel encouraged and inspired by everyone else who is also decluttering!

If you'd like more decluttering ideas, you can check out my Decluttering/Purging Tips & Ideas board on Pinterest.

So that's today's post in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge!  I'm enjoying doing this challenge and I'm excited to have you join me.  I love hearing all the stories of how much more you're enjoying your holidays because you're not overwhelmed by all the stuff in your home!

How much clutter were you able to remove from you kitchen counters today?  What strategies can you use to keep your kitchen counters clutter free?


Happy organizing decluttering!



I link up at these great parties - Check them out!

Here are all the posts in this challenge in case you missed any or want to share some with your friends or family!