Do you feel overwhelmed during the month of December with all the stuff that enters your home? It makes it hard to enjoy this festive time of year.
I've found that when I declutter throughout the month it really helps me feel less overwhelmed. Will you join me in the Net Zero Decluttering Challenge this year?
I'm so impressed with stories of what you've been decluttering already this month! Let's keep it going this week.
Today I'm sharing tips for decluttering your kitchen items!
A reminder or quick summary if you're new: each week I'm sharing decluttering tips to help you declutter a different area of your home. You don't have to declutter those specific items though... you can declutter anything you want to! If you do that all month, you can end December with the same number of items in your home (or maybe even less!) than what you started the month with! You can see the previous posts in the series as well as previous years' posts here.
This Week's Decluttering Focus - Kitchen Items
Isn't it frustrating when you're entertaining during the holidays but you have to deal with your kitchen clutter first? Or what about trying to work around clutter when you're cooking your holiday meals?
- Ever have people offer to help you in your kitchen but you can't tell them where to find something they need?
- Or they offer to help you clean up afterwards and you can't tell them where to put things back because there's just no space in your fridge or cabinets or the items don't really have homes?
- Maybe you don't even entertain or allow people to help you because you're embarrassed to have them see all the clutter?
What about when you're doing your Christmas baking to have to deal with all the rest of the clutter in your kitchen?
- Cookie sheets and baking pans that are a hot mess in your cabinet
- Expired ingredients in your pantry
- So much stuff in your pantry that you can't find what you need
- Or you buy ingredients because you think you're out of them only to end up finding more in the back of your cabinet?
- Or you think you have something in your fridge and then realize you have to run out to buy more because you are actually out?
Holiday baking should be fun, but if you're overwhelmed with all the clutter in your kitchen, it just becomes another chore on the list of things to do.
If any of this sounds familiar, there's still time to change things! Spend a bit of time decluttering in your kitchen this week and you'll find it so much easier to do your holiday baking and entertaining!
Tips for Decluttering Your Kitchen
Here are a few tips to help you declutter your kitchen this week:
- Donate any pots and pans, baking pans, or other cookware / bakeware that you haven't used in the past year (except those you only use for holiday cooking like your turkey roasting pan).
- Give away any small appliances you no longer use. This will create space in your cabinets so you can perhaps get some things off your counters so your kitchen feels less cluttered.
- Go through your Tupperware / food storage containers cabinet and let go of anything stained, worn, unmatched, or that you haven't used in the last 6 months.
- Declutter your pantry by tossing any expired items, grouping like items together, and making note of what you still need.
- Do the same with your fridge and freezer to make space.
These 5 areas will give you your biggest bang for your buck if you need to do some quick decluttering. If you have time, don't forget your cooking utensil drawers, gadget drawers, and junk drawers.
I've written lots of posts over the years about decluttering your kitchen... here are a few that you can check out for more tips:
Decluttering My Kids' Stuff (last week's focus)
My kids had already decluttered their toys, games, puzzles, and clothing last month, so this week I asked them to go through some electronic items. Some of them hadn't been used since we moved last year so those were easy decisions.
Here's what we decluttered this week:
Here's what we decluttered this week:
- 1 video cassette
- 23 CDRoms
- 1 CD case
- 2 Wii accessories
- 1 plug-n-play game
- 1 step counter
My son also let go of his old carpet that he used to have in his room. He played with cars on that mat when he was little and it was very sentimental to him. Even when we moved last year he wasn't ready to let it go yet. He didn't want it in his room though. So it was in and around our basement for the past year and a half and now he's ready to let it go so someone else can enjoy it as much as he once did.
We moved our kitten's litter box into our laundry/furnace room this week, so to make the room safer for her I threw out several leftover scraps from previous and current renovation projects, as well as one grate that covered a hole in the door (we made it into a kitty door).
Decluttering My Kitchen
My Progress in the #NetZeroClutter challenge
This week we decluttered 31 items. And we added 1 new item in our home this week. So that puts me at -30 items this week in the #NetZeroClutter challenge and -41 overall. My goal for the month is to declutter 150 items so I'm getting there! I'm not as far ahead as I usually am at this point in the month so I better get moving :)
What's Next For You?
Take some time this week to declutter your kitchen. It will make your holiday baking, entertaining, and even just day-to-day meal prep on those busy December days a lot less overwhelming!
Don't forget you can declutter anything you'd like though. If you've got a more pressing need, go for it!
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 week's post in your email inbox. 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 this week'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 did you declutter from your kitchen this week? How many kids' items did you declutter last week? How are your overall in / out numbers?
Happy
