Organizing Your Kitchen
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Store empty sandwich and freezer bags in an old Kleenex box.
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Store your hand mixer with the beaters in a basket or wrap cord around the mixer and then put a hook in your cabinet so you can hang the beaters next to it.
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Keep more than one container of salt on hand. I wash and re-fill old spice bottles with salt. I keep one salt shaker on the table, one on the stove, one with my spices and one with my baking supplies. This can save me many steps a day and with Fibromyalgia you need to save all the energy you can!
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Place lids for plastic containers in a shoebox and set next to containers. I use a Velveeta box for smaller lids.
This is all the "plasticware" I have. I keep just the like items together with the lids right next to them. No, I don’t save things like yogurt and sour cream containers (gasp!) but if you do, just do the same thing.
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Use a magnetic knife holder to store tools in your kitchen. I didn’t have a space for my magnetic knife holder in my new kitchen so I put it up in my mop closet to hold tools that I use in the house.
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Store measuring cups in your canisters. We use a 1 cup measuring cup in the flour, and 1/2 or 1/4 cup in the sugar. This saves always on dishes!
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Use a small nail on the inside of a cabinet door by the stove to hang one or two hot pan holders on.
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Always store the things you use most in your cabinets at eye level.
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Store like items in the kitchen together. Keep the bread in a cabinet by toaster, tea bags close to the tea kettle, coffee by the coffee pot, coffee pot by the sink, baking supplies by mixing bowls and mixer, etc.
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Store like items in the fridge together. Keep the things you use together near each other like the mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise or the cheese and lunch meats.
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If you are short of storage space and cabinets, it doesn’t hurt to store things like large platters, serving dishes and kitchen gadgets that you only use once in a while in another area of the house.
Tawra
Photo By: Susan Serra
I try to find creative uses for kitchen appliances when not in use. For instance, I have silk summer flowers inside my white crockpot on top of the refrigerator right now. I stuffed the cord in the pot, and added a little greenery around the edges. Looks pretty sharp and adds lots of color. It makes me happy to see it when I walk in the kitchen first thing in the morning:)
Hi Tawra,
I appreciate your tips and always learn something new when I visit here. I have also enjoyed your books. Just wanted to say thanks!
Gerie
RE: plastic storage containers–every few months I go thru mine and match up lids and containers, and throw away any extra lids and/or containers (with the exception of saving 1 or 2 extra containers for pet food scoops or dishes if needed). It helps my cupboard stay much neater and I’ve NEVER regretted throwing any extras away.
Also–at our local grocery stores the different-size containers go on sale several times/year. Periodically there are also high value coupons in the Sunday papers. I always cut the coupons out so when the containers are on sale I can buy them at a very low price.
I use the single serving plastic fruit cups (like Dole)in my canisters because they don’t have handles. The few that I have measure to 1/2 cup.
New reader here. I love your tip on using an old Kleenex box to store ziplock bags. We re-use ours when we take kid snacks on the road and this is a great tip for us! Thanks!
Glad to have you with us Tara. I also use the Kleenex boxes to store my plastic grocery bags in. You can get an amazing amount in them. I have a black and white poke a dot and check kitchen now so I took my Kleenex box and just spray painted it black to match. You can do a lot with them.
I would like to know if it is possible to refill the plastic bottles that the Swifter mops use. I really like the one for hardwood floors but find the bottles are too expensive. Thankyou for the recipes on laundry detergent; I finally got mine made– GREAT! It’s only 2 of us now, but I have several grchildren & friends that I share ideas,products, food with so the ideas I get from you, they are a blessing. Thankyou for any help on the Swifter question.
It is really easy to refill these with any of your favorite cleaning product. We wrote a whole article on it a couple of years back How to Fill a Swif er Bottle. Hope this helps
I have had this kitchen for 14 years and it is just not made for me. I finally figured out why.
I am a person who works from left to right and the kitchen is laid out so you have to work from right to left.
Can’t do much about it since it would cost a fortune to fix it. Wiring and pipes are in all the wrong places.
Don has made a few changes for me but the sink is at the end of the counter a double one so nice size but all the space for stacking dishes has to be on the left. So dirty dishes get stacked in one sink and I use the other side to wash and then put the dishes on the left.
It is liveable but I sure do wish it was more to my type of work habits.
Good point grandma. I never thought about that but it is so true. That maybe why some people have trouble with their kitchen working for them but can’t put their finger on why or what the problem is. We lefties run into this problem for many different things like this. So many things feel awkward and then I realize I have to go from the other direction.