Does your kitchen have what my friend calls a “scary cabinet,” stuffed with perilously stacked items? Or a drawer crammed so full that it’s hard to open—or to find anything inside?
It’s easy to accumulate kitchen items, often to the point of excess. But how many of those items do you regularly use? Are they taking up space that you need for something else? And how much time are they costing you: stacking and unstacking them, moving them out of the way to find the thing you really need, or maybe even dodging them as they tumble out of your cabinet?
The good news is that paring those collections down doesn’t need to be a big project. If you tackle one category at a time, you’ll only need a few minutes. Gather the items, spread them out on your kitchen table or counter, and decide what stays and what goes. Be honest with yourself about what you actually need, then donate, recycle, or toss the extras.
Here are some items that often become clutter problems in kitchens.
Plastic cups
Sporting events, company picnics, the state fair—if you go to a lot of events and buy a lot of drinks, you may find yourself with a huge collection of these cups. It’s nice to have a few unbreakable cups, but for the most part, these are items you can safely, and easily, let go.
Mugs
I’ve seen entire cabinets devoted to mugs, often heaped in precarious towers. You may need to summon up more willpower to cull a mug collection, but give it a try. Choose a few favorites, then donate the rest. (While you’re at it, take a look at your cups and saucers. Are you housing an entire set for those few times a year you host the holidays? Then they don’t deserve the prime real estate in your kitchen cabinet. Consider putting them in storage, and use the space they free for your everyday items.) The next time you savor your coffee or tea, you can feel good about all cabinet space you’ve freed up.
Plastic bags
It’s amazing how these bags seem to multiply, preventing us from closing drawers or spilling out of the holders we try to stuff them into. Maybe you reuse some of them, to line your garbage pails, for instance. But many people have way more than they need, or keep sizes they rarely reuse. (Those flimsy produce bags are an example.) If you’re overrun by plastic bags, recycle the extras, keeping only enough to fit comfortably in their designated spaces. No cramming them in where they don’t fit! And think about where you’re keeping these bags. If you save them to clean up after a pet, it may make sense to store them outside your kitchen, perhaps near the door you use to leave the house, or where you keep the leash. And resolve to bring home fewer of these bags in future. You can get reusable versions of both grocery and produce bags.
Food storage containers
Maybe you buy these, or maybe you use leftover takeout containers. But however they enter your kitchen, it often seems that these items never leave, even if they’re warped or missing their covers. Pull them all out of their hiding places, match the bases to the tops, then toss anything that’s broken or missing a mate. But don’t stop yet! Take a moment to consider which ones you really use. The others belong in your recycling or donation pile. If you’ve done a lot of culling, and if space allows, consider storing these containers with their covers on; otherwise, make it easy on yourself by allocating bins to keep the containers together—one for the bottoms, another for the tops
And let’s not forget the food itself
I was recently chatting with another mom, and she complained about the many boxes of crackers that were always open in her pantry. At my house, cereal is the problem: I once realized there were four versions of the same cereal open at once, in addition to a couple of other types. In your case, it might be cookies, or pasta, or tea. But whatever the food, keeping multiple varieties on hand can quickly clutter up your cabinets. Let go of the idea that you need variety all the time, and instead spread the variety out over time. In other words, keep only one or two types of any given item open, then the next time, switch to a different type. I promise, your family will survive if they eat the same cereal a few days in a row! They’ll get a new kind next week.
What items tend to multiply in your kitchen? How have you reined them in?
I like the concept of spreading the variety out over time.
One thing I stored outside of the kitchen a while ago where fancy cookbooks. I like to keep quite a few but relocated them to a closet in the livingroom. We only get them out when we are planning a really special dinner so in that closet is fine. The cleared space now holds a container with rolled up placemats (stored vertically in a glass canister) and 2 baskets – 1 for napkins, 1 for bread.
That’s a good idea on the cookbooks. It’s nice to keep them close–if you use them regularly. But if yours are for special occasions only, I think you were smart to free that space for items you use more often.
Yeah, I’m one of those girls who have the huge coffee mug collection. I can’t part with any of them but I’ve been struggling with space in my kitchen cabinets. Maybe I should just put some away and switch them out every so often… 🙂
I think if you really can’t part with them, rotating them is a good idea. It will be easier to get the ones you need, and to use and enjoy them.
My big issue is with cooking/baking tools. I cook a wide variety of foods and love to bake, so my MIL (who loves yard sales…) is constantly buying me the same item, just in different sizes. Example, I have two double-boil pots, one small and one a little bigger. I’ll never get my cabinets clear. I’ve tried asking her not to, but the pile grows… 😉 I recently sorted through my plastic food containers…What a mess! I’m glad it’s over with.
It’s so sweet of your MIL to give you this stuff, since she knows you love to bake…I guess that’s the thing to keep in mind. 🙂 But do you have to keep them all, or could you pass them along? Or at least store the odd sizes you don’t use as much elsewhere? I know it can be a big pain to move and unstack those items to get to the one you want.
Oh–congratulations on the plastic stuff. That is a big accomplishment!
A friend has two college age daughters. When I cleared out some of my extra stiff, I made up a package of glasses, silverware, plates, etc. She loved it. I’m doing a second purge and will continue with making up boxes for the girls for their post college apartments. I know where the stuff is going and my friend can spend her money for tuition and books.
I have deep cabinets, so I got clear plastic boxes and used those to store special cooking tools such as baking stuff and extra knives. The boxes are “dated”, so the next time I dive into the depths of the cabinets, I know that I can purge them if it hasn’t been used in a year or two. Yes, it was delaying the decision, but back then, I was able to get rid of the easy stuff and I didn’t think much about the “maybes”.
I also moved to using wide mouth mason jars as food storage. I use the half gallon and quart sizes. I also got the reusable plastic caps to use if the food item is accessed frequently. I have a vacuum sealer since there is a handheld version that is inexpensive. I can see what I have and when I need to start watching for the sales.
I love how you are not only clearing your cabinets, but passing along the items to people who can really use them. And helping the girls’ mother out too. Win-win-win! Also, that’s a great strategy for your “maybe” items. Deep cabinets can be a problem, so that’s a good use of that difficult space. Love the mason jars too!