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How to Organize the Kitchen For Your Morning Routine

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Filed Under: Back-to-School Season, Kitchen, Organizing, Routines & Time

Simple Tweaks For An Easy Morning Routine

morning routines

Are you struggling on a daily basis to get the kids out of the house? Is your daily morning routine the culprit of your overwhelm?

Today I share a simple tweak I made to simplify our morning routine and daily meals here at home.

Keeping the kids on track every morning to get out of the house dressed, fed, with all they need for the day and on time can be quite a battle if you don’t have organizing systems in place.

I have 3 boys and they have a very short attention span. Anything but what needs to get done is more interesting. Even the cereal box in front of them can become a fun source of distraction and “cool” information.

Because I know my kiddos and also because I want to keep our mornings calm, fun and not an endless string of nagging and reminders, I implemented simple changes in the way I organize what’s needed for every morning and meal to allow them to quickly find what’s needed, but also to foster independence.

In this video, I share a small corner of our kitchen that is a mighty helper!

I hope these tips will help you implement the changes you need for an easier morning routine!

Shop organizing products on this post

Are you looking forward to having your household chores planned and organized?

Use the Purposeful Life-Binder to get your household routine in place, so you have time for more fun!

home organizing checklists

 

The 15-Minute Plan For a Chaos-Free Kitchen

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Filed Under: Kitchen, Organizing

Your Clutter Free Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of any home. It’s a place to cook, eat, hang out, talk, check homework, pay bills — the list is endless. Since it’s one of the most frequently used rooms, the kitchen is often the most cluttered area in your house. But don’t fret. Once you have a place for everything, you can still get a clutter free and organized in only 15 minutes.

 

 

First, look around the kitchen. Get an idea of what you have where and which items need to be put away.

Then mentally divide the space into three sections. Depending on your layout, your sections may be different, but I suggest splitting up your kitchen into these three areas:

  1. Cooking space: the area immediately around your oven. Include pots, pans, cooking utensils, etc.
  2. Prep space: the area in which you prep food. This usually includes the sink, the largest portion of your countertop and some appliances.
  3. Food storage: your refrigerator and pantry. This also includes cooking condiments like spices and olive oil.

 

 

Begin at one end of the room and work your way around your kitchen.

Give each section five minutes of attention. Set a timer to help you stay on track and keep moving forward.

Pick up every item that is out of place and quickly move to put them back where they belong.

This will keep you from getting distracted.

 

 

Keep Your Counters Clutter Free

Counter space is your main priority. Tidy counters will make your kitchen feel fresh, organized and clean.

My general rule is only display items you use daily on the countertop.

Coffee makers are typically used every morning, so it makes sense to have it out all the time. On the other hand, you may only use your crockpot once a week so the best place to store it is in a cabinet.

 

 

For your prep space and the area around your sink, leave out only items you use all the time. Hand soap, dish soap and a sponge or brush for washing dishes are usually the three items you’ll want close at hand.

Store all other items under your sink in a plastic container or bucket. Smart storage solutions will make it easy for you to tidy items quickly when you need to clear space.

Give your sink a quick wash down so it shines. A little baking soda will help get rid of any staining.

 

Clearing Out Paper Clutter

Paper clutter can get out of hand quicker than you can make a meal. Kitchens are a magnet for items like mail, takeout menus, school permission slips, completed homework, bills and more.

Paperwork, no matter how well organized, will always look like clutter. Grab an empty box with a lid and place all the paper on your countertops in there. Take it to your office where you’ll process everything.

Take a few minutes every day to sort what’s in there so it doesn’t get out of control.

 

If you’re lucky enough to have a walk-in pantry, utilize empty shelves to store appliances and other items. For smaller things, place like items in a basket or box.

Clear bins and labels will help you quickly find items you rarely need but like to have on hand. Once everything is put away, give your kitchen a quick wipe down.

You’re done! Your chaos-free kitchen is ready to show off.

 

Keep It Tight! Selecting Drawer Organizers

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Filed Under: Kitchen, Organizing

What To Look For When Shopping For Drawer Organizers

I went shopping for a project and I was looking for the best drawer organizers for my client, when out of my frustration I decided to record this quick video with a tip for you.

One of the hardest things to find when shopping for this organizing gadgets is that they ALL come with a slanted side and rims. Why, I ask, why? 🙂

When you have the angled, slopped sides of the container and/or a rim you’re basically wasting space in areas that are usually “tight quarters” and where you’re trying to store as much as possible, such as bathroom and kitchen drawers.

See what I mean in the super short video below. Then check my favorite drawer organizers right below the video.

Martha Stewart used to have this awesome home organizing product line at Kmart, but unfortunately it was discontinued and we can’t find it anymore.

As a smart cookie as she is, she made sure her drawer dividers had no rims, no slopped sides and were easily stackable.

So, for now we’re doomed to work with and make the best of  the “eat inches of my drawers and shelves” containers out there.

I’ll keep an eye on the shelves for you and as soon as I find one just like this I’ll share with you.

 

A great alternative, but still not ideal because of the thickness of its sides, is the expandable bamboo drawer organizer.

I love the look and feel of it, it’s very practical and I have used it with many clients who continue to be happy with it.

You can also stack them easily if your drawer height allows it.

And, if you find a line of drawer organizers like this share the brownies with me, and please let me know. I use these products all the time and will love to have them available again for my clients.

Happy organizing!

 

 

 

Keeping Track of What Is In Your Pantry

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Filed Under: Kitchen, Organizing, Printables

Freezer, Fridge & Pantry Inventory

Want to know the secret to avoid multiple trips to the supermarket or the frustration of starting to cook just to find out you ran out of an ingredient? If there’s one thing you can do to make daily life simpler is to know what is in your pantry, freezer and fridge.

Having a well stocked kitchen simplifies your daily life, saves you money, avoids trips to that expensive market on your way home and best of all, removes any stress from your mind!

It also helps you better plan your meals to use up all you have already purchased. After my last trip to Rio I went shopping without really checking what was in the pantry and came home with loads of duplicates, which meant I had to come up with recipes to use all those “overstocked” ingredients. Not fun and it can be expensive.

I suggest you keep them in a plastic sleeve attached to the pantry door, with a pen or pencil handy.

List the items in a way that makes sense to you, for example I like to list mine according to the shelves they’re on, from highest to lowest. What is on the first shelf gets listed on the top of my list and so forth.

As you use and purchase items you simply register what’s going in or out. These can be a great task for a child to do with you as well!

You may purchase a complete set of Kitchen Printables here.

Here is what’s included in the Kitchen Printables Set:

  • Pantry Inventory
  • Freezer Inventory
  • Fridge Inventory
  • Menu & Grocery Planner
  • Grocery Shopping List
  • Favorite Take-out Places

I will love to hear from you what helps you keep your kitchen and pantry on track. Do you use a pantry inventory?

Getting Ready To Bake?

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Filed Under: Kitchen, Organizing, Readers Love

Baking Ingredients Organizer

This type of disorganization will discourage you and detract from the enjoyment of the experience. If you can’t have an organized, stress-free baking experience, your family won’t enjoy it either.

There is no better reason to use a baking ingredients organizer in your pantry to store your baking supplies.

Getting ready to bake? Tips and tools to organize a baking station. #organizing #baking

Creating an Organized Baking Station

Think about the many types of baking supplies we use:

Dry Ingredients:

  • Flour alone can take many forms such as all-purpose, whole wheat, self-rising, and more.
  • Sugars come in many types, each with their own special gifts in turning out delightful sweets. Brown sugar, white sugar, superfine sugar, and powdered sugar are the most common for baking. Then there are all the decorative sugars that make your homemade treats so pleasing to the eye as well as the taste buds.
  • Baking soda, baking powder, salt, yeast, corn starch, and other specialized items that work their unique magic in homemade baked goods.

 

 

Not So Dry Ingredients:

  • Shortening, oil, lard, and other fats. Modern recipes sometimes replace these ingredients with healthier alternatives such as prune puree, but sometimes there is just nothing like the real thing.
  • Liquid sweeteners such as molasses, maple syrup, corn syrup, and others are baking ingredients that lend unique qualities to our special creations.

Getting ready to bake? Tips and tools to organize a baking station.

This amounts to more than a dozen standard baking ingredients and there are more than you may use, depending on where you live and the season of the year.

The way you organize your pantry and these ingredients can make all the difference between a positive, fun baking experience and a chaotic, disorganized fiasco.

A baking ingredients organizer will ensure that you can always find the ingredient you’re looking for. This item will keep things from spilling, keep them within easy reach and allow you to see at a glance what ingredients you are out of or getting low on.

 

 

Before you decide what type of baking ingredients organizer will work best for you, it is important to take inventory of the ingredients you use the most and the sizes of the packages they come in.

Purchasing an organizer that is too small or too large for the job, or that won’t fit properly into your storage space, will only aggravate the problem.

Having a baking ingredients organizer will help you make some new baking memories that your family will cherish and your children will pass on to their own children.

What are you baking these days!?

Featured Kitchen & Pantry Organizing Products

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Tips To Make Daily Life Simpler

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Filed Under: Kitchen, Organizing

Loading the Dishwasher, Just to Unload It!

 

Loading the dishwasher it’s one of those “lovely”, daily chores.

You are starting to clean the kitchen from dinner and you realize the dishwasher needs to be emptied from the last run you did before you left home this morning. What a chore!

But, luckily there’s a simple way to make unloading your dishwasher easier, and while this tip won’t save you time right now, it will apply to every new load if you do it.

 

 

 

Like in every organizing project, the rule “group like items together” applies here.

When loading your dishwasher group the contents by type and size as you place them in the trays.

 

 

I always try to load glasses, bowls and mugs together so when unloading to store them in the cabinets I can do only one movement, from the dishwasher straight to the cabinets or drawers.

 

 

As I said, loading the dishwasher is one of those chores that just need to get done, but like everything else it can be simplified do be done faster.

I hope these simple tips help you make daily life simpler and complete those pesky chores faster!

Cheers,

Helena.