Creative Kimpire: Clearing the Clutter: Kitchen Edition

Hey guys! Sorry I missed posting last week. My in-laws, who are RV-living nowadays, spent the last week parked in our driveway. Now, before you make that “yikes” face, you know, the one where you pull your bottom lip down and suck in breath, let me say that I love my in-laws. That’s not a dirty word to me, as it is to most people. I genuinely enjoyed having them here and will miss them as they head out on their first big, cross country adventure. As a girl who misses her momma every day, it was nice having a mom around. Moms are people who don’t wait for you to ask for their help, they just know what to do. Like when there’s food to be put away and dishes to be done. It’s nice to have some of the burden of the to-do list lightened. Being an adult and having your parents around is even better because then you get to experience having them as friends, and if you turned out okay, they’re probably pretty cool people. Anyway, safe travels, Anetia and Juno. We’ll miss you but are super excited for you to finally get to live your dream life. See you soon!

So, while they were here, Anetia asked me to help her organize their RV and in doing so, I got a glimpse of what life is like when all your possessions have to fit into a relatively small space. As you all know, I’ve been downsizing for quite some time, and this experience has reignited my desire to live a clutter-free life. Take a look around your space and really think about the things you own and whether or not they make you happy, serve a purpose, or are completely necessary. When I started my organization journey a couple of years ago (yes, it may take that long and that’s ok) I began by finding a list of things that the author instructed you to throw away now. You know I’m not a fan of throwing useful things away so I’m going to provide you with a get started list that’s a little bit different. First off, you need three piles, boxes, totes—whatever you want to use. One will be for donation, one will be for trash (if you recycle, you’ll need a fourth), and one will be for items that belong in a different room than the one you’re starting in. I recommend starting in whatever room makes you the most unhappy. For me, that was my kitchen because that’s where I spend the most amount of time. I have a rather large kitchen so some of the things I’m going to talk about may or may not be stored in your kitchen. If that’s the case, just save those items for when you’re ready to do whatever room it is they go in. Here goes:

Spices that expired in 2016. They won’t hurt you but they probably won’t provide you with much flavor. Dump them in the trash and recycle the bottle.
Cords that go to electronics you no longer have.
Canned food that is expired, or if it’s not expired but you’re never going to eat it, donate it to a food pantry.
Extra lids/containers with no lid. Where do the lids go? Seriously, I want to know.
Coffee cups that have no sentimental value, are chipped, and travel cups that leak.
Kitchen gadgets you no longer use. I thought a pineapple slicer was a great idea until I realized you need a step stool and hulk like strength to be able to get enough leverage to push through the pineapple. No thanks, I’ll just carve it up with a knife. I do a better job of not wasting it that way anyway. Another one is a food processor. When I first started cooking I thought a food processor was going to play an important part in my adult eating life. I have never used it. I have a blender and a small grinder, I can get by.
Mail. I get 796 balance transfer offers from credit cards in the mail every day. They usually pile up for a while on top of the printer and then I take them to the shredder. I’m going to try to be more vigilant in shredding them as they come in so they don’t produce clutter.
Expired coupons. This is another thing that piles up on the printer. I save them when they in the mail thinking I might use them. However, I rarely eat fast food and when I do I never remember that I have coupons so I should probably just stop keeping them in the first place.
Duplicate salt/pepper shakers. How many sets do you need? (Ok, so we have two that we use, one on the table and one by the stove. However, we owned several others that got donated.)
Take out menus. I’m not even sure when I acquired these. It would take me less time to look up the menu online than it would have for me to remember where I put those before. They got recycled.
Phone books. Does anyone still use these? For something other than a prop for a short table leg or something?
Dish towels & rags. I change my towels every day and I don’t do laundry every day so I have about 12 of each. You may not need that many. I had ones that had stains and holes in them. They made me sad. I threw them out if I couldn’t use them for cleaning rags.
Utensils that you don’t use. Do you have a favorite spatula? I do. It’s the one I look for every time I cook and if it’s dirty, I might even wash it to use. Those other 6 spatulas in the drawer? Yeah, we probably don’t need them. Now, Philip and I don’t have the same favorite spatula so you better check with your spouse/room mate/any other person who cooks in your house regularly before getting rid of them. We also had 2 pasta stirrer utensils (I have no idea what you actually call them). I’ve never needed two at the same time. You could argue that one could be dirty and you need another, to which I would counter that you could 1. Wash it or 2. Use a fork. Boom.
Shot glasses. This one may be specific to us. When we were young and full of dreams 😂 we wanted to build a bar in our basement. We started collecting all kinds of barware, most of which I’ve already sold or donated. However, the collection of shot glasses that was built mostly from souvenirs from all the places we’ve traveled, is taking up too much space now that our plans have changed. They’ll be sold on Ebay.
Cook books. If you actually use them, great. Keep them. If they sit on top of your cabinets or some other spot and collect dust? Donate them. I can look for a recipe on Pinterest way faster than I can climb up on the counter to reach my cookbooks. It’s also safer 😉.
Plates that don’t match your set (if you care about that sort of thing), that are chipped/broken, plastic ones that have food stains or burn marks 😳. (Please don’t put plastic dishes in the microwave. I know they say newer ones are free of BPA and safe but let’s not find out that they aren’t, okay?)
Cookie sheets that stick or burn food. I found that my collection of clutter other the years resulted from my desire to not have to do dishes as often. So, I would think, “We make a lot of frozen pizza, French fries, etc. and there’s never a clean cookie sheet to bake them on; we need another one.” Two things here, if that sounds like you: 1. Stop eating that junk. 2. Wash the damn cookie sheet.
Pens, pencils, and highlighters that don’t work, or some even if they do work. You don’t need that many pens. Stop taking pens just because they’re free. I go to a lot of trainings for work where they want to give you a promotional pen. No thanks, I’m good. 99% of the time they’re pens I don’t like (yes, I have a preference for pens) and I won’t use them. Donate them or give them to someone who doesn’t have a preference for pens or who has four children who lose them all the time 😉 (😘 Lori).
Medicine that you don’t take regularly. I realize this one might be something that other people keep in the bathroom but I have to have it in my sight to remember to take it (and a reminder on my phone 🙄). I have another space in the bathroom for medicine that we might need but don’t take every day—such as dramamine, cold medicine, etc.
Cookware that you rarely use. We used to have a GIGANTIC wok that was rarely used and took up tons of space. We put it in the yard sale a couple of years ago and bought a smaller one. It still doesn’t get used all too much but at least it fits on the shelf 🤷🏻‍♀️. Another example is the Perfect Brownie pan, you know, the one that makes every piece a corner. It’s a good thought (corners are the best!) and it does work (if you grease it REALLY well before inserting the divider into the batter), BUT it’s a huge pain to clean and knowing that made me not want to use it. I already clean silicone molds for making dog treats and crock pots and the blender, I don’t need another annoyance. Also, I can’t tell you the last time I made brownies, with or without the Perfect Brownie pan.
*we got a new dish drainer so I used the old one to store pot lids in.
Clean out that junk drawer. We all have one, right? Throw away any pieces you don’t know what they go to. Get some trays and attempt to organize the mess. Organizing the junk drawer brings me the least amount of satisfaction because it’s still a mess (in my mind) because it’s such an odd assortment of things and there are few things that go together to make a category, which is how I put things together. Oh well, I just shut it and forget it.
*youve seen a similar pic before. This is the second time I’ve organized this drawer 🙄.
Take a look in your fridge and throw out any expired or empty condiments. I don’t get the empty thing because I would never put an empty container back into the fridge, but hey, you do you.
Receipts for things you can no longer/won’t return. I often keep a receipt for clothes until I try them on…. and then for 6 months later because it gets piled on top of the printer 🙄.
Eye glasses cleaner cloths. How many of these do you need?
Water bottles. We drink a lot of water in this house. We also both have one or two favorite cups/bottles that we use all the time. Do you know how many bottles we had though? 10. I’m not kidding. Add in the 8 travel coffee cups and you’re talking about a lot of cabinet space. I had a hard time getting rid of some of them though because they’re pretty. I have a preference for how my bottle opens (flip top lid) and the type of opening it has (straw or open spout). Philip likes the Camelbak ones that you have to bite. I do not. I also require one that holds at least 20 ounces because I don’t want to have to refill it every two seconds, so even though I had some pretty purple glass ones, I had to part with them because they were too small and I never used them. We each kept 2 (or 3 😉) and I donated the rest.
Scrap paper. Use it up and get a dry erase board. I write my grocery list on mine and then take a picture on my phone to use at the store. No paper required. However, if you can’t do this one, I understand because I’m a traditional paper girl, too; I love to write.
Fancy serving dishes that you only use one time a year (or never because you forget about them).