 Fall will soon be here and it's a perfect time to refresh and organize your kitchen! The kitchen tends to be the hub of the home and can sometimes be a breeding ground for clutter. Create a purpose for your kitchen and you'll find that clutter will no longer be an issue in this space.
This season, you don't have to tear apart your entire kitchen. Start small and tackle a few areas. Once you've completed these areas, you'll find you're motivated and energized to move onto other areas in the kitchen! Here are 4 quick tips to get your kitchen organized and energized: Refresh your spice rack. If you feel like you might get overwhelmed with organizing your kitchen, start small. Let's tackle your spices! Has it been awhile since you took inventory, looked at expiration dates and organized? Empty all your spices out of the cabinet. Be sure to check expiration dates or smell for potency. Have a shopping list handy and write down the spices you need to replenish. Are you using a spice rack? There thousands of spice racks out there. Choose the spice rack that fits your needs and the space. Be sure to measure your space height x width x length. Here is one of my favorite spice racks, but again, it may not be right for you. Decide how you want to function with your spices. Do you want to organize them by frequency of use or alphabetical. Everyone functions differently so again, do what works for you and your family. Refresh your food pantry. You'll see me write this throughout - if you're getting organized, you must empty the entire area. You won't be able to see what you have and by shifting items around, you won't be able to maximize your space. Throw away expired items, categorize what you're keeping. Give your empty pantry a nice cleaning and then if you'd like, you can line the shelves with shelf liner. My favorite shelf liner is Duck Brand Smooth Top Easy Liner. In every kitchen I organize, my clients will throw away 3-4 trash bags of expired food! As you know, food prices are inflated and if you have an organized food pantry, you'll find that you can see everything and you'll have an easier time making your food shopping list and you'll never have to throw away expired food again, wasting money. If you need to purchase storage containers, choose ones that are transparent so you are able to see everything you're storing. Keep in mind, you don't need to contain everything. To avoid getting bugs, be sure to put any open food, baking goods, cereals, pastas in seal tight containers. I love OXO Containers Refresh Your Refrigerator and Freezer. What's hiding in the depths of your refrigerator and freeze? When was the last time you emptied everything out of this space? Most will say when then moved into their home. Follow the same process above to declutter and get organized. Be sure to have that garbage bag handy! Streamline Your Cooking Utensils and Tools. If you cook often, you know that you want to be as efficient and productive as you can in your kitchen. Take everything out of the drawers in your kitchen and also incorporate into this process the bin of utensils you store next to the stove. Categorize all of the utensils and get rid of anything that is worn or broken. Now that the drawers are empty you can see what you have and you can create a vision of how you want to function. Stand at the stove and look at the drawers to the right and left and look at your utensils - think about functionality and how you'd like to grab those items when you're cooking. Here is a video of my favorite drawer organizers Get excited to feel the energy shift in the kitchen once you've tackled the spaces above. You'll feel lighter, have more energy, save money and be more efficient and productive in your kitchen! Kristin MacRae is an Award-Winning Organizing and Efficiency Expert. She founded her business in 2012 in Rhode Island. She is a full-time resident of Bonita Springs and works with clients in their homes and businesses helping them get organized, saving them time, money, decreasing their stress levels and helping them live a more efficient and productive life. She is also a speaker, author of “Living an Organized Energized Life!” and is also a columnist for the Coastal Breeze News. For more information, www.kristinmacrae.com Check out my YouTube channel for more fun tips! The file folder hack that keeps your linen closet closet organized and more brilliant tips
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Click here to read article  Do you feel exhausted at the end of the day? Do you find that you are really busy throughout the day, but not productive? Are you finding it difficult to squeeze in the day-to-day activities of taking care of a household? If you answered yes to these questions, it’s time to tweak your time management skills.
As you may know, great time management skills are imperative in a work environment, but they also play a very important role in the home. Some don’t even know where to begin when developing their time management skills. It can be a short process to determine how you are functioning and how you can become more efficient with your time. Not sure where to begin? You can use these tips to help you get started and on your way to becoming more productive. Find a half hour in your day. You have to make the time to sit and think about how you are currently functioning. Find a half hour in your day where you can be alone and quiet with your thoughts. Grab a pen, paper or use your computer. This exercise is all about 'dumping' everything out of your mind, so choose which format that will work best for you. Create your template. This doesn’t have to be elaborate. You basically want to have the days of the week at the top and times of the day listed on the side. Don’t forget to add Saturday and Sunday into the mix. You can create a table in excel or word, print it, and then handwrite all of your tasks in the table. You now have a working template. Start 'dumping.' This is the process where you are going to unload everything in your mind and get it onto paper. The first thing you want to do is to add anything in your template that is a set task throughout the week. If you work certain hours during the week, add those in. If you drop off your kids at the same time every day, add that into the template. If you have a class you take during the week, add that into the template. You get the picture. Add in household tasks. Now that you have written in all of the set tasks that you handle on a daily basis, you are going to find you have holes in your days. This is the moment you want to think about tasks you perform around the home. Do you have set times that you tackle laundry, errands, cleaning, food shopping or beauty routines? Take a look at your template and think about how you want to schedule these tasks. You may decide you want to dedicate certain days for food shopping or laundry. It’s your template, choose what’s going to work for you. Save spaces for miscellaneous tasks. Save a few spaces for miscellaneous tasks and appointments that you handle on maybe a bi-weekly or monthly basis. Save time for lunch dates and other social occurrences. Last minute tasks. Last minute tasks and emergencies will occur during the week, but having this set schedule will keep you on track and help you to become more efficient and productive. A hiccup will occur and you will handle it and go right back to your schedule. You won’t feel flustered because you know you will get right back on track. Once you step back and look at your filled template, you may find that you will have extra time in your day. What have you been doing with all of this time? Do you think you’ve been really busy, but not productive? If you feel like you are always running in ten directions with no direction, it’s time to create a time management template and re-evaluate how you are functioning. Let me know how much time extra time you find in your day! |