Sorting and purging is an important step in getting control and decluttering a kitchen. This can be done as one big full day project or you can take your time and work drawer by drawer.  The idea is to take out everything in your kitchen and decide if it is useful for the function of this space.

The ‘keep’ pile will have stuff you NEED, USE or LOVE.  If it is broken, you have no need for it, if you don’t use it and it does not make you feel great when you see it and use it (that would be love) then it should go. 

I know there will be things that are hard to part with that someone gave you, you bought on your honeymoon or it was your grandmothers.  If you are holding onto things that do not make you feel good or are not being used ask yourself if you are honoring these memories if it sits in the back of your cupboard neglected and unused. Or do you think it would go to better use by giving it to someone who would use it.  There are plenty of women’s shelters, and less fortunate people who would love to have this stuff. 
Spread the wealth and let go of these items.

This month we are moving to the Heart of the Home…the KITCHEN.

By organizing this one room you can:

• Improve your HEALTH by focusing on meal planning based on a healthy food approach.
• Save TIME by having the food available when you want to cook. The prep time will be shorter so you have more time for other activities.
• You can put MONEY back in your bank account when last minute stops at the local fast food joint or grocery store stops are a thing of the past.
• The STRESS around meals and meal planning will be significantly reduced with the control you have in this high traffic area of the home.

What next you ask, it all has to start somewhere and if you need help getting started there are several options.

• Hire a professional. There are associations of professional organizers on every continent, google Professional Organizing/Organising  Associations  and find a professional in your area.
• Read a book. Just cruise the local bookstore and you will be amazed at the amount of resources to help you get started.
• Watch a home organizing show, there are many online as well as short informative videos on youtube.
• Use the power of facebook and get current information and instant answers for your organizing questions. Connect with us on our page at https://www.facebook.com/organizingconnection we want to help you with your organizing issues.

The dog days of summer are over and the shorter crisp fall days are upon us. Cooking takes on a whole new feel at this time of year and you may be thinking of retiring the outdoor cooking to get back to the warmer indoor kitchen.

From mythical to modern times, the kitchen hearth (or high tech oven) has been the centre of the family. This high traffic area of the home, is also prone to chaos.

One of the ways you can combat this chaos is by organizing specific areas of the kitchen. Kitchen gadgets can be a blessing when it comes to kitchen efficiency…or a curse when they have taken over every inch of valuable kitchen real estate.     

APPLIANCES & GADGETS…. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GADGETS “MACGYVER”

Getting your Kitchen Gadgets in tip top shape for the long winter months will be quick and easy with these Kitchen Organizing Tips.

 • Multi Purpose is the name of the game when purchasing kitchen gadgets and small appliances.  Look for appliances that do more than one thing…a food processor and blender in one or a nifty four in one sandwich/waffle/griddle and grill. These will take up less space while still cutting down on valuable time.

 • Ahhh, the appliance garage.  This is a space that can serve many purposes. This valuable space could be used for a coffee center with coffeemaker, spoons, mugs and sugar. It could be a breakfast centre with a toaster, a variety of breads, cereals, sugar and the cinnamon shaker. Last but not least you could use it for your small appliances. Get creative, keep like items together…who said the appliance garage was just for appliances.

• Keeping all of your small appliances together in a deep drawer or in an awkward cabinet…like the one in the corner that is useless for everyday items but quite handy for items that are not used regularly. This provides valuable real estate for important items you use daily; like sippy cups and bibs, cloth napkins and place mats or a drawer for bills and important papers.

 • Sort gadgets in a drawer near the cooking area in containers with dividers. Watch out for the sharp scary items. Keep them in a separate spot.

 • If you like to bake (for some of us that involves a trip to the bakery and a sprinkle of powdered sugar to look like we did)…have a prominent place for your mixers,gadgets along with all of the baking tools. Items such as the sugar, baking soda, chocolate chips etc. could be kept in this spot. Make it easy….

 • Baskets are great for hiding a multitude of sins in an open concept kitchen. This is especially true if you don’t like to see everything out in the open.

• Use drawer dividers in all your drawers to keep like items together. From a high tech custom drawer divider to basic plastic containers make this work for your budget and your space.

With these quick and easy tips you will be transitioning from Barbeque to Crock Pot cooking in no time.

This article is adapted from OrganizingConnection.com’s Ebook Organizing the Kitchen- My Kitchen is My Domain copyright 2008.

For more helpful tips visit http://organizingconnection.com/products

As a parent I like to turn every situation I can into a teaching moment…and believe it or not…I can also find a way to relate everything back to getting organized. Earth Day 2010 is just around the corner and I have been asking myself, “How can individuals and families participate in Earth Day Activities in a way that makes a difference, will reduce their impact on the environment but does not take too much of their valuable time”?

earth day

Families are so time deprived these days that the thought of adding one more thing to the long list of to-dos is not that appealing…however “Organizing Today does Saves Time Tomorrow”.

If you are looking for one way to move towards Living Green a home recycling program is a great option. It is something that the kids can do quite easily and why not use Earth day 2010 as your starting date. To get you started here are some Tips to help you organize your recycling centre.

How to Recycle in 4 Easy Steps

• Decide who will be in charge and assign the recycling to one person, in our home this task is assigned to our youngest. It is his responsibility and with an occasional reminder he does an awesome job with this important task.

• You will need to know what can be recycled. A visit to the local recycling centre near you is a great way to get the details and by checking with your local Landfill you can learn about all the recycling options in your area. For all KV residents you can visit www.fundyrecycles.com .

• A big issue for many households is where to keep the recycling. Some Kitchen Storage Organization will be required for your new Recycling Centre. With some minor decluttering and organizing you can free up at least one cupboard that you can use for this important step towards Living Green. With a few plastic storage containers you can transform that kitchen cupboard in a recycling centre.

• How often you take the recycling to the local depot is up to you. In the Shannon household we do this event bi-weekly when my hubby is on his week off. This means we have a large quantity that we need to store in between visits. We have a second recycling area in the garage that takes care of this overflow.

If you are still on the fence about recycling. Here is a good reason why recycling is important. This one single activity can save landfill space, energy and natural resources and can reduce your household waste by nearly 50 per cent.

Get more great tips on How to Recycle  in our Kitchen Organizing Video

Perhaps all  this excitement about healthy eating has you wanting  to Organize your Kitchen…here are some useful tips to help you let go of those pesky Kitchen Gadgets that are no longer useful.

Kim found this list on Alltop  of 30 habits to improve your life – although Kim did not agree with all of them, most of them are good! Check them out

The long weekend has made for a very quiet week at the watercooler.

Kim and I hope that you enjoy these tips and we wish you all the best on this blessed weekend.

Elaine and Kim

watercooler

This is what happened at the Watercooler this week….

One final bit of information to share ….the LA Organizing Award winners list courtesy of our friend Lorrie Marrero over at the Clutter Diet Blog…check out the list of winners

Back to Canada where the option for organizing resources and help is just getting warmed up….thank heavens for that because there is nothing warm about Canada right now…..seriously…it is -29 today…brrrr.

Let’s head to the wild wild west to visit a fellow Canuck, Laura the organizing junkie,….this woman has a thing for baskets…no really she does. Anyhow Laura has resurrected her 28 Day Challenge and you are invited to join in.  There are some pretty serious prizes for the winners and in Laura’s words,  “We have some absolutely amazing prizes to offer you as motivation as well.  I’m just so excited to tell you about them.  These are some of the finest organizing services and products out there, all designed to help you live your best organized life possible“. check it out

More exciting news, for you…Laura loves our video set so much that she had her online store people call our people…that would be Kim…and they wanted to add actual hard copies of our product to their site…well holy smokes….we were over the top on that one….so Kim quickly sprung into action and in less than a week our video set is now available in Laura’s the Org Junkie’s store….this is now another option to the digital download….if you want something that you can actually touch…it is now available…get it now

At last but not least our friends over at Canadian Parents Online have made us a part of their Clutter Club this month with the addition of the Organizing the Fridge video to their site, Our hostess Laura…not to be confused with Laura the Org junkie….well it must be Laura Month…is brilliant in this video, I am sure that we have all felt a bit scared when heading to the back of the fridge…you never know what can be lurking in the depth of the abyss….check out the video.