1.If you want to get rid of stuff (which, you don't necessarily have to!), choose a sorting system that you think would be most useful for you and your things. And put your focus on choosing what's most worth it to continue including in your kitchen, instead of on what you're letting go.
2.Toss anything expired from your fridge and pantry (or wherever you store your food) on a regular basis — but know the difference between a "use by", "sell by" and "best by" dates, so you don't accidentally waste food!
3.After cleaning out your fridge, store everything you're keeping according to your refrigerator's ~zones~, because different parts of the fridge will have slightly different temperatures and humidity levels.
4.When you're considering different organizing products, always measure before you buy. Make sure that your pantry door will still close with that over-door setup and that the silverware organizer isn't somehow too tall for your drawer.
5.Save yourself time and energy in the long run by arranging your kitchen according to the activities you do in each area. So you might put your clean kitchen towels, for example, in the drawer go right next to your sink. Then your sink itself would host everything you use daily to wash the dishes.
6.And use the space beneath your sink to store extra cleaning supplies and any dishwashing tools you use regularly but not all the time.
7.Drink coffee every morning? Stack your mugs in the cabinet directly above where you plug in the coffeemaker, and if you regularly take milk with your brew, choose a spot relatively close to the fridge.
8.And if you love to bake, you might designate a baking cabinet where you stash your mixing bowls, electric mixer, and the basic baking ingredients you tend to keep around all the time (flour, sugar, baking soda, etc.)
9.As you're considering your different zones, look out for all kinds of storage space ~opportunities~ in your kitchen that you can transform with the help of a few well-placed pieces. To start, the back of a cabinet door can become a designated cutting board storage spot or the perfect place for your foil and parchment paper.
10.Enlist sliding drawers to make the most of every inch of space in a deep cabinet (like under the sink, or your plastic storage container cabinet). They literally bring everything in the back corners forward in a single swoosh, where you can actually reach it.
11.And easily access everything you have stashed at the very back of each of your refrigerator shelves with a set of transparent storage bins. They're also simple to pull out and clean in case of a leak or spill because they a) will contain the mess and b) are much easier to wash than the entire shelf.
12.Pick up a few expanding shelves or narrow under-shelf baskets so you can start taking advantage of the surprising amount of space your cabinets have to offer.
13.Maximize your pantry's shelf space, too, especially if you keep canned food around — something like this organizer rack, for example, uses ~gravity~ to make sure the cans continuously roll forward so they're simple to see.
14.Repurpose an over-door shoe organizer to add cheap, convenient storage to the back of your pantry or (depending on your home's layout!) laundry room or garage door.
15.Or if you want space to store bigger, heavier items in addition to seasoning packets and things, opt for a solution that will add extra pantry shelf space, like a sturdy over-door rack.
16.Put a Lazy Susan anywhere you need to corral a bunch of bottles, so you can quickly reach the ones in the back without pulling everything down.
17.Turn that narrow gap between your fridge and the wall into useful storage with the addition of a slim rolling cart.
18.When you're considering different storage options, look for ways to make it easy to see everything at a glance *and* easy to both pull out and put away. For example, grab an old paper file organizer you have lying around to sort out your baking sheets and cooling racks.
19.And similarly stack your pots, skillets, and pans on a wire rack so the moment you open the cabinet door, you can see every single option and immediately reach in and grab the one you need, no reshuffling required.
20.Then don't forget to take advantage of the empty space on the insides of your cabinet and cabinet door as the perfect place to store lids so you can get to them with zero effort, thanks to yes, Command Hooks.
21.Same goes with spices: instead of piling them all in a cabinet where you have to pull several out to find what you're looking for, lay them all out in a drawer or mount a rack in your pantry where you can see your entire selection at a glance.
22.And tea, too! Besides laying all your options out like a ~menu~ so it's easy to pick and choose, tea caddies like this one condense the amount of space your tea collection claims in your cabinets.
23.For your tallest, bulkiest items, small tension rods can turn ten inches of two shelves into a sturdy custom storage spot.
24.Never underestimate the power of a well-placed drawer organizer. Whether you're simply storing silverware or need something more custom for your cooking gadgets, there's an option out there for you.
25.Or for something entirely custom, save up empty cereal and snack boxes for a bit, then transform them into the colorful organizers covered with the contact paper you like best.
26.Protect your knives from scratching and dulling by storing them properly — their blades should be separated, never just thrown in a drawer with other knives or utensils.
27.Adopt a few organizing and storage strategies that could help reduce any wasted food — like designating a bin (or even an old shoebox!) in your refrigerator as an "Eat Me First" box.
28.And, whether you have kids or simply want to snack a little healthier yourself, keep pre-portioned snacks in another easy-access bin (or, again, shoebox!).
29.Quit throwing away moldy strawberries and wilted spinach (and cleaning up the aftermath it leaves on your shelves) by storing them in filtered containers that will genuinely keep everything fresh for almost two weeks.
30.Avoid cross-contamination by storing your raw meat and fish in its very own fridge bin or drawer, away from everything else — and if your fridge has a drawer labeled "meat", it probs stays colder than any other drawer, which can make your steaks, bacon, and chicken last longer before you cook 'em!
31.Package all your meal prep or last night's leftovers in super transparent, shatter-resistant, leak-proof, air-tight containers so you know exactly what you have on hand in a single glance, and don't simply forget about it because it's stashed in the back corner in an opaque container.
32.Consider decanting pantry staples (rice, dry beans, chips, candy, cookies, etc) into airtight OXO Pop containers because they keep things fresh for longer than the original packaging ever possibly could, all while making everything easy to find.
Post time: Jun-19-2020
