Organized Forever

 Organizing the Kitchen Cupboards

by Judy Brown

Do you have small electrical appliances you haven't used in years stuffed away in the back of your kitchen cupboards? What else have you got in there? Are you using the space wisely or could your kitchen stand an all out re-organization?

If the thought of tearing the kitchen apart to clean out the cupboards overwelms you why not take it one cupboard at a time? Plan on doing one a day and do it thoroughly. It won't take all that long and you will feel much better as you get rid of the old junk and free up valuable space to store the things you will use daily or have handy whenever you need them.

Let's start with the cupboard under the sink, this is where most people store cleaning supplies and dish soap. I think this is the best place to keep things for cleaning, you have it all in one place and it's handy to the sink and really with the pipes and everything there is not a lot of incentive to store food or good china. So let's get this area scrubbed and straigtened up.

First of all it is a lot easier to keep this spot clean if you group the items and keep them in plastic containers or baskets. I have one for polishing supplies where I keep my shoe polish, all weather leather spray and furniture polish. It is all there in a plastic basket about 4 inches deep and 8 inches wide. You can pick these up in any dollar store for .50 cents or $1. I also keep my furniture polishing cloth in a small glass jar so the wax doesn't get onto everything and the odour is confined.

The next basket I have is for soaps and sprays. I usually make my own cleaner and have my spray bottle, my bar of Sunlight soap which I like for quick cleanups in the kitchen. They say if you wash with Sunlight bar soap it repels insects. I just happen to like the scent. I have my dish soap and my TSP in this basket along with electric dishwasher soap and rinser.

I have one basket that fits under the place where the drain pipe hangs down and use that area to store the things I don't use that often: oven cleaner and bug spray is all I have there right now.

You might want a basket or a container that will hang inside the door to store garbage bags. You can use a large coffee tin with a lid to store bags you get your groceries in. Just cut a slit in the lid and whenever you get a plastic bag stuff it in the can leaving just a bit sticking out and you can just pull them out as needed.

First empty the cupboard and sweep or vacumn the bottom, if you don't already have a plastic coated shelf liner there now is the time to get one and put it in. Get this at the dollar store it doesn't cost all that much and it is really good as it is much easier to clean than the wooden shelf is. If you've let this area go it might be pretty grungy and a good scrub and a bit of spray paint will work wonders. Then put down the shelf liner and it is all ready for your baskets.

Throw out all items that are almost gone and wipe off the cans of anything before you put them back. You might want to put a towel rack inside or perhaps hang a kitchen garbage catcher on the inside of the door

From now on keep an eye on your cupboard and make sure you don't put back cans that are almost empty then buy new ones and shove them in too. Once you have this all sorted out it is easy to remove the baskets and see what you have or what you need and give each one a bit of a cleaning, wipe up the shelf and you are all nice and clean again.

Tackle one cupboard a day and let me know how you are making out. :)