Many of us have a number of items stored in our kitchens which could be thrown out with no great loss. How about food? Foods you tried and hated, foods that you hoped you would try, but never did, foods long past their expiry date, can all be tossed out and never be missed. Occasionally we keep worn-out equipment or supplies way after they have stopped being useful – frayed towels and dishcloths, and cleaning materials which are used up or unusable are some examples. Pots and pans with broken handles, burned-out areas, or chipped coatings are also good candidates for the junk heap.
Other things just don’t belong in the kitchen, especially if we’re short of space there. Cleaning supplies you use in other rooms, stuff belonging to other people or other rooms, and things used only at the holidays could all be stored somewhere else to free up kitchen space. Unusual equipment you haven't used for more than a year also comes under this heading: if you honestly will use it again some day, store it somewhere else, otherwise: get rid of it!
Then there’s the stuff that just seems to collect when our backs are turned. Small appliances and gadgets are a classic problem here. Have you got small appliances you’ve never used, or used once and then never again? Or that malfunction and probably will never be fixed? How about "As seen on TV" gadgets that never did the job as you'd expected? Many of us also have multiple extras of things such as can openers, utensils, china and flatware: pick the ones you love the most to keep, get rid of the ones you really will never use, and store the “use occasionally” or “spare” pieces outside the kitchen. Oh, and how can we forget the plastic containers (and their covers, which never seem to match up) and glass bottles that we hang on to because they are SO USEFUL! Absolutely, they are, but how many of them do you really have room for? More are entering the house every week!
Disappointingly, lots of us also have shelves full of recipe cards and cookbooks we never look at. The illustrations were – and still are! – so alluring, but we just never had time for making the dishes. Will you - ever? No? Then probably someone else should have the opportunity to enjoy them.
With all that gone, perhaps you now have room to breathe and move in your kitchen. Going forward, try not to let the clutter creep in again, as it wants to do. It’s much simpler to organize the stuff you really need and use, once the unwanted clutter is out of the way.
