New Year New Organization For Your Home: Tips For Staying Organized In 2023

The New Year is a great time to start to organize your house. One of the most cluttered rooms in the house (for most people), is the kitchen. There is a saying that the heart of the home is in the kitchen and there is a chance that you spend more time in the kitchen than in any other room in your house. Unfortunately, this also means that your kitchen might be a bit cluttered after the holiday madness of November and December. In today’s article, we will explore a few of the most important tips you need to follow if you want to get and keep your kitchen organized this year.

Start By Removing the Clutter

If you are interested in getting your kitchen organized, the first tip you must follow is getting rid of the excess clutter. A good way to start this process is by emptying out all of the drawers and cabinets one by one to get a visual of all the items you own. Then, start by taking all of the moved items and divide them into three piles. One pile will be for the items you want to keep, one pile will be for the items you want to throw away, and the other pile will be for the items you want to donate. It will be easier for you to get your kitchen organized once you understand what will be left after the decluttering process.

Here are a few things you may want to consider tossing out or better organizing as you go:

• Old plastic leftover containers and their lids. If you have a lot of assorted sizes, brands and types, you may want to consider tossing them all out or donating them and then purchasing a new set that will be easier to organize.
• Sort through your canned goods and dry goods. See if anything is expired and needs to be tossed. If there are unexpired items that you don’t think you and your family will consume before they expire, then consider donating them to your local food bank or pantry. 
• Sort through your old pots and pans. You only really need a few good ones to get most cooking done. For most people, you can sort your pots down to a single large pot, a 4 quart pot, and a 2 quart pot. Outside of that, you can typically get rid of the rest. The same goes for frying pans, oven trays, and casserole dishes. Reduce and reuse!
• Purge your baking accessories. Do you really need that gifted banana bread pan or multiple full-size mixers? Most likely, you only really need one or two bread loaf pans and one or two baking sheets. Same goes for muffin tins, and cake pans. 
• Clear out your spice drawer! Toss expired or unused spices and save the rest. A lot of grocery stores offer fresh spices sold in bulk if you are looking to reduce the amount of individual jars. There is also a great spice organization hack later in this article that you should look out for as well.

Use the Back of the Pantry and Cabinet Doors

Another  organizing essential is maximizing every square inch of storage space available in your kitchen. That is why you need to take advantage of the back of cabinet doors. You may not realize that you have some extra storage space on the backs of doors in your cabinets and pantry. Consider putting a few hooks on the backs of these doors, and you will immediately have some creative storage locations for specific items. 

While in the mode of using the backs of doors for storage, one great spice storage hack is to attach velcro pieces to the bottoms or sides of all your spice jars and bottles and then glue or staple the other side of the velcro (the “sticky” part) to the inside of a cabinet door, a pantry door, or even to the side of your refrigerator that is mostly out of site of guests and voila, you have a ton more room and all of your spices are easily accessible and completely organized. Since they are on velcro, they are impossible to get disorganized, actually! A win win for all, especially if you use spices often when you cook. 

Consider Magnetic Strips for Your Knives

Are you looking for a better way to store your knives? Your knives are probably all different sizes, and you might not know how to store them together without them getting damaged. Consider putting some magnetic strips along the backsplash in your kitchen. Then, all you need to do is attach the knives to the magnetic strip when they are not in use, and you have a convenient, creative, and additional storage location. 

Rethink How You Store Cutting Boards And Pans

Storage Method 1 Add Racks For Extra Storage Slots: Are you looking for a better way to store your cutting boards and pans? You might want to use a rack. Essentially, this is a rack into which you can slot all of your cutting boards and pans to prevent them from sliding around freely. This allows you to better categorize your pots and pans based on size and use case. You can sort them by size in ascending order from left to right so that you can easily grab the right implement you need when the job calls for it. Racks also help with the drying process since you can air dry them straight from the sink or dishwasher. 

Now, you don’t have to worry about lifting up a giant stack of them to get the one you want, and you have a way to store them without having to worry about them getting scratched. This is handy especially if you are typically cooking with a short amount of time as it will allow you to get your items quickly and easily.

Storage Method 2 Consider Hanging Hooks For Pots And Pans: Like many professional kitchens, you may want to set your sights higher in order to maximize your storage space potential. Installing hanging hooks is a cheap and easy way to free up valuable space in your cupboards and will allow you to easily and quickly grab whatever pot or pan you need when you need it. You can hang hooks from the sides of your cupboards or over your kitchen island or even in a handy out of the way place like above your refrigerator to help keep clutter to a minimum. This could be a great excuse to get that new set of pots and pans you have been wanting, especially copper ones since they look exceptionally great hanging on display.

Organize Your Kitchen for 2023

These are just a few of the most important tips you should keep in mind if you are interested in getting your kitchen organized in 2023. You might also be able to apply some of these tips to the other rooms in your house, so consider getting a jump start on your cleaning, and make sure your house is as organized as possible in 2023.