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In many households the kitchen is really the heart of the home. You definitely want to make this room a relaxing family space but also practical to make family meal times and cooking as stress free as possible.

Here’s a few kitchen organizing tips to help get you started:

Organize Your Work Stations: To make cooking easier you want to make sure you have everything you need close at hand.  Designate an area for preparing the meals. It’s good to keep your spices and seasonings close to this area. You’ll also want to have chopping boards, knives and mixing spoons close at hand. Have another area planned for serving and keeping all your dishes, serving spoons, place mats and utensils.

By incorporating work stations into your kitchen and keeping everything you need near each work station, you’ll save a lot of time.

Organize Your Fridge: Clean out your fridge and organize things in categories to make finding them easier when you’re in a rush. It’s a good idea to keep all your dairy products together. Place cold cuts in tightly sealed plastic containers and label them. This will keep them fresh and also make it easier to find. You can do the same thing with cheese and left over foods.

Separate your fruit and salad items from your other vegetables so that you can find them easier. Often times you’ll forget you have those tomatoes in the back drawer and end up buying more. By keeping things organized you’ll waste and spend less.

*Read my post: What’s in the Back of Your Fridge?

Organize Your Pantry: Arrange your pantry or cupboards according to foods. For example: keep all your canned goods in one place and cereal in another. Keep items you use the most within easy reach and put away those appliances you never seem to use. They’re just taking up your counter space!

Plan Your Meals: This is by far the easiest way to organize your meal times. Take a few minutes and write out a meal plan and shopping list for the upcoming week. Buy everything in advance and stock up on items you use regularly and have a long shelf life. Then stick your menu on your fridge, glance at it each morning and plan ahead. Thaw any meat that needs thawing or chop and add your items to your crock pot.

Click here to Get Organized Now -  More Ideas, Tips, Tools And More To Help You Organize Your Home, Your Office And Your Life!

I love having spare time to do things that I like to do such as reading, relaxing or even working online blogging, don’t you?

The fact is, spare time is a luxury for moms who are very busy trying to keep order in the house.   Moms are multi-taskers who have to make sure that meals are prepared, clothes are clean, the house is clean and that the kids have their needs met regarding education, appoints  and events, etc.

The good news is that you can do certain things to make every precious minute count and in turn leave you with more spare time…

1.  Plan ahead – Create lists.

If  you have errands to do, you can save gas and time by doing them all on a certain day.  Using a list will help you make sure that you don’t get distracted and forget anything while you’re out.

Keep a shopping list on your refrigerator and immediately add anything that you’re running low on while you’re cooking.  This will save you time from constantly running to the store.  You’ll also save money because each time you go to the store, you’ll more than likely pick up extra items.

Also try to go shopping in the evenings or at least on days when there are less people in the store. Why waste an hour fighting the crowds when you can be done in 30 minutes.

2.  Plan meals – Thaw foods in advance.

Plan meals for the upcoming week so that you can add the ingredients to your shopping list. Keep your meal plan handy on the fridge so that you can know what foods need to be thawed in advance. This will save you extra time and money.  You won’t be tempted to pick up fast food or run to the grocery store when you already have your food thawed and your meal planned.

3. Buy in Bulk - Stock up on sales.

If you have sufficient space, then plan ahead and buy things in bulk. Also, watch for sales on items that you frequently use and stock up on them. You’ll save money and precious time by not having to go to the supermarket so often.

4. Pay Your Bills Electronically – Create a workstation.

If you’re able to do this, then you’ll even more time by not having to write out and mail checks. If you really can’t or choose not to do this, then set up a work station to keep your checkbook, stamp, envelopes and pens close at hand.

You can also have a calendar with all your important dates and appointments written on there. Go a step further and have an inbox for mail and papers that need to be filed. You’ll never waste time looking for those things again.

5.  Don’t Let the Housework Pile Up – Schedule tasks throughout the week.

There’s nothing worse than spending your weekends cleaning. If you do a little bit each day you won’t ever need to spend a whole day cleaning. For example, do a load of laundry daily rather than letting it all pile up for Saturday.  Schedule other tasks such as vacuuming and dusting on certain days throughout the week.

Once the weekend comes around, the house should be fairly organized gaining you some spare time. You may just have to give the bathroom and kitchen a little extra cleanup attention, leaving you with plenty of time to enjoy your family.

6.  Eliminate Time Wasters -   Lose time wasters and gain extra time.

Many people complain they have no time.   The fact is, we all have 24 hours in a day.   Check to see if there are some big time wasters that you can eliminate such as talking on the phone, playing games on the computer, watching too much TV, etc.   Ah, instant time gained!

7.  Eliminate Unproductive Tasks - Give up perfectionism.

There are some tasks that we always feel just “must” be done…yet, if we were to really consider it more… it’s really not as necessary as we think.   Gain more time by giving up perfectionism or tasks that are meaningless.  Nobody sees the dust underneath that cabinet.  Try cleaning it once or twice a year instead of weekly and save tons of time!

8.   Delegate – Create a family team and work together.

Sometimes we feel like we must do everything ourselves.  Learn to ask for help.  We deprive our children the joy of helping and learning to work when we force ourselves to do it “all”.  Tell your family that you are a “team” and then work together on many household projects.

9.  Organize Your Life – Don’t waste time hunting for lost stuff.

Don’t you hate wasting time looking for stuff?  Save this wasted time by organizing your house.  The time spent doing this will save you a lot of time and hassle in return.

Create a home and place for everything. For example, have a place near the front door where you can hang your keys and purse. Don’t forget items like umbrellas, hats, gloves and scarves for those rainy or cold days.

Some additional things to pay attention to: set up storage for the kids toys, get creative organizing your clutter in baskets or containers near the area where you’ll use the items and create a system to organize all those magazines and books.

As a final word, you can’t buy more time.  The key to having more spare time is simply saving time that you already have.

Feel free to share you time-saving tips with us here…

I’ve been “decluttering” my home this summer.  It’s quite a task since things have gone astray during the past school year.  But, with a determined stride I’ve taken on the tasks.

Three words to keep in mind when you decide to declutter your home…

Storage, storage and storage.

1. Make sure you assign a place for everything.

There’s one motto my dorm mom had when I was in college,  “A place for everything and everything in it’s place,” she often quoted.

Decluttering simply comes down to finding a place for everything and making sure everything is in its proper place.

And I know this next tip is going to hurt…

2.  Get rid of what you no longer need.

Some people determine what to get rid of by identifying what they haven’t used in over a year.

I try to decide if I really need it or if I can live without it?   Do I want it bad enough that I’m willing to pay for storage space?  After all, if you keep everything, you will indeed someday have to move to a bigger house or pay for some storage building.

3.  Make a plan of attack.

Don’t fret!  It won’t happen over night, but it definitely will happen if you take small steps.

First, get each bedroom area organized…

Take a day and sort through clothes and toys in your kids’ rooms.  Either sell, give away or throw away what isn’t needed anymore. Get age appropriate storage units, label things and help teach the kids to put their own things away.

Next, get a laundry basket for each family member and start with the least cluttered room of the house, so you’ll see success quicker and stay motivated.

Put everything in the baskets that doesn’t belong in that room. Then assign everyone  a deadline to find a home for everything in the basket, or you will (even if it’s file thirteen).

Keep a big trash bag nearby for stuff you know needs to be gotten rid of immediately (like junk mail). Do this for each room of the house.

Once everything is in the correct room…

Evaluate each room and decide what kind of storage is needed to keep things organized. If there is very little clutter left in the room once the personal belongings are gone, then you’ve got less work to do. If the room still looks chaotic, decide if the items really need to be in that room or relocated, stored or sold/given away.

Tip: Upkeep can cut down on future work.  If you use the basket trick daily, going from room to room, it should be easy to stay on top of things.

Different rooms will have different storage needs…

What works in the family room won’t necessarily work in the kitchen. Take your time and research the options out there and find a system that works best to help your family declutter your home.

Busy moms need to think ahead.  Do what it takes to create some swift action during the drowsy morning hours.

I decided to make one corner of my kitchen dedicated to quick breakfast gatherings.   Here’s a picture of the cabinet I cleared out for breakfast supplies:

The little white bin inside is for stashing some paper plates.  (I’ve decided to forgo paperplates for awhile.)   There’s bread (& toaster below),  little stackable brown cups, kids multivitamins, oatmeal, cereal, bowls for cereal,  bread, peanut butter to swipe on toast, breakfast drink mixes etc.

Organize spoons & forks:

I use a picnic caddy for storing knives, spoons and forks to grab a quick bite.  I also have purchased three bar stools – one for each son to sit down and eat.

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Everyone needs a starting point. Here is a list of things you can begin with to start and continue the process of becoming organized. The main point with becoming organized is to stop being disorganized right now and turn a new leaf.

Start here:

* When the house gets too messy, do a ’10-minute tidy,’ where everyone in the family drops what they are doing and cleans for ten minutes.

* Divide your house into sections and then spend five minutes in each of those areas when the house is in disarray. Use a timer to keep you on track.

* To minimize the amount of time spent on errands, keep a running list of what tasks need to be done, then try to do them just one day a week.

* Prioritize what is bothering you the most. Once you have a list, you can go from there and figure out what to do first.

* Assign chores with job descriptions and alternate them among children each week. For example, one child can be assistant cook one week, and part of the clean up crew the next.

* Sort and recycle mail as soon as it arrives.

* Limit your laundry duties to one day a week.

* Have a basket for small items instead of having them here and there.

* Keep a basket in the living room for anything that needs to be put in another room at a later time. Empty the basket each night.

* When you purchase one item and bring it into the house, pick one item to leave the house either through the trashcan or the charity shop.

The topic of organization is quite popular right now. People strive to become organized in all facets of their lives. But what does “being organized” mean? Simply put, when you are organized, you know where various items are, you are aware of what you are doing and you definitely know where you are going.

Being organized is not just a term, but it is an act. To become organized is a state of mind with many actions taking place to become a person prepared for anything that happens in life. Yes, having an organized household helps a person to take on anything that is thrown to them at any time of their life.

Many people believe that they are organized, but when they are asked to locate an object or when they walk into their house and piles of papers are all around, knick knacks scattered on various shelves and tables, mail covers the kitchen table, they suddenly realize that they aren’t organized. Their living space is cluttered and in disarray. They are not prepared for what is about to happen. What if some friends drop by? Unexpected out of town guests?

Where does the average person start when it comes to being organized? How does one become organized to begin with? How does a person stay organized? Before those topics can be discussed, a few things need to be defined and expanded on for clarification.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO BE ORGANIZED

It is a popular belief that being organized and having to keep all your stuff orderly is painful and time consuming and that the thought of being organized causes extreme stress. This is false in all aspects.

Walking into a room that is organized, where there’s no clutter, no piles of clothes laying on the floor, no newspapers thrown on the floor, is actually calming. Why is it calming? The calmness comes from everything being in order. You can walk into the room and immediately sit down in a chair and place a cup of tea on the table instead of having to clear out the things from the chair and clean off the table before you can set the cup down.
Being organized can also be relaxing. It only takes five to ten minutes to put away items from the day and then you can settle down with a good novel. When your area is clean and tidy, then a person doesn’t feel guilty for sitting down to read or spend time with the family.

Organization actually reduces stress. Everyone knows about April 15th, income taxes are due. Most of the general population is stressed out because they have to locate receipts, income statements and other papers for preparing their taxes. People who have organized all their paperwork into one or two folders or boxes has an easier time and less stressful time in preparing their taxes. The same is for any situation where you need to locate papers quickly.

Research has found that a sense of peacefulness is found in areas that are organized versus areas that are cluttered. This again relates to the calming feeling that you also get. For example, every morning, if you wake up, make your bed, pick up items from your bedroom that do not belong, then when you return that evening for bedtime, the room is peaceful and ready to be slept in. It is a definite peaceful feeling that makes a person feel satisfied as well.

Most people feel more confident when they have an organized area. Knowing that they can organize and achieve a goal brings about confidence. Also knowing that this feeling of confidence can be catching, not only can it be prominent in their home or office, but it can expand to other areas of their life or possibly other people in their household.

Once a person has become “organized,” they have this ability to be able to take on more and to achieve more in their life. The person has recognized that they have a problem and the problem has been solved then they can do more with their life, become a better person. It has been seen that a person who constantly lives in a cluttered area becomes secluded, but once they break free from the clutter, their lives become lives of happiness and full of achievements.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary defines clutter as “a crowded or confused mass or collection.” Does this sound like your house? What about your office at work? Maybe in your car? Clutter follows you everywhere and if you have clutter in one place, more than likely, you have clutter in every place you come in contact with.

To begin, you don’t just need the basic definition of clutter from a dictionary; you need a valid list of things that are considered clutter. Once you have a clear idea of what clutter is, you can move on from there.

What is clutter in general? How do you know what clutter is to tackle the job of clearing it out?

* Items you love, but don’t really use or need

* Items you find, but are not sure what they are or where they belong (such as small toy pieces, buttons, etc)

* Anything unfinished

* Things too pretty to touch

* Piles of papers “to be filed”

* Items that we don’t use and don’t enjoy

* Anything that does not enhance your life

Do any of these ring a bell? Can you look around the place where you are sitting and see the clutter? You don’t have to be at home, it could be your car, your office at work, the backyard. If so, then it’s time to take action. The main course of action is to stop the clutter and stop it now before anymore is created.

STOPPING IT BEFORE IT GETS A CHANCE TO GROW

Everyone needs a starting point. Here is a list of things you can begin with to start and continue the process of becoming organized. The main point with becoming organized is to stop being disorganized right now and turn a new leaf. Start here.

* When the house gets too messy, do a ’10-minute tidy,’ where everyone in the family drops what they are doing and cleans for ten minutes.

* Divide your house into sections and then spend five minutes in each of those areas when the house is in disarray. Use a timer to keep you on track.

* To minimize the amount of time spent on errands, keep a running list of what tasks need to be done, then try to do them just one day a week.

* Prioritize what is bothering you the most. Once you have a list, you can go from there and figure out what to do first.

* Assign chores with job descriptions and alternate them among children each week. For example, one child can be assistant cook one week, and part of the clean up crew the next.

* Sort and recycle mail as soon as it arrives.

* Limit your laundry duties to one day a week.

* Have a basket for small items instead of having them here and there.

* Keep a basket in the living room for anything that needs to be put in another room at a later time. Empty the basket each night.

* When you purchase one item and bring it into the house, pick one item to leave the house either through the trashcan or the charity shop.

1. Purchase some shoe box sized plastic containers from the store and use them to create inboxes for each family member, as well as one for incoming and outgoing mail. You can then purchase a book-shelf style shoe organizer to store them. Use these boxes to help clear up paper mess, such as phone messages, school permission slips, mail, etc.

2. Labeling things in the kitchen is always a good idea. You can purchase a label maker or just use some stick on labels and a pen. Labeling food items and the day you purchased them will be a clear reminder of what things are and then they expire.

3. Limit the number of items that are on your fridge. This will help you give a tidy look to the whole kitchen.  Some companies sell picture frames made of clear plastic that have magnets on the back. If you like to hang up your kids artwork, limit your fridge to one frame per child, and change the artwork as they bring home new “masterpieces.” Since the magnet is already on the back of the frame, your fridge will automatically look neater.
 
4. Stack bowls inside each other to save on space. You can purchase adjustable wire shelves to place over plates and put the smaller plates on the wire shelves. You’ll have more space in your cabinet if you do this and it will look better as well. Purchase a holder for all the lids to your various pots and pans. Don’t forget – pots can stack inside each other as well as skillets. Feel free to do this, but keep them that way!

5. You can also purchase a rack to hold baking sheets to keep the clutter down. Don’t feel bad about throwing some baking sheets out or donating them. You only need a few on hand. Look at your oven space to determine how many you need. How many baking sheets can fit in the oven at one time? Figure that number out depending on the size of you oven, how many ovens you have, and the size of your pans. It is reasonable to have one to two more than you can fit in your oven at one time if you like to prepare ahead of time when it comes to baking.

6. If you can, dedicate a cabinet for all your appliances – toaster, blender, mixer, etc. Keep them in the cabinet until you need to use them. Believe me, most people don’t use these daily so if you can put them in a cabinet instead of out on the counter, you will find the cabinet looking less cluttered. Keep the appliances that you don’t use often on a high shelf or a cabinet down low that you don’t use often. You probably only use the roasting pans twice a year so keep it hidden until you don’t need it anymore.

7. As far as canned goods and spices go, you can purchase expandable shelves to put in the cabinets. These will hold more cans and some are quite decorative for spice racks. These also let you see what you have so you aren’t over purchasing when it comes to grocery shopping.

8. As far as cabinets go, if they are becoming cluttered with appliances, dishes, bowls, pots and pans, take the time to go through all the items. If you haven’t used the salad maker in more than a year, set it aside to give to charity. If you don’t use your grandmother’s favorite serving dish, consider putting it in a china cabinet and don’t leave it to take up space in your cabinets in the dark.

9. If you wish to get even more cabinet space, think about utilizing your ceiling. Purchase a pot rack and hang from the ceiling to put all your pots on. That will really free up space in the cabinets and could also become a decorative piece for your kitchen.

10. Make sure you have a silverware tray in one of your drawers. Don’t overfill it either. Put all extra silverware in a Ziploc bag and place it in the extra space between the end of the tray in the back and the back of the drawer (if there’s room). If you can’t fit it there, place it in another drawer with other utensils. In the drawers with extra utensils, par it down to just the bare essentials.

11. If you can, purchase a spinning holder for all your spatulas, spoons and other utensils that you use daily for cooking. These sit on the countertop and don’t take up much space. In the drawer would be extra items that you use sparingly, but need. Don’t let them get more than one layer deep. If it becomes two layers deep, go through the items again and get rid of those that you don’t need.

12. Everyone has a junk drawer, so the smart thing to do is buy an organizer for it. They are usually made of plastic and have dividers in them. Some dividers move, some don’t. These are good for separating odds and ends so you can see them better. Get a file folder for coupons, restaurant menus and such to place in the junk drawer. There should be room on top of the organizer. Just make sure it doesn’t end up falling into the cabinet below.

13. Purchase a special holder for foil, plastic wrap and the like. This keeps them up off the floor or off a cabinet shelf. One item that is handy is an over the door hanger. You can put canned goods, plastic bags, trash bags, etc on it and you are gaining extra space. Consider purchasing some hooks to hang on the inside of cabinet doors to hand cooking utensils on them. This clears out drawer space if you need some extra space. Take old shoeboxes with lids and store items in them on the shelves. Label them to easily see what’s in there when you need to.

14. Take care of things in the kitchen as they occur to keep clutter down. While dinner is cooking, wash the dishes that have already been used. Right after breakfast is over, rinse the dishes and place them in the dishwasher so they aren’t there when everyone returns home at the end of the day. Run the dishwasher overnight and empty it while everyone is eating breakfast or getting ready for the day.

15. A good tip is to learn to borrow items and appliances from other people. That way if you have an appliance that you don’t use often, you can donate yours and just borrow it from a friend when you need to use it. It is possible they can do the same with something of yours.

1. If your family likes to play board games, buy one of those ottomans that not only act as a foot stool, but also as a chest that you can store your games in. If  you have lots of games and their boxes are falling apart, try removing the contents of each box and storing them in small plastic containers along with the game’s directions. Corral plastic bags in a basket or shoebox. Game boards can be folded and stacked together nearby.

2. Anytime you can use a piece of furniture for organizing, please use it. Possibly you have an oversized entertainment center or a large armoire. Use it to store DVD’s CD’s and games.

3. Keep an attractive basket with a lid in the family room to store even more small, regularly used items.

4. Keep the coffee table clear of items. If an item is put on the table, it needs to be picked up and placed where it goes. Remind others in the family to keep items off the table. Placing a nice vase of flowers helps people to realize it’s a nice piece of furniture, not a dumping ground.

5. Keep only a minimum number of items on end tables and on the top of your entertainment center. The less you have out, the less cluttered it looks.

6. Be sure to keep the bookshelves nice and tidy. Get rid of books you no longer want to read or will never get to. Try to keep the number of books to a minimum, but if you have a lot, try to break up the monotony by dividing them up and placing a nice item in between them. You have the knickknacks so use them wisely.

7. Look around for wasted space in your living room/family room. Is there space under a staircase where you could knock the wall out and create storage space? This is another option and it doesn’t take up floor space.

8. Another good idea is purchase furniture that has storage space. An earlier tip was to have an ottoman for storage. Furniture makers have sofas that have storage drawers underneath. Storage can also be found under cushions as well or in the arms of the sofas. If your furniture has space underneath it and you can put under-the-bed storage units under the sofa, try that as an option for keeping toys, extra pillows or blankets for guests.

9. Pillows on a sofa are great and look nice, but they also provide clutter. Most people sitting on the sofa take them off so they can sit on the sofa so the floor looks like a mess. They also get thrown on to the sofa so the easy thing is to get rid of them.

10. Take a look at your walls. Are they full of pictures, artwork and shelves full of knick-knacks? One easy way to make a room feel less cluttered is to only have a few pieces of artwork hanging on the walls. Just have a few family pictures placed throughout the room on the walls. The same goes for a fireplace mantel. The less you have on the mantel, the less cluttered it looks and it is more appealing to the eye.