Last post we talked about the four step process for organizing your kitchen.  We covered Visualize your Success and we identified some possible roadblocks to your success.  This week we will continue with step two – Remove your Roadblocks.

The De-Cluttering Process

Finally all the thinking is done and we can get to the actual de-cluttering process. The first step is to empty the space.  As you empty you will apply the decision principle. 

Sort the contents into four categories: keep, trash, give-away and put-away. You should have a large trash can, a large box for give away, and a box for put-away. Label these containers.

The put-away box is to prevent you getting sidetracked.  When organizing any space you are going to find items that need to go in another space or closet.  Put them in the box as you sort.

Be ruthless as you sort.  You should not keep items that you do not use.  That includes those items that you purchased at home parties and never used and fad appliances popular for a short time.  Remember when you had to have the bread maker?  You can give away items that are in good shape. Get rid of food that is out of date. Get rid of food that you bought to try and you did not like.

My illustration shows several smaller containers for the keep category. As you are sorting and deciding what to keep, use the smaller containers to group like items together. 

You should actually group food items the way the grocery store groups items. Put the canned items together, the baking items together, the beverages together, and rice and beans together. 

Sort your kitchen items into groups too.  Make a bake ware group, pots and pans group, serving dish group, etc…

At the end of the sorting process you will have the contents of your kitchen strewn from one end to the other.  This can be quite overwhelming. If you are dividing your kitchen organizing project into short sessions you will want to do the kitchen in sections. If your session is four hours, spend two hours pulling out and sorting. That leaves two hours to tidy up and actually organize the space.

At the end of each sorting session you should take out the trash, put the giveaway items in your vehicle to go, and then take the relocate box around the house and put the items in the general vicinity of where they will ultimately live.

Once you have emptied and sorted the contents of your kitchen you will be ready to put it all back together. Next, we will discuss choosing the tools that will make this part easy.