If you are anything like me, you may have spent too much time doing fun things like skiing over the winter, and not enough time organizing your home. And now, you have the kitchen cabinet mess to show for it.
Like almost anything you want to be organized, it’s important to do an annual (or even bi-annual) assessment. And there is no one better to turn to for some tips on where to get started than In Place’s Samantha Danahy.
Danahy has been a professional organizer for more than 10 years, and her sensible approach will leave you thrilled with the results. I sat down with her to get some tips on where to get started and asked her to share some do’s and don’ts for spring cleaning your kitchen.
The first step, she said, is to start by blocking off a better part of the day. Then, take everything out of every cabinet, using a different area of your home as needed for all the stuff. At this point, take advantage of everything being empty and deep clean the insides and outsides of the cabinets. After you’ve completed your deep clean of cabinets some people like to tackle other areas of the kitchen such as wiping down worktops and tables, ovens or even floors but its personal preference as to how you decide to clean your kitchen so long as you give it the deepest clean you can. I’ve heard that some people start getting their steam mop ready for their hardwood floors when they commit to a deep clean. This is so they can blast through cleaning their floors. If you don’t have a steam mop yet and you want a hardwood floor steam cleaner consider reading a few reviews from websites similar to steamclean.reviews before committing to a particular model or brand. In addition, be useful to check out other approaches to a deep clean from other websites as well. You can never have too many approaches to deep dirt.
Next comes the hardest part: Disassociate yourself from where things used to live and start fresh with where things should be.
“Try to completely forget where things were so you can start fresh,” she said.
Before you put everything back and away, make sure you actually need it and use it. If you have one tool that does three things and another that only does one, consider donating the one you don’t need. Now is the time to get rid of late-night infomercial gadgets. You can also put some of the extra tools and gadgets in a self-storage unit similar to the ones provided by Storage Post in the Bronx so that you can get them to use once your old tools become useless.
“Cull,” said Dahahy. “You don’t need 10 lasagna pans.”
And once you are ready to put the items back in place, be sure you put things were they most make sense (spices and pots and pans by the stove, for example). Another of Danahy’s golden rules is: Things you use most often should be stored in the most accessible places. You should be digging for your mandolin that you only use once a month or less, but never for your cutting board that you use everyday.
To boil things down:
- Do commit a day to the task.
- Do deep clean while you are at it.
- Do try to forget where things were and don’t be afraid to put them back somewhere that makes them more accessible.
- Don’t feel like you have to throw things away to be organized but do downsize when appropriate.
- Don’t get overwhelmed by the process. Take baby steps and don’t rush it.
Danahy also offered these three resources for tools and gadgets that may help the organizational process:
Pull out drawers (these come in several sizes).
Sink caddy (for keeping things in the sink and off the counters)
Vertical storage options (for more accessibility)
Does it still sound like too much work for you? You can always hire Danahy and her team at In Place to do it all for you! Contact 307.699.3929 or sam@inplacejh.com for more information.
