Whenever I travel I love to stay in Airbnb’s and the REAL reason is because I love to gain inspiration from how CRISP and CLEAN and decluttered these spaces are. One of my biggest pet peeves is having stuff everywhere in a house. Stuff all over the counters, the floors, every single inch of the wall space consumed with STUFF. I love free wall space. This is the reason for today’s post. At my last CEO retreat, we stayed at a beautiful Airbnb and the kitchen was stunning and I was taking notes and it really inspired me to make a few changes in my own kitchen. This is what this post is all about. The things I learned and the only 5 steps you need to clean and clutter free kitchen.
Through today’s post I am going to give you the tools you need to be able to have a clean and clutter free kitchen and do it all in less than an hour. Now these five simple steps require some hustle. You may want to turn on some fun music, maybe you want to hire some of this out with your children, get them to join you and have a little kitchen party. But, what I really want for you to do is for you to be able to walk into your kitchen and have things feel slightly lighter, a bit more breathable, some airiness to your kitchen. This is going to inspire your cooking and make it easier to clean. This is going to bring your family back together in one of the most amazing spaces in all of our homes, which is the kitchen!
Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast
Alright, who is excited to be able to walk into your kitchen and not see dishes all piled up everywhere? There is A LOT that I am going to share with you in today’s post that I already 100% have done and then there are parts that I am still actively doing on a regularly basis. Your kitchen is just one of those things that is in constant use. The kitchen – you are in there A LOT. And if you have children, then you are really in there A LOT. There is a lot of cooking that goes on, packing lunches, preparing snacks, feeding kids and their friends. And truly what a luxury that is when you have a kitchen full of love. Your kitchen should be a place where you nurture your family first and that’s through what you feed them. But it is really hard to feel inspired to do that when your kitchen is a disaster, when there is stuff everywhere!
Key To A Clean And Clutter Free Kitchen – Take A Look At Your Kitchen
If you are home while reading this, I want you to go ahead and walk into your kitchen. If you are not at home, then do this later. The important thing here is to go into your kitchen and ask yourself a really big question: What do I have sitting out that doesn’t need to be out? Where are items that are getting together and growing? Is it the side of the kitchen sink? The dry rack? The counter next to the garage door before you leave or that random nook that makes no sense except for holding all the random things. How much stuff do you have on your counters? How many things are shoved behind your cabinet doors? Wherever you are that is fine, but you want to take inventory of these things and see where you are within your kitchen.
The goal of this is for you to be able to use these 5 steps to a clean and clutter free kitchen in the exact order in which I tell you. It is important to be able to go layer by layer here, to achieve a clean and clutter free kitchen in less than an hour. My goal is for you to see just how you can truly make an impact, a BIG impact, all within less than an hour, if you truly put your mind to it. So, what do you say, get out a pen and paper and let’s get started!
My goal is for you to see just how you can truly make an impact, a BIG impact, all within less than an hour, if you truly put your mind to it.
5 Steps To A Clean And Clutter Free Kitchen
1. Pull Out Unused Items From The Bottom Cabinets
In this first step, you only need 15 minutes. For the first step to a clean and clutter free kitchen you are going to open up the lower kitchen cabinets and in 15 minutes (set a timer) you are going to take everything out that you have not used in the last month. One exception is if you use it at every holiday for big groups of people coming over. Other than that you are going to take every single thing out that you have not used in the last month and set it on the kitchen table.
All of my successes happen because I have someone in my corner that’s constantly letting me verbally What I don’t want you to do is to take every single thing out of the cabinets. That is an entirely different system that is valuable, but for this post here, we are going to get you a clean and clear kitchen in less than an hour. Therefore, only take out the items from the bottom cabinets that you have not used in the last month.
Put Everything Aside On The Kitchen Table
Take everything that you have not used in the last month and that is not specific to the holidays and set it aside on the kitchen table. You are not committing to throwing it away just yet. Simply start pulling things. You can have your kids help if they are older and they know what has or hasn’t been used.
2. Make Space In The Front Of Your Cabinets
Step two, you are now going to have lots of excess room underneath your kitchen cabinets and I want you to start combining. The goal is to have front space of your bottom kitchen cabinets clean and clear. Anything that you have, a hole in the back, push the things from the front towards the back. Create space in the front of your cabinets, below the countertops. This step will only take you 10 minutes to make space in the front of your kitchen cabinets.
3. Relocate Your Large Kitchen Appliances Away From The Countertops
Step three – now take 15 minutes and pull ALL of your large kitchen appliances that you use on a regular basis that are sitting on your kitchen counters and put them in the brand new, clean and clear open space, in the front of your bottom cabinets. You are going to relocate the kitchen appliances to the bottom cabinets and then close the door. Now, I know you are thinking, “Hey, I use my blender to make my smoothie every single day!” Well, guess what – I do too! Every single day I take the blender out from under the cabinet, plug it in, make my smoothie, wash it and dry, and then move it back to its designated spot in the cabinet. The only exception for us is the coffeemaker. My husband makes coffee consistently throughout the day, therefore we leave the coffee maker on the countertops.
Please find yourself an accountability community. That might mean maybe making new friendships or When you go into an Airbnb and look in their kitchen all they have is A coffeemaker, A toaster oven. That is it! Limit yourself to your two most high frequency electronic kitchen tools. Everything else is coming down and going underneath.
4. Throw Away Your Dry Rack.
Step number might just make you cringe a little bit, but it is what it is. Take a moment and think back to our inspiration here, the kitchens you see in Airbnb’s, the kitchens on Magnolia Network, the kitchens in home magazines. The ONE thing that you DO NOT SEE in all of these incredibly gorgeous kitchens – a drying rack for their clean dishes. You are going to walk over to it and THROW IT AWAY. You should not have a dry rack for many, many reasons. Simply dry the dishes yourself and then put them up. The only exception, is the tiny little grass drying rack that is used with babies for bottles. I still use that for my straws, but even then I usually keep it under the sink when it is not in use.
Having a dry rack is just asking for clutter. And if you are unable to part ways with it, then go. underneath your kitchen sink area and clear a space for it there. You can also go old school and just lay out dishtowels and let your dishes dry out on that before you put them away. If you want to have that light and airy feel in your kitchen, don’t have a dry rack sitting on your counter. This will force you to put away the dishes right away. The dirty dishes to the dishwasher and the clean dishes to their properly stored location. That’s it for step number for and it only took 5 minutes. 5 minutes because you stood there and thought way too long before parting with your drying rack.
5. Revisit The Things On The Kitchen Table
Step number five – what are you going to do with everything on your kitchen table. Well, you are going to look around and see a beautiful, light and airy kitchen that you LOVE in less than an hour. You have fifteen minutes left to go through that pile and determine what will be donated, thrown away, and the things that you really can’t part with. Of the things that you have decided are to be kept because you use them and really can’t part with them, you are ONLY going to keep the items that you have room for! Grab a big bag and fill it up with the things to donate. That’s all you need to do. It is that simple. Take a picture and come post it in our Facebook group.
If you are looking for more methods to organizing your life and the systems to help you get there, come check out the details of The Systemize Your Life Academy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I find enough time in my weekly schedule to prioritize cleaning and keep things neat and tidy in my home?
You can absolutely have enough time in your weekly schedule to prioritize cleaning and to keep things neat and tidy in your home. Through using my five-block time blocking system which you can learn all about through my FREE time-blocking workbook, you can schedule your week in a way that allows you to stay on top of your home, your family, and your business at the same time!
