Remember when we tackled the entryway in January, week 3, to be precise? Any free counter space quickly attracts all kinds of clutter if you are anything like me. What I quit stashing by the front door is likely to find a home on the kitchen counters. It’s a curse…
If you are neurospicy, there’s a name for the piles we create, DOOM: Didn’t Organize; Only Moved.
I know it doesn’t fix the problem to know it has a name, but it certainly made me feel better to know I wasn’t alone.
Today your mission is to clear your counters of anything that doesn’t belong.
Do you have any fruit that is attracting flying friends?
Or do you have any flying friends without any fruit?
Take a hard look at your small appliances while you’re at it. For example:
Do you have both a coffee maker and a Keurig on the counter?
Let’s be realistic. Do you need both? Would one be missed if it were stored somewhere less convenient? I have an espresso machine that I use every single day. I am thinking about getting a 12-cup coffee maker for when we host company.
Since I take a lot of photos for this website, I’ve slowly built a stockpile of dishes and cookware that I don’t necessarily need for everyday use. Still, I don’t want to box up and hide them all the way out in the garage, as that makes photography for the site really inconvenient.
I found shelves on Amazon, and they work wonderfully. I really didn’t like storing my large enamel dutch oven (it’s heavy) in a lower cabinet, as it was always a pain to get out. Not everyone needs the amount of cookware I keep on hand, but it’s an option if you find yourself short on kitchen storage with a little room elsewhere.Â
That’s it for this week’s challenge, but if you find yourself with a handful of fiddly odds and ends, you aren’t sure what to do with them. Don’t just toss them in the junk drawer. You’ll just be dealing with them next week. Try to find a real home for them today, so you don’t have to decide again next week.
Send your domestic questions to helpme@home-ec101.com.
Where do you keep the shelves? I have similar ones that lived in the garage (right next to the kitchen) at my old house but are now in my spare room upstairs holding the extra sheets & towels, and things I don’t need all the time like Christmas decorations. If I were to put my dutch oven up there it would never get used.
We have an unused room off of the kitchen, I suppose it’s supposed to be a formal dining room, but it is out of the flow of the rest of the house. It’s right next to our pantry and has windows. If I were to put the shelves in the garage, I’d be in the same boat. Wherever the items are stored has to convenient or the clutter just piles back up.
My laundry room is right next to the kitchen – and is also the pathway to/from the garage. I currently have some high narrow shelves mounted in there that aren’t very useful – I’m thinking I may try to put shelves like these in there – I’m just not sure if having them all the way down to the floor would make it too difficult to get in and our of the washer & dryer. We’ll see – it’s not something I really paid attention too when I looked at the house. The other funny thing is after I closed – I discovered I didn’t have any kind of coat closet , nothing on the first floor anywhere near the front door to put coats. So I am currently looking for some kind of coatrack or hall tree that could be used
Wow!! A name for my entire life! DOOM – that is the way everything in my life is. Thank you for giving my life condition a name. 🤪