Putting Your Kitchen on a Diet

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

14 Jan 2009 04:32 PM

Now that we are well into January, many people are focusing on getting fit and healthy, and maybe even going on a diet. While this is also a goal of mine, to get fit, I have another goal. This goal is to put my kitchen on a diet.

Kitchens tend to slowly collect a lot of things, from gadgets to food that never sees the light outside of the pantry. Other clutter can bloat a kitchen as well, such as mail, school papers and telephone notes. With the relative quiet of the after the holidays routine, now might be a good idea to help your kitchen slim down.

This is what I have been trying to do, slowly but surely. I am attacking one drawer of cupboard at a time. The small gadget drawer, for example, was getting so fat that it really wasn't closing all of the way. A gadget or two was wandering out onto the counter.

Some of the things I found were the plastic juicer--yes because we did use it, and a set of toast thingamajigs that put imprints into bread. The imprints show up when the bread is toasted. We had a smiling face, a I Love You and a Good Morning. These were a nice idea, but I don't think we used them more than once, so they were a no. To tell you the truth, I don't even know where they came from. Straight to the donation pile they went.

Another area was the over the stove cupboard. This was an embarrassing spot that spilled down packets of hot chocolate and tea whenever someone wanted a hot beverage. Fixing the poor organization and getting rid of a couple of empty boxes solved this problem. We also keep our lighters for candles and the grill up there, since it is the highest spot away from the kids. This wasn't the best spot by any means, so the lighters got relocated to an even safer place.

Tomorrow I am hoping to take a good look at how the items in my kitchen are organized and place them in better spots.

How can you put your kitchen on a diet?

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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