Ten "Next To" Great Kitchen Organizing Tips
By Lea Schneider, Professional Organizer

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Lea Schneider

©2009 Professional Organizer - Lea Schneider is the author of Growing-Up Organized: A Mom to Mom Guide available at Amazon.com.

Lea provides one-on-one organizing advice via phone and email through Organize Online division at her company website, Organize Right Now.

Her advice is featured here at What's Cooking America in a monthly column. You may have read her expert organizing ideas in Woman’s Day, Natural Health, College News, and Better Homes and Gardens Kids’ Rooms magazines and newspapers. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Organizers and the Association of Food Journalists.


Growing-Up Organized:
A Mom to Mom Guide

by Lea Schneider



Crazed by clutter? Frustrated because the kids can’t find things? Getting out the door in the morning drives you mad? You need:
Growing-Up Organized: A Mom to Mom Guide

Growing Up Organized will help you get started, map out a plan, and learn how to stay organized with everything from bedrooms to closets to homework time.

Purchase your book and learn more at Organize Right Now!  

 

Contact Information:
Lea Schneider
Organize Right Now LLC
Member National Association of Professional Organizers
Pensacola, Florida

Website: Organize Right Now

Tele:  1-850-477-2582


 

 


Check out all of Lea Schneider's helpful home and kitchen columns at Organizing Kitchens, Pantries, Menus and Meals.
 



Ten "Next To" Great Kitchen Organizing Tips


Some organizing rules takes "next to" no effort, like this one:

Put items you most commonly use next to where you commonly use them


I call this the "Next To Rule.
Sounds easy - and is easy – yet it is hard to explain why we spend an awful lot of time hunting and looking for things.
 


To remedy that, I’ve rounded up the top ten “next-to’s” for your kitchen:


coffee cans next to coffee pot(1)  Coffee next to coffee maker - Add filters, scoop, creamer, and sweetener to that list.
 

(2)  Potholders next to the oven - Sounds simple but we’ve all made the unsafe move of grabbing the nearest dish towel. Not only might you get burnt but you might start a fire as the towel dangles down onto oven or stove burners.


(3)  Beater blades next to the mixer - Put all the parts in the same location. Don’t hunt for some in this drawer and others in that drawer. This applies to anything with parts.
 

baking powder and baking soda(4)  Dishwasher soap next to dishwasher - Get a plastic basket to hold your dishwasher soap, liquid dish soap, and scrubbing pads. It will all be where you need it and the basket will keep your cabinet floor clean.


(5)  Baking powder and baking soda next to flours
- I’ve not seen much call for them without flour.
 

(6)  Grill brush next to the grill - It’s a lot easier to clean if the brush is at hand. While you are at it, put some cooking spray made just for grills out there to. No wonder food sticks if you have to run back inside to find it.
 

measuring spoons next to measuring cups(7)  Measuring spoons next to the measuring cups - If you need one, you pretty much need the other.
 

(8)  Paper towels next to the sink - Unless, of course, you really don’t mind mopping the floor because someone had drippy hands as they went to reach for the towels and then turned around and walked in the drips.
 

(9)  Trash bags next to the trash can - If you aren’t prone to leaky wet trash, then they can actually be stored in the bottom of the trash can, hidden by the clean liner.
 

pen, paper, and calender next to phone(10)  Pen, paper and calendar next to the phone - We shouldn’t be surprised when we actually have to take a message.
 



Simplify your life. Apply that "Next To Rule" all over the house.