“Tell me, why do you
think it feels so cluttered,” I ask.
“I have too much
stuff,” you wail.
“I don’t have time to
deal with this stuff,” you cry.
“I don’t have the
right kind of storage,” you might say, adding
“You haven’t seen MY
kitchen!”
True, I haven’t seen
your kitchen but I bet I have seen a lot of kitchens like your
kitchen. They are the busy hub of the family and reflect your hectic
schedule. Even so, if you muttered one of the three excuses above,
you need to know that those excuses don’t often hold up.
Too much stuff? That
excuse is like the old question of which came first, the chicken or
the egg. Are you disorganized because you have too much stuff or has
too much stuff made you disorganized? Either way, too much stuff
means you must get organized.
No time? The
average person spends an hour a day looking for things. How much
time have you wasted hunting for things or buying ingredients you
already had? How much money have you wasted discarding out-of-date
ingredients you forgot you had? Getting organized actually gives you
peace of mind and more time to enjoy the life you want.
No storage?
Most kitchens have adequate storage for the size of the home. The
bigger the house means the bigger the family and usually means a
bigger kitchen. Our problem lies not in having the “right” storage
but in making the best use of the storage we do have.
The first step to
getting organized is to pitch out those excuses along with the
clutter.

In this “before”
picture of a food storage cabinet, you can see that the owner could
apply all three excuses. It certainly appears that they have too
much stuff and that the storage area doesn’t work for them. No one
seems to have time to deal with it.

The “after” picture
is evidence that none of those excuses rang true. The same food appears
in the same cabinets. Since it is now sorted by type, and a few
organizing products were added, the quantity of food is not
overwhelming and probably just right for this two-person household.
Clearly the storage space was adequate. Now it is easy to see where
items are, especially that basket of open snacks.
Is your kitchen
really too small or is it just full of excuses?
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