Day 89: Organizing the Kitchen Utensil Drawer

What: Kitchen Utensil Drawer

Why: Have you ever tried to open your utensil drawer and it gets stuck halfway? Or dig through to the bottom of the pile and realize that it was stuck in the way back? Utensils, though necessary, can so be in the way! They clog our drawers and when we really need a utensil, we can’t find it! So how do you purge down to just the essentials?

How:
1. Find every kitchen utensil you own. Hopefully most of them will be in the utensil drawer, but as we all know, they tend to end up in spots where we least expect them to be.

2. Wipe down your drawer(s)

3. Purge and declutter! Ask:

• Do I use it? Is it worth keeping for the number of times I use it?
• What is it for? (if you don’t know, out it goes)
• Is it a pain to use?
• Is it broken?
• Is it in good shape? Is your spatula cut to pieces?
• Do I have a double of it? Do I need more than one of them?

4. Organize utensils by type (wooden spoons with wooden spoons, spatulas with spatulas, etc.)

5. Find containers or dividers to store your utensils

• Dividers and organizers can be found at a local store.
• If you want to save some money, find containers sitting around the house
• The cardboard inside of Velveeta cheese boxes works great
• Cut off the bottom of cereal boxes as “containers”
• Use food packaging (like for meats – make sure to clean well)
• Look around the house for what you can use to separate your utensils

6. Put utensils in their proper place after using them. It is easy to just throw them in the drawer after you are done using it them. Taking the small step to put it in the right place with save you oodles of time when you have to reorganize the drawer again!

Confession of the Day: When I recently cleaned out our utensil drawer, I realized how many doubles I had! How pathetic! I did not feel like buying dividers/containers, so I decided to use a sausage container I found in our recycling box as a start. I then found the inside of a Velveeta box to use for my measuring spoons and chip clips. I soon realized that you do not need to spend money in order to live with less and live an organized life. Living with less means finding little ways to save money, finding ways to purge of the excess (doubles) and being content with what you have.

What do you find most annoying about your utensil drawer? What can you do to change it?