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betty@logicalplacement.com • www.LogicalPlacement.com

March 2025 - Where is that matching lid?

The kitchen is probably the most important room to organize because, like it or not, we probably spend the most of our waking hours in our kitchens. In my many years of being a professional organizer, I don’t think I have come across a house where my client’s Tupperware cupboard was organized and it was easy to find the matching lid.

Let’s break down the kitchen into smaller segments:

1. The Drawers – plan them according to where you use the utensils and where the dishwasher is located. For instance, it is a good idea to put your silverware closest to the dishwasher and in the top drawer. I would encourage everyone to buy silverware dividers, which I think most people have done already. Next, take out all your kitchen gadgets and cooking utensils. Why do you have five spatulas? Decide which you use most and keep them. Place the rest into a shoe box (with a label “Extra Kitchen Utensils) and place that shoe box in the basement or laundry room. See if you have to go to the box within the next year to pull something out. After the year has passed, you can donate the box. Try not to look in it.
2. Glassware – Over the years has your glassware expanded? Do you have too many coffee mugs? Too many souvenir cups? Remove all the glassware and place them into categories; tall glasses together, juice glasses together, etc. Once you have them gathered, you can take a look and see how big that category is and then decide if 6 or 8 glasses are enough. Put the drinking glasses close to the plates because when you set the table, you need access to both items. The glasses you use the most, should be the most accessible.
3. Dinnerware – the same goes for this cupboard. Sometimes you have to look and see if your shelves are bowing. That means there is too much weight on that shelf, so you should divide the categories a little more. Again, the dishes you use the most have to be the most accessible. Also, if you have three sets of dinnerware in the kitchen and are running out of room in the cupboards, you really need to ask yourself if you should house the dishes in this room 365 days/year if you only pull them out for 1 week/year.
4. Plasticware – Be brave now! Pull them all out and try matching up lids with bottoms and then ask yourself, what sizes are the most used and how many of those do you really need to keep? Then recycle or donate the extras.
5. Message Center – I have a whiteboard on my refrigerator that has become our message center. It helps to remind my family about upcoming appointments, chores, or errands to run. I also have a notebook that I have lying out on the counter and the kids know if they want me to buy something for them, they better write it in that book. It has kept the arguments down when they asked why I didn’t buy something. I just ask them, “did you write it down on the list?”. I incorporated this notebook about 2 years ago, and I love it. Sometimes I use it as a to-do list so it keeps me on task and helps me see what I can do if I only have 30 minutes of free time.
6. Spices – I don’t think I’ve been to a home that didn’t have an issue with spices. There are spice organizers out there that fit under our kitchen cabinets or the tiered kind that many people use. In our previous home, my husband made a spice rack that fit over our stove. I loved having our spices available and in alphabetical order (I don’t think that is too OCD.) Of course, the chefs would say that the heat coming off the stove is going to deter the flavor of the spices, and my answer to that is “just put a little more in then.” In our current home, we have a microwave in that space, so I had to come up with another solution. I went to the dollar store and bought a few small baskets and now have the baskets separated by categories, such as these spices I use mainly for baking, (which if any of you knew me, that doesn’t happen too often) and these are used more regularly. Then I have them alphabetically. It makes it quicker to find a particular spice.

Let me know what has worked well for you and your family.

I hope this newsletter has given you a few suggestions on helping organize your kitchen. Next month’s newsletter will focus on tackling your bedroom.

I'm presenting at the Chesterfield Township Library on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 from 6:30-7:30pm. Their website is https://www.chelibrary.org/to register.

Follow me at https://www.facebook.com/logicalplacementorganizing for weekly organizing tips or on Instagram @logical_placement.

Your local professional organizer,

Betty Huotari

P.S. If you would like to share this email with a friend, please pass it along and if they would like to be added to my list, have them send me an email. If you would like to unsubscribe to the monthly news-letter, please send an email to betty@logicalplacement.com.

A lot of my clients have a messy junk drawer, right.

If you buy a drawer organizer, take all your items out of the drawer and then insert the drawer organizer and before you put something into the drawer, ask yourself does it belong in the kitchen? Do you use it regularly? Should this drawer be its home?