April 14, 2017 – The Hustlin’ Homemaker

Hey y’all! I thought I would continue on with my Spring Cleaning series since my first one- DIY Household Cleaners + Tips For a Clean Home was a hit!

Today we are are tackling the kitchen. The kitchen is by far my favorite room in my house, I love to organize it and I just love to be in there. I have a few storage and organization tips to share with you, and then I also want to talk a little bit about my favorite gadgets/tools that I use ALL THE TIME!

PANTRY

So first, let’s talk about the pantry. I have a pretty large pantry with shelves, and I needed a few things to help organize it so I would be able to see everything. The first thing are these spice stairs.

These are really inexpensive, and you can use them for anything small, really. It’s just a three tiered shelf. They help me to see all of my spices and I really like how organized it looks!

Next is this little expandable shelf. This was also very inexpensive, and it doubles the amount of space on a shelf.

You can make it as small or large as you want, and it’s really pretty sturdy. I feel like things are less cramped in here and I don’t have to stack cans on top of each other.

POTS AND PANS

Next, let’s talk about how we store our pots and pans. I don’t know about you, but it used to make SO MUCH NOISE when I had to get a specific pan out of the cabinet. Not anymore though with this pan storage rack.

Ta-da! Look how cool this is. You just stack up your pans and just slide the one out that you need. You could really use this for anything, baking pans, cutting boards, etc.

JUNK DRAWER

The last place I want to share some organization tips with you is the DUN DUN DUN….junk drawer. Everyone has one! I use mine for kind of like, a workstation.

Over on the left, I’ve got some scissors and a lighter. Then, I’ve got just a box with a ton of pens, highlighters, sharpies, I even have the girls’ paintbrushes in the bottom. No more trouble finding something to write with! Behind that, I have batteries, a tape measure, and some scotch tape.

Next to that in the rectangular compartment, I have post it’s, my checkbook, my address stamp, some postage stamps, and things like that. I like having all of this together in case I need to mail a payment or something.

Lastly, I have a few folders with important info in them, a grocery list pad, and my planner. Every day I open up this drawer and look in my planner to see what I have going on that day. I love keeping all of this here because I can just shut the drawer and there isn’t any clutter on my counter.

TIPS

Probably my biggest tip for keeping an organized kitchen is just getting rid of things you don’t use. I recently went through my bakeware cabinet, and I had 4 Pyrex 13×9 glass baking pans. 4! I don’t know how I accumulated all of those, but I got rid of three of them. There is no point in keeping all of these things that just take up space.
Another tip is just to try and clear off as much clutter as you can from the counters. Try to keep only the items you use everyday out (coffeepot, toaster, etc.). This will instantly make your kitchen look so much cleaner and organized.

GADGETS/TOOLS

Ok, so let’s move on to my kitchen favorites.

I LOVE cutting mats. I am always cutting things, especially for the girls, like fruit, or using a cookie cutter on a sandwich, and these mats are just perfect! They are much easier than using a big heavy cutting board, and you can just toss them into the dishwasher. I use these every day.

Next are these baking sheets. We have all heard of using parchment paper for cookies and other baked goods, but that is pretty wasteful and expensive, so I found THESE.

These are silicone baking mats. These are totally heatproof, just lay them over a baking sheet and your cookies, biscuits, or whatever will slide right off. No need for cooking spray or parchment paper. They are also dishwasher safe, hooray!

So, we all gotta chop. I am chopping up things left and right over here, and I have big mama chopper, and little baby chopper.

These are both Hamilton Beach, and one is the Food Processor, and one is just a little version (that I have had for over ten years). All of the parts are dishwasher safe, they are super easy to use, and they get the job done fast. I use them to chop veggies, nuts, fruits, and to purée things, mostly, but you can use them for anything! Love these.

Ok, two more things that I love. First is this Kitchen Aid Hand Mixer. I do have a stand mixer, but I find myself just reaching for this little guy the most! It does just as good of a job, and it’s so easy. It’s pretty quiet, and it is very nice quality.

It is rare that I ever use my big blender, so I love this little blender. If I’m making a smoothie bowl or a shake or something, this size is all I need. It reminds me a lot of the Baby Bullet I had when I used to make my girls their baby food when they were little. You just push it down to purée. It’s so fast and does a great job. All of the parts are dishwasher safe, too.