15 Minute Guided Kitchen Declutter (Simplify to cook more & keep clean!)

grown up in our high school weight room on the wall it said if it were easy everyone would do it and I am convinced that if it were easy to declutter our kitchen everyone would do it because it feels so good to work in a kitchen that is totally cleared out but it's not easy how do I know if I'm gonna need this stuff or not how do I know if it's safe to get rid of it how much tougher where do I need and let's talk about it today we're gonna tackle all of the toughest things when it comes to decluttering your kitchen I'm gonna share my favorite tips and questions and we're gonna get a ton done in the next 15 minutes [Music] well hi I'm dawn from the minimal mom and I love talking about all things simplifying your house and sharing my favorite tips and tricks because I know it's not easy but I know what a huge difference it is to live in a house that's simplified it's peaceful and when it comes to the kitchen it is especially important because when our kitchen is clean and simplified and organized I don't like the word organized but when it's organized and clean and I know where everything is I cook more we eat out less and it just feels like the whole house is under control and so that's what I want to help you simplify your kitchen today because it is gonna make a huge difference in your house so let's get started all right so question number one is am i over valuing the items in my kitchen so kitchens can be tough because a lot of times there are things in it that take up a lot of space but that we've spent a lot of money on so a Vitamix mixer for example so this cost about three hundred and fifty dollars I saved up Amazon credit for over a year so that we could purchase this so we can make smoothies at home and so let's say this has been taking up room in your cupboard and you have not used it in the last one or two years so the first question we'll ask ourself is what would change in the next year that I would be more likely to use this and that it's not going to just keep taking up space in my cabinet is there something coming up where I'm gonna have more time to use it or my kids are getting old enough that they can use it or is it very likely because we are creatures of habit and we do the same things every single day that it's going to continue just to sit there and take up space but here's the other thing and where I think that way sometimes overvalue these items so I paid 350 dollars for this that's a lot of money right so in my head this is a 350 dollar appliance and so for me just to try and sell it on Facebook marketplace or even donate it seems ludicrous right because I spent three hundred and fifty dollars and I'm giving away three hundred and fifty dollars but here's the problem it's not actually a 350 dollar appliance if I'm not using it the value of this item if it is just sitting in my cabinet taking up space not being used is $0 or if you want to be an extremist it's actually costing me money because I am storing it I am heating it and cooling it and you know keeping it in climate-controlled storage and in a very valuable storage space in my kitchen because I don't have a lot of kitchens cabinet space and extra storage space so it like I don't just give out space in here to anything right and so then it's actually costing me money and it's costing me valuable space so this is not an asset this is not a 350 dollar asset in my life anymore no it's an expense to me and it is taking up space so what is the real value of it well I would probably have to go on Facebook marketplace and see what people are even getting for these right now and that's the value of it if it's no longer in my house then it has value because then I could trade somebody money for this item and have money back in my pocket and then it actually is adding some value but right now this just taking up cupboard space in my kitchen it has zero value to me if not negative value if I was really going to get tough on it and charge it for storage space so I know these types of items are the absolute hardest to part with if we have spent a lot of money on them maybe it was given to us as a gift but a lot of times these things are also the biggest source of guilt every time we look at it we think oh I bought that and I'm not using it so better off to cut our losses now to part with it now and get back that valuable cupboard space alright next a really common question how much chopper where our food storage containers do we need probably way less than you think we I don't know for some reason we all like hoard at storage containers probably because I do know how they go missing at times we think we need lots of variety we need all of the sizes but let me show you what we have and it has been working awesome for us so we have these containers which are you probably recognize them are lunch meat containers we don't heat things up on them so we just put stuff in the fridge in them and so these are great because if anybody loses them I don't care right there I got them for free so we keep these and then we also have these meal prep containers so I'll use these to like make lunches up ahead or to portion stuff to you know go out for quick meals but I also just use them to store food in and they work awesome and I really like how they stack up so nicely and don't take up a lot of space and then last but not least I have three Pyrex bowls three different sizes with rubber lids that go on them so this is it this is all we have and we used to have those like you know small Tupperware containers a little bit bigger and a little bit bigger but what I didn't like about them is that I was always losing them in the fridge and forgetting that I had food in them and it was going bad they'd get pushed to the back and you know how that goes and so I really like that all of our food even if we just have a little bit of leftovers I still put it in one of these big containers or in one of these containers because then I'm less likely to use it so the best thing to do with Tupperware stuff if you don't know if you're gonna need it or not is to quarantine it to put it in a box keep out a minimal amount try as little as possible put it in storage mark the date and if in three months or six months you haven't pulled anything back out of it donate that stuff recycle it get rid of it because your kitchen is gonna feel a whole lot better if you don't have all these random plastic containers and lids all over the place anymore alright let's talk about decor because I've had so much fun decorating these open shelves and I told Tom we were going to use them for practical things they're not necessarily just for decoration which we do have stuff on here that we use but it's also been a fun place to decorate but what I like about it is that it's stuff that's up off the counters even these canisters those aren't gonna stay there I need to pack them away because they're usually on the shelves but they didn't go with my Christmas stuff but what I do like is that everything is up off the counter on these shelves and so when it comes to kitchen decor we just we just want to be strategic about it it's fun right we want to have some fun stuff in our kitchen to decorate with but if at all possible try and keep your counters clear whether it's decor or stuff you use every single day if you look at the brain science find it if once you clean your kitchen you look around and there's still stuff out on the counters our brain still registers that it's not done the work is incomplete there's more that needs to be done and so by having our counters totally cleared out though literally the only thing we have on our counters now is our coffee maker toaster instant pot stand mixer it's heavy like the stand mixer is heavy but honestly I use it maybe maybe once a month and so I can lug it out when I want to use it but I would challenge you just to try having your counters completely cleared off and test it out for a week or two see what it feels like see what other people in your household think of it but I'm guessing that once you clear up all your counters you're not going to go back because there's something about it that mentally just feels really good and one of my top questions for any kind of decluttering but especially in the kitchen is do I want to have to handle this item again so this is called deferred decision-making so if I hold up something from one of my cabinets and I'm like yeah I haven't used it in the last year and don't know that I would be able to use it in the next year but I'm just not sure my mom gave it to me so I should probably keep it or you know I spent $50 on that so I should probably keep it just in case if you have that thought process going through your head say stop timeout do I want to have to handle this item again in another six months or another year when I go to simplify or declutter my space again do I want to come across this same item again and spend more time on it again or do I just want to part ways with it now and not ever have to deal with it again and even take the risk that I might possibly maybe want it to use it again someday but trusting that I could find it again on Facebook marketplace I could find it again at a thrift store I could borrow it from a friend a neighbor or a family member that my house my kitchen doesn't have to be a warehouse for all the things where every single thing that I could possibly use so that I can keep it simplified and have it feel like a good place to be even like I said taking the risk that I might need that thing someday but honestly once you donate it you are never going to think about it again all right next up let's talk about pots and pans we literally keep three pots and pans so I have this like middle size with the strainer lid which I really like this is from Amazon I'll link to it down below and then we have this bigger pot with a clear lid which can also go in the oven like a Dutch oven which I really like I like the clear lid that I can see through it while it's cooking and then one frying pan down there and they all fit really easily in this bottom drawer which I especially love and then in the basement I also have a stockpot that I keep so a big pot but I rarely use that and then we have an actual Dutch oven that I keep in this cabinet but besides that that's it like I don't have a saucepan anymore but I just use this pan and it works just fine a but literally never come across an occasion where I needed more pots and pans it also we only have three burners on our stove that works so that could be part of it but again the season that I'm in that we're in for cooking right now is efficiency is quick is cooking the same things over and over and over again which is fine and we're all fine at that and I actually really like as we've simplified our meal planning I cook at home more it doesn't take brainpower I had really come to realize that trying new recipes all the time was actually really stressful so instead I have a whole video on meal planning but instead we've been able to decrease our grocery inventory in our kitchen by cooking the same meals all over the time but then it also too means that I can keep our pots and pans really simplified and not feel like I'm missing anything need anything but the best part of it is that I don't have stacks and stacks of dirty pots and pans and frying pans and dishes next to the sink because we only have three and like if you dirty the frying pan and you want to fry something else like you have to wash it like there's just no way around that and that is awesome and I love it but probably the biggest question I want to ask you is how do you want your kitchen to feel what season of life are you in are you in a season where you're doing lots of different types of cooking and you're trying different recipes all the time or are you in a season where you need an efficiency kitchen that mostly you're cooking the same foods day in and day out that by having your kitchen highly simplified you know we like to use the vacation home example or you have just the stuff you need and nothing else where you open the cabinets and the drawers in there half full 1/3 full would that feel really nice and would it be more likely then that you would do more cooking at home if you were working in that type of kitchen a lot of times this stuff it finds its way into our kitchen we buy it because we think we need it we use it one time or not at all and then it takes up permanent residence in our house and so I've said this before but I'm really surprised me one day when he said when the kitchen is clean I feel like things are under control and I was like wow as I thought about that I was like yeah you're right like when the kitchens cleaned it's like ok like things are good and then you kind of want to pick up the rest of the house quick and it does it it's the center of our home and for not just me but for my whole family everybody really likes it when the kitchen is clean so what do I have to do to get to that point where I can keep my kitchen clean on a regular basis to say we are we're in a busy season right now so we're gonna HIGHLY simplify our house we're gonna create a vacation kitchen an efficiency kitchen so that we're more likely to cook in it and it's gonna be a much more enjoyable place to be so if this sounds like something you would like then we have to get extra tough on the stuff in our kitchen and speaking of not having tons of dishes piled up next to the sink we also earlier this year simplified our everyday dishes our plates are bowls our cups to have one setting per person in our family and I started it as just kind of an experiment the kids were getting old enough where they could wash their own dishes so I wanted them to start taking responsibility for that and I just was so tired of at the end of the day having so many dishes stacked up next to the sink so we came up with one place setting well I I came up with one place setting for each person and then everyone's been watching them you can either wash it and put it in the dish rack next to the sink to dry or run it through the dishwasher at the end of the day but it has and awesome it has made such a big difference in not having so many dishes stacked up by the sink and again it's the same principle of in the past if somebody dirtied a bowl and then they wanted another bowl what do they do take out another one and especially with six people in our family that's a lot of dishes throughout the day it's it's physically impossible to have stacks and stacks the dishes annexed our sink now because we don't have that many dishes and it's made a huge difference in how our kitchen feels but also with me not feeling overwhelmed at the end of the day because it is very quick to clean up our kitchen now and I will say this I love it Tom doesn't Tom doesn't like it at all a lot of times I still keep all of our mill mac dishes down in the basement in a box and so there's been times where I've gone away for a few days or a week and he pulls out the extra dishes and I'm like that's totally fine if you're in charge of the dishes then you can choose what works best for you but most of the time I'm still in charge of the kitchen and the dishes and that's what works best for me so he's like alright I'll let you do it that's okay and so of course it depends on other members of your household and if that would work for you but if there's any possible way it would work I've heard from lots of other friends too that it has been a game changer and it's made a big difference with how their kitchens feel all right well there you have it all of my best decluttering questions when it comes to simplifying your kitchen but the biggest thing I can tell you is you have permission to get rid of things whether you've spent money on them they've been a gift we need our kitchen to function really well if we're gonna use it right otherwise I know how it goes it becomes a disaster it's messy we don't want to cook in it we end up eating out and so it really is important to get this room simplified and functioning well our whole family will benefit from it so I'd love to know what things are you struggling with in your kitchen what are your favorite questions when it comes to simplifying the kitchen or if you have simplify your kitchen how do you like it tell us it down below and encourage others because it's so many friends read through the comments and get more ideas and encouragement from there as well so thank you for leaving your comments too but a thumbs up is I always appreciate it especially if you'd like to see more videos like this I hope you subscribe because we're gonna be doing lots more guided to cutters together it's more fun we do it together right I'll definitely look forward to visiting it with you again soon

Channel: The Minimal Mom

Views: 488,062

Keywords: minimalism, family minimalism, minimalist, the minimal mom, the minimalist mom, minimalist home, declutter, decluttering, kitchen, how to declutter my kitchen, tips, guided declutter, simple living

Id: u-xaR-otSTs

Length: 15min 38sec (938 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 05 2019