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Most of us overestimate how long a chore will take. Try to time yourself emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the counter or folding a load of dish towels. I bet it’ll take less than 5 minutes! To keep your kitchen organized everyday, here are seven tricks to make these dreaded tasks more manageable on a daily basis.
1. Go through one refrigerator bin, toss spoiled food and wipe up spills. Same with refrigerator shelves: If you’ve got 5 minutes, take the food out of one shelve, wipe clean the shelve, then put the food back. If you do this every 2 or 3 days, you won’t have to spend hours once a month to fully clean the refrigerator.
2. Move your laundry to the next stage: If your table linen, tea towels, or napkins are dirty, wash them. If they’re wet, dry them. If they’re dry, fold them. If they’re folded, put them away.
3. Free up more workable surface area by adjusting a shelf (most kitchen cabinets dividers or bookshelves are movable) to accommodate a larger item that needs to be stored—like a blender that’s been sitting out.
4. Clean out your freezer or pantry thoroughly. You can’t really do this in 10 minutes but it will keep you feeling organized for months.
5. Check and remove food regularly when you’ve got 3 minutes, this way you can clean up shelves and bins. Make sure to toss anything that is out of date.
6. Match your food storage containers with their corresponding lids. There’s nothing worse than a missing lid when you need to freeze leftovers or pack your lunch for the office.
7. To store the keepers and food containers, stack bins in graduating size order and gather lids separately to free up space. An organizer mounted on a cabinet door is a good solution.
(Photo: courtesy of Blum)
