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Clearing Kitchen Countertops

and Keeping your countertops clutter free!

A reader asked Amber: I have an open kitchen and the countertop is always full with mail, cookies, fruit, and junk. How can I organize something (meaning her kitchen) which collects a variety of stuff?

Amber’s Response: Because your kitchen has an open layout, it’s important to be able to stash your stuff to decrease visible clutter. It’s common for mail, keys, fruit, shopping bags, and misc. stuff to fill countertops. A kitchen is the main hub for most families and will always gather or collect clutter quickly because that’s where families spend the majority of their time. These organizing tips will hopefully help stop the clutter from piling up.

 Paper Clutter

• If you have a home office, retrain yourself to drop the mail in the office instead of in the kitchen.
• If you don’t have a home office, create a mini office in your kitchen by creating a countertop filing system. Just label some hanging file folders with action verbs or family members names and you’re all set.
• Do your best to sort through your mail each day. If that’s not realistic for your daily routine, put it in a decorative container as a holding spot until you’re ready to tackle it.
• Take the newspaper and magazines straight to your magazine holder or coffee table.

 The Miscellaneous Mess

• Fruit options: Stash your fruit in the refrigerator instead of leaving it out or buy only enough fruit that will fit in a fruit bowl on your counter. Steer clear from buying in bulk- bulk items take up too much room
•  Designate 2 specific times of the day that you will spend 10-15 minutes clearing off the counter tops. The more you do this the faster you’ll get at this quick clean up time.
•  If the miscellaneous items belong on different floors of you home, don’t run up and down the steps a zillion times. Gather items to go up and down on the steps and then make one trip when you’re finished gathering all the items to put away. Promise yourself the steps will be clear when you go to bed- otherwise things can lay on steps for days.
•  Get your family involved. If the kids are old enough they will know where things should be put back. So engage their help to put away their things.
•  If you have 2 kids, toss the random Legos, playing cards, Barbie shoes and hair ties into the two baskets. Each basket belongs to one of the kids. Once the basket is full they put their stuff away or mom tosses the contents. Or at the end of each day, the kids put their stuff away.
•  Most importantly have specific spots and permanent places for everything. This is key and makes cleaning up and putting things away a cinch.