Day 16: Cooking Utensils {31 Days of Easy Decluttering}

Hilda Rodgers
Spread the love

Welcome back to 31 Days of Easy Decluttering! If you’ve missed any of the previous posts, there are links to them all here.

Today’s Easy Decluttering Project

Today we’re talking about decluttering your cooking utensils and kitchen gadgets. Most people have a lot of these.  Some are used regularly and some are not.

Having too many utensils and gadgets can make it difficult to find what you’re looking for when you need it.  Sometimes utensils get “lost” and you replace them, only to find the original one back later.

Let’s stop wasting time and money on kitchen utensils and gadgets!  Time to declutter them.

Remember the definition of clutter:  anything you don’t need, use, love, or have the space to store!

Easy Decluttering Steps

Throughout the series, you’ll follow these steps to complete each daily task.  {Don’t forget to take before and after pictures to share too!}

Note: The main purpose of this series is to declutter so don’t get overwhelmed doing too much cleaning.  Once your house is less cluttered it will be easier to clean so you can always come back and do it later!

Also, if you have the time, you can organize the space while you’re doing this step, but don’t get overwhelmed with too much organizing this month.  We’re focused on decluttering!

Purging Tips for Your Cooking Utensils

Follow the steps listed above, and use these tips as you purge (step #5) your cooking utensils and kitchen gadgets:

  • Throw out anything that’s broken or missing pieces
  • Relocate anything that doesn’t belong in your utensil/gadget drawer (or wherever you store them)
  • Donate all utensils or gadgets that you haven’t used in 3 months (except for maybe a few specialty tools that are only used occasionally)
  • Consider your cooking and baking habits and purge accordingly (i.e. if you eat a lot of take-out, you probably don’t need 6 slotted spoons or 8 spatulas/flippers, or if you rarely bake do you really need 7 whisks?)
  • Keep in mind how often you wash dishes and only keep as many utensils/gadgets as you regularly use between washings
  • Think about how often you entertain and purge serving utensils proportionately (i.e. if you don’t entertain very often, you may not need 4 cake servers or 5 soup ladles)

Pictures and Links to Inspire You

My friend Alli is did a series awhile ago on cleaning and organizing her kitchen and this was her tip from day 1 {you may have heard it before – it’s one of Peter Walsh’s favourite decluttering tricks too!}.  Put all your utensils and gadgets into a basket or box.  As you use something from the basket during the month, put it back in your utensils drawer.  Anything left in the basket at the end of the month has not been used and can be donated {except for those specialty items you only use once in awhile}.  Click her link above to read more about it – and check out her whole series – it’s fantastic!

If you’re not sure when the last time you used some of your utensils or gadgets, this is a great way to find out!  

Scattered Squirrel

It’s important as you purge your cooking utensils and gadgets to group like items together, so you can see how many of each you have.  For more on this, check out Laura’s post.

OrgJunkie

*Please share from the original source if you choose to share these pictures. If you want to share this post please use the image at the top.

If You’re On A Roll…

You can declutter more than your utensil drawer.  Look at pots, pans, bakeware, etc. and follow the same decluttering principles as above.

Good luck with today’s decluttering project!  I’d love to hear how you did, so please leave a comment and use the hashtag #31DaysEasyDecluttering when you share your pictures.

How many utensils and gadgets did you declutter today?  How do you organize your utensil drawer to keep the clutter at bay?  Any purging tips I missed?

If you need help decluttering, contact me for in-person organizing services in the Mississauga area, or virtual organizing services anywhere else.

Happy organizing decluttering!


Spread the love