Day 11: Kitchen Counters

I'm so happy with the little bit of work I did in our pantry. As of today, it is still making a difference and looking good. Today, on Day 10 of 31 Days of Decluttering and Organizing, I thought we would move to kitchen counters. This could be a quick task if you are one that has minimal items on your counter, but if you store many items there, it will likely take longer. Remember, do what you are inspired to do!

Kitchen counters are used everyday! It seems the look of them is constantly changing throughout the day. At times you may have drop zone items, such as mail or a purse, parked there. You may be cooking with lots of pots, pans and dirty dishes. Maybe you brought home groceries and not everything has been put away. Or you just cleaned up and there are clean dishes drying.

I figured it is a good time now to take a look at the items you keep on your counter on a regular basis and determine if they all need to be there? Do they ALWAYS need to be out? I looked around on my counter recently and this is what I found.

Psst...I see my mixer blades behind the mixer. I usually store those in the bowl! 

While I'm sure others have more on their counters, I tend to line mine with stuff. There are really only a few items I would remove though. Or just one actually...the blender. I was using it regularly, but now I'm not. So I should put it away. I don't like putting the Kitchen Aid stand mixer away because it is so heavy! We do use the toaster and coffee maker everyday. The rest is food.

Did you notice I have a few places where I keep like items together? I have a basket for bread items, another basket for seasonings we use everyday (or almost as frequently), and a bowl for root vegetables. If we are going to have things on the counter I like them to have a designated place to be. This way all of us know where to find the bread or the pepper for example.

And I do keep a couple things by my kitchen sink...soap, and dish brush, which I often put away if we are entertaining. I also have a couple shells nearby for decor. That is it! The sink area gets cluttered enough without having lot so things stored nearby.

So take a quick look at your counters. Do you use everything on them everyday? If not can you put some inside a cupboard? And finally, try combining some like items you need out in a basket, bowl or other appropriate container. 

It's much easier to keep our counters clean if we have less on them. At least that is my experience. What about you?