The Big Summer Kitchen Clear Out!

We’ve talked a lot about decluttering here on the My Appliances blog – and it’s with good reason: it’s one of the most-searched for topics on Google in relation to the kitchen, aka the hub of the home.

And while the kids are off for the summer holidays, why not make the most of that? You can rope them into helping you declutter, since two or three pairs of hands are certainly better than one. Incentivise them by giving them some extra pocket money, or maybe a little extra time on their games console. That way, everyone’s a winner.

Here are our top tips and ideas for a kitchen that looks like the one in the photo above…

Make a Feature of Kids’ Art Work

If your noticeboard is starting to look like a mini art gallery (and therefore you can’t find that important invite when you need it) the first thing you can do is carefully unpin your kids’ artwork and consider what you’d like to do with it.

Would you like to store it somewhere safer, or can you make a feature of it? Plenty of people turn their children’s creative masterpieces into art, putting it pride of place in the kitchen by framing it and hanging it up. Why not think about doing that? Your wall space may be currently unused and a little bare-looking, and your noticeboard could do with freeing up. Make your little ones feel part of the process by helping them pick out suitable frames.

Time for a Purge

The easiest way to clear out your cupboard is to empty them onto the worktops and go from there. If you own a label maker, older children could help by making the tags for marking up different plastic containers containing, say, cereal or rice.

You could also use this cupboard clear out as an opportunity to work out which food is getting eaten and which is getting pushed to the back. Now, you can plan your big shop much easier; why not take the kids along with you and you can choose what they’d like to snack on together?

Be Ruthless

Make life as easy as possible for yourself when the new school term begins by being ruthless now. The kids can help you declutter, by packing things up for the charity, or even holding an outdoor sale to flog any unwanted kitchen utensils and whatnot. Can tins of food be put to one side now, in time for the school harvest festival? Think ahead and you’ll be glad you did.

Plan for Back-to-School

When September rolls around, it’s a good idea to be as organised as possible – so don’t put off your kitchen clear out. And since the kitchen is the most-used room in the home, are there ways in which you and your kids can work together to make it even more functional.

Make space for essentials, so they’re easily grabbed when you’re running out of the door. Do you have a dedicated coat hook in the hallway for your kids’ coats, so they’re not left strewn over the kitchen table? And can you perhaps pop a ‘snack box’ in the cupboard, full of ‘dry store’ things like boxes of raisins and other ready-to-eat items. That way, the kids can pick up what they need for their school bag and be out of the door in mere minutes.

Remember: involve your kids in the decluttering mission and those jobs you’ve been putting off for a while will seem less of a chore.

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Until next time…