I wanted to mention this little project in case anyone else has the same maddening issue with kitchen clutter. I have this small area in our kitchen that just seems to accumulate all sorts of junk- mail, recipes, coupons, books, magazines and on and on.
It is one area that drives me nuts because no matter how often I sort through it all, the clutter seems to just come right back.
So I found an idea to try and tame the kitchen counter clutter that I wanted to share.
I bought a file pocket that adheres onto the wall (this one is the Martha Stewart collection from Staples). I added a few file folders with the most common types of items that wind up in our stacks- here are my categories:
Recipes
Paperwork to Return (i.e. school paperwork etc..)
Coupons
Artwork (all the stuff the girls bring home so I can sort through the keepers and the tossers)
Stickers/Coloring Sheets (when I pack lunches I usually tuck in stickers as a surprise and the coloring sheets keep them busy when I am making dinner.)
Anyway, that tends to be the junk we collect and I just went through the stack and sorted it all into file folders. When I am ready to do a shopping trip I can grab that file for coupons. When I am doing our menu planning, I can grab the recipes file to go through what I want to make during the week.
So far it has worked out pretty nicely and we have been free of clutter for a few days now.
I will say this specific sleeve is really tight and won’t fit really thick files. It has served it’s purpose for us so far but if you want something larger, another idea would be a larger size file box:
This is one I got at Target and it can just sit on the counter or it could be mounted to the wall as well. This would have a lot more space if you wanted to manage all the bills, the family calendar, important papers etc…
For my kitchen file center, I decided to stick the weekly menu plan onto the front of mine. I usually put it on the front of the fridge but the less stuff that gets put up there the cleaner I can fool people into thinking our house is.
So there you have it! A simple idea to tame the kitchen clutter!
BEFORE
AFTER
Does anyone else have suggestions for taming kitchen clutter?
Thank you for posting this! I have an identical pile going non-stop! agh!
I wish I could say that I had just a small spot in my kitchen that acquired clutter, but in this house it’s truly any flat surface. It’s a constant battle! Sometimes I look around and wonder where all the stuff came from …. I do everything from my kitchen island so I really need something much like your second idea for my bank account ledger, work notebook, papers, etc, etc. Thanks for the motivation!
I was just contemplating a new idea for our home because we have the exact same problem!! I sat up late last night sorting through the huge stack of junk, and thought “there has to be a better way!!”
Your Hot Mess ‘Before’ photo is exactly what my counter looks like! We both have printed coupons waiting to be clipped on top. Ugh, I don’t have a good tip to share…just don’t forget to return those library books (looks like) before they’re swallowed up & become overdue!
Thanks for the idea. I have been working since last night. I use a basket but I like the file idea better.
I think it’s one of life’s challenges to try and tame the chaotic mess that shockingly accumulates from out of no where! I just love pretty organizational ideas too. It was so tempting to purchase those pretty Martha Stewart folders at Staples.
For my clutter, I had to upgrade to binders – one for all the restaurant menus I collect and another for all the past recipes I’ve printed (because I can’t cook without a recipe). I also have a small decorative box for dumping all my receipts into when I come home from shopping. I then sort thru them at the end of the week to find out which ones I need to enter the surveys on before filing in my larger monthly receipt folder. It’s surprising just how many discounts you can receive by taking a quick survey – discounts on car washes, jamba juice, burger places, etc.
I also use the same tupe of box with handmade cardboard dividers for organizing my expired or unwanted coupons. It seems to be a faster and more neatly way of organizing them so I can quickly send them friends and the military.
Would love to hear more ideas to keep organized!
Thanks so much! Love the larger Target organizer. Will give it a try!
Thank you for the encouragement Michelle! I was going to post a recipe binder idea too because I just switched from an accordion file to binder myself! There was a $5 off $20 Martha Stewart coupon last week in the ad so I felt like I got good prices on several items.
I am not a particularly talented designer but I want to focus on some of the projects we are working on because it is Mission Organization for me this year. I am working the entire house top to bottom.
You are totally right on the receipts. I have cheated myself out of lots of discounts and freebies by not paying enough attention and then things expire.
-Charlene
Endcapps,
LOL- I found a spot for those books and it is not in the kitchen. 😉
-Charlene
That’s your hot mess? Well you haven’t seen mine 🙂
I agree your “hot mess” looks staged. I did something similar for my desk combining an idea from pinterest and an “All You” magazine article. I made a file box from a cereal box and covering it with cute paper and some embellishments. I used a family sized frosted flakes box. The files were labled “to pay”, “to do later” , ‘to do this week”, “to read” “, “to shred”, I added a file for family history and coupons since those things seem to stack up on my desk. I’ve been using it for a few weeks now and it’s been going really well.
Rachel,
Actually that was the stack on the day I happened to tackle this project. I didn’t “stage” anything ;).
-Charlene
I should also add this suggestion which I think can be an easy, fun and charitable project for kids (I don’t have kids so I do it myself).
If you have a stack of newspapers, which I think we all do from couponing, lay out the larger pages in a stack . Roll 25 – 35 pages and rubberband them. These rolls can then be donated to local animal shelters who use them to line the cat & puppy cages. Since I live in Sacramento County, the Sac SPCA will take them. After I had stocked up everyone’s cabins with paper, I decided to do this to save room in my recycle bin. Shredded paper can also be used for cats with urinary tract infections (as recommend by the vets). Check with your vet office or shelter first before donating or using.
Also, with Spring Cleaning starting up, any old towels and blankets can be donated to animal shelters. If one is not close by, most local vet offices and boarding kennels will also gladly take them.
thanks for the sticker suggestion! you are such a great mom! 🙂
Pam,
That is not always the case for sure but thank you ;). I make them little “homemade happy meals” all the time because we often spend the entire day away from the house- errands, the park, the gym, preschool is 3 hours etc… So I have divided up Tupperware containers that look like lunchables and then I put in whatever- sandwich, carrots, crackers, chips and salsa, cheese slices, cucumbers etc… and they get a “prize” too which is the stickers.
Sometimes it is a lifesaver- the other night we went to Ikea which is a 30 minute drive there and back and I made homemade happy meals with chicken nuggets, sliced apples and cinnamon and carrots and they were happily munching away and then they put the stickers on the containers.
-Charlene
I recently heard the idea of having a file folder for each family member (each person gets a different color), so you can put papers they need to sign or return etc in them. I got rid of my recipe box (it was tiny!) and replaced it with a binder. I sorted the recipes by type and stuck them in plastic sleeves. When I get a new recipe and don’t have time to properly file it, I stick it in the inside pocket.
I have a notebook I keep next to our phone. I have had it for years, and it has been a life-saver. The sections I have are very simple: at the front I have clear, plastic baseball card pages, and I keep business cards from workmen, or whomever, in there. (business card pages are never large enough for any business card I’ve ever received.) The next section is for Menus. The next for Telephone Lists. I have every phone list from pre-school through hugh-school, including PTC, and Sunday School, CCD, etc. I do not throw them away as outdated, because I refer back to them more often than you might think. Then there is a section for Church, and one for School, and one for Municipal. I keep this on my kitchen counter, only taking 2″ of space, right next to my “charging Station”, a large bowl with cables, Bluetooth headsets, pods, etc. in it under a multi-socket electrical plug. Including our landline phone, telephone books, and tablets, everthing takes up less than 12″ on the counter and is organized and accessible.