Less Muss, Less Fuss

Here's a hot kitchen tip! If you'd like to have more fun cookin', experience quicker and easier clean-up and have more time and energy for the very reason you're in the kitchen, then you'll want to get the clutter out and create "centered" work stations.

Here's why: The kitchen is your family's multipurpose food, activity and people station-the hub of your home, and a very busy area. This means it gets messy quickly, which is not only stressful for you, the chief cook and bottle-washer, but for family members as well. Bottom line on why the kitchen should be clutter-free: People + kitchen activities + overload = mess, lack of control, and fatigue.

Here's how in six steps:

1. List your "center" choices. Think about what you like to do and need to do in your kitchen.

Do you love to bake? Then you need a "baking center."

Does your family take lunch to work or school? Then you need a "lunch
center."

Do you feed your pet in or near the kitchen? Then you need a "pet center."

Is there a phone in your kitchen? Then you need an "information center."

You get the idea. List all the activities you like to do and need to do in your kitchen, and those activities become your "centers." Here's a list of typical kitchen centers:

Tableware; Cooking; Baking; Cleanup; Pantry, Information; Lunch; and Microwave.

Customize your kitchen by adding centers germane to your lifestyle, interests, and family needs.

2. Empty the entire kitchen. Yes, the ENTIRE kitchen. Chances are slim you will put things back where they came from, and you'll definitely put back much less-you'll sort through everything, look for keepers (only things you like, use, need, want, and have room for), discard the rest, and reload your spaces with your "centers" in mind. Clear off the top and front of the fridge, and empty out the dishwasher (even if the dishes are dirty). The goal: completely empty drawers, cupboards and surfaces-you want EVERYTHING out so you can see what you're working with. Don't get hung up on where to put stuff or how to sit and stack it. Just empty spaces as quickly as possible.

3. Clean out the cupboards and drawers; lay new shelf / drawer paper.

4. Choose "center" locations, using your list as your guide. Think "outside the box" while doing this. For instance: If you have grade-schoolers and you'd like more mealtime help from them, why not stack table settings in an under-counter cupboard closest to the table so they can get to them easily to set the table? If there's a toddler in the house that could wreck dish havoc, just install a kinder-lock on the cupboard door.

5. Streamline the contents. Touch each item and ask yourself if you still like it, use it, need it, want it, or have room for it. If you answer "no" to any of these questions, the item goes either to charity, trash, a garage sale, or put in an apartment box for the day your children leave the nest. Also, watch for things that you do need, like, want, or use, that belong in another part of your home. They go into a "someplace else" box and will be dealt with as you streamline the rest of your home. Put this box in an out-of-the-way location.

6. Load centers with appropriate contents. Quality-over-quantity is the approach here. Avoid duplicates of anything and place high value on multi-purpose things. Why give precious space to a hotdog cooker, when a microwave, saucepan, or grill will do the same job?

Watch for our upcoming DVD on creating a clutter-free and centered kitchen. In the meantime, if you have questions or comments on this tip, email us-we want you to experience less muss and less fuss-to find out for yourself how much more fun and how much easier it is to be cookin' in a clutter-free and centered kitchen!