15 Things Your Kitchen Doesn't Need

You know, one of my main reasons for simplifying our

kitchen

from the beginning was that I was so tired of it always being a mess, a huge mess, no matter what day of the week at what time of day there were usually dishes that

need

ed there were

things

piled up. on the counter and it was constantly a mess, so my hope was simplifying, was that it would be easier to keep clean which would mean I would cook more and I was pleasantly surprised that this was actually the case. worked, so today let's talk about some

things

that I think you could completely get rid of in

your

kitchen

or at the very least reduce so that

your

kitchen is also really easy to keep clean and you find that you enjoy cooking more too.

Hi, I'm Dawn from Minimalist Mom. We love sharing tips and tricks to help you simplify your home and I also have a really fun announcement today. I have to team up with Kats from Clutterbug and Dana because my sob comes clean and we. I created a course called take back your house, so I'll talk a little more about that towards the end, but of course there are links in the description and it was so fun and awesome and I think the information is gold, but anyway We'll talk about That's a little bit closer to the end now, let's talk about some things that I think you could get rid of in your kitchen to make it run better and be easier to keep clean, isn't that what we all want?

Why does it have to be so difficult to keep cooking on top? Well, the first thing I get criticized for is simplifying our dishes, so here's what I would recommend so you can decide how often you want to do it with both hands. wash the dishes or use the dishwasher, so for me it was okay that everyone had a plate, a bowl and a cup because I am okay with my kids washing the dishes by hand after using them, for me what I discovered is that this It means there is never ever a big pile of dishes next to the sink.

You know we'll be using our pots and pans all day long, but it's almost physically impossible for the dishes to stack up because we don't have as many now. On the other hand, many say, "Well, I'd just like to run the dishwasher once a day, be able to get through the day, throw everything in and run it, that's a great goal too, but for most of us we have enough dishes to prepare." ". It's several days, if not a week, and what does that mean? Large stacks of dishes next to the sink. I know this is contradictory.

We've talked about this before about simplifying your dishes, but the logic is that we never have clean dishes, so we

need

to. having more just makes it possible for you to have bigger piles, I mean you're physically washing the same amount of dishes on any given day, it's just that you have to wash them now otherwise you won't have dishes tomorrow, so I think it's definitely worth it worth trying. This is where a quarantine container can be very useful. uh, Tom didn't accept this at all at first and now he understands it, especially since our children have reached ages where they can wash their own dishes. like, oh yeah, now I get it, like we never have big stacks of dishes and it's magical, that's been the number one thing that's made our kitchen easier to keep clean, is limiting plates, bowls, all those kinds of dishes, now similarly, I also limit my pots and pans and you don't have to go that far, so anything I'm talking about today you have to adapt it, but I'll just tell you what we're doing and it's working very well for us. good. and then you decide if it might work for you too, okay, okay, pots and pans, uh, we only have three burners that work, we still only have three burners.

I've been saying this for about four years since we did it and it's totally Okay, you just adapt well so we only have three pots and pans and then I have a pot and a dutch oven in the basement so this is what It's great, though let me show you a new frying pan I just got. This was our old frying pan, it's stainless steel. I try to stay away from Teflon because you read that it's not very good for you, especially once it starts to come off, so we've had this pan since before Tom and I got married.

For over 13 years, 14 years, I think I could cook well with it and not have everything stuck together and it wasn't hard to wash, but since other members of our family have been using it more and learning to cook more. Things seem to get so stuck and then they don't want to wash them and they're always dirty, so here's another thing to get rid of things in your kitchen that you don't like: They were constantly sitting next to the sink soaked with water. in it so if we have pots and pans and other things that we don't like maybe we should get rid of them and that was the perfect time because it's Christmas so you can ask for some upgrades but the good thing is that we have so few pots and pans I don't mind spending a little money to replace my one pan because I know it gets used a ton and I can justify that cost so I actually just bought this one on Amazon it's not that pretty and then it's the copper so that

doesn

't stick.

I'll link it because I think it would make a great Christmas gift, but it also has a cover. This pan never had a lid so I was putting like I would put like my cookie sheets on top of it on your baking sheet so it worked like it was actually totally fine it really wasn't a big deal but now that we're updating I decided I'd have too a lid so this is our new pan okay let's get on with the controversial stuff well probably everything in the kitchen is controversial so okay let's talk about storage containers so I decided to get rid of the very small containers because if I put something here and I put it. the refrigerator is like it's gone, it's like it

doesn

't exist anymore because this container was too small and they would just push it back and it would fall back, so even if I only have a little bit of food that I'm putting away, I still always put it in a large container so it doesn't get lost and I have a designated spot for leftovers in our refrigerator and that has made a big difference.

Another thing we probably need to declutter and reduce are the actual storage containers and So my favorite tip in this regard comes from Dana, from a slop, who says to store your containers with the lids on. Yes, this means you can't store as many, but we don't need as many as everyone. save it and this is definitely something that people accumulate in kitchens. I've seen it and what's so frustrating is that you have to figure out how to store it well, so the pushback is always that you can't store that many. containers do have the lid on and that is what we consider good, but aren't they that annoying?

You have to save the containers. You have some that are the same size and some that are not. You have to find a way. storing caps, so it takes a lot of effort to get all of this stuff stored to make sure we always end up with more caps, right? Did you find that too? By combining and storing them, they are self-limiting. like you can't ever accumulate too many and they'll always have the matching lid and it's actually a lot easier to reach into your closet and pull this out than to have to unstack them and lift the lid, I'm telling you.

You should try again, use the quarantine bin, throw your extra bins in there, especially the small ones, and see if you miss them, but I'm guessing you'll be a fan of this system, so another thing I've talked about quite a bit It's about getting rid of anything in your refrigerator and also anything extra on your kitchen counters, but I think I have to give a caveat here, so I've been learning more about the clutterbug cast, their different organizing styles and are Basically, it's based on two different distinctions: Are you a visual person? It needs to be in front of you or it's like it doesn't exist or you're non-visual and prefer things to be behind closed doors.

You are also a macro-organizer. or a micro and a lot of the methods I've recommended have been based on how I am, i.e. I want things to be out of sight so I really like having clean kitchen cabinets, it's a visual cue for me that the kitchen is clean. and it's all done and for me it really feels good to have it so simplified and I'm a macro organizer so I like big categories, like in the big bins in our bathroom, just throw everything in it or in my filing system, categories big and spacious and That works great for me, however, I am realizing that we are not all the same in this, so you may want to have some things in your refrigerator or on your counters, but here is the problem, If everything is visual, this is what cass says if everything is visual, then nothing is visual, so if your entire counter has stuff on it or your entire refrigerator, well, nothing really catches your eye or reminds you that it needs to be done right. , so if you're going to keep things in your refrigerator, it needs to be some strategic things if it's something that you need to do or that you need to see or you're going to forget about it similarly with your counters, are there some things that need to be left out, like your lunch bag? in the morning or I don't know other things like that, but again, visual people tend to leave out too much and then it defeats the purpose, so be selective about what you leave out or if you find yourself being a person who likes . stuff out of sight, then go ahead and put it all in cabinets and drawers for me, that feels so much better and I know for those of you who have remodeled our kitchen, I wanted to have more open shelving and now I know myself this way.

In fact, I'm glad we did and we only did that little section, so there's something to keep in mind and we'd better talk about cups of coffee. These are my favorite coffee mugs from Target that are still available, but I know that for some reason the coffee mugs may be a little hard to part with, especially if they were given to you as a gift or as a souvenir from somewhere you've traveled to. , so I know they can be a little complicated, but let's be realistic about how many we use and remember this too. A coffee mug was designed to be used for drinking coffee and if it's sitting in the back of your cabinet or on the top shelf collecting dust, it's not really serving its purpose, so wouldn't it be better to give it to someone?

Who is actually going to use it for its purpose instead of just sitting and collecting dust? So that's one way to look at it, let the coffee cups fulfill their purpose in life. If that doesn't work, I don't know, it's again. an inventory thing like having less things to take care of and push around and dust, I don't know, that makes me feel good, but if that doesn't work, let the coffee cup serve its purpose. Oh, and this goes for travel mugs too. We know we all end up with our favorites, there are some that the lids don't close properly or that leak or that don't actually keep the coffee hot.

Could we agree to part ways with those now? It's okay, it's really okay. Well, next let's talk about the manufacturers, the bread maker, the rice maker, the quesadilla maker, the panini maker, the pasta maker, the juice maker, all these things that are a single appliance designed to do practically one thing, as they will tell you, a waffle maker just like you. You can put eggs and chips in it like there are all kinds of different recipes, but are you using it for that? Are you using it for any of those purposes now? Of course, if you use your rice cooker every day, then I don't expect you to. dispose of it properly, but when was the last time you evaluated all these manufacturers in your kitchen and this is what we have to keep in mind, like our juicer, we only use it when someone gets sick, but when that happens, I'm always I'm so glad I have it and since I've gotten rid of all the other gadgets we don't use, I have room to store it in our pantry even though we only use it a dozen times a year, so it's nice to store the stuff we don't use so often if we have gotten rid of other things and if we have space for them, how about utensils?

So we just have one spatula, pancake flipper, whatever you want to call it, we have two of these. types of spatulas and the other day I was putting things away from the dishwasher and I was wondering why is this drawer, why does it feel so tight now and like things don't fit very well in here, I realized that these guys had When they came from the trailer, they were supposed to stay there and they had come all the way in here, so the drawer looked like things didn't fit right in it, so the thing is, we didn't actually need another pancake flipper, but it was just a good reminder that sometimes we just have more to have more, like I like that if this thing gets dirty, someone has to wash it before we can use it again and again, it's just that idea of ​​not having things stacked up, I like this has to be washed, so check those utensils and if you're not sure, throw them in the quarantine bin and let a few months go by and then you'll know for sure and whatever.

Nomess up your cake pan. I'm so sorry I couldn't get to all of you soon enough, but really, if you're looking for a dessert that will get everyone excited, you have to try our cake recipes that you can make. put them with gluten free cake mixes and they are so easy you literally just throw everything in the mixer so just a public service announcement please don't mess up your pan, how about serving plates, bowls and other dishes? Although We couldn't have a big gathering for Thanksgiving, we still made all the food right and that's like the day of the year that there were the most dishes right, but I was counting and we still did it.

I don't even use that many serving plates, so I love this tip for setting the table like you're celebrating Thanksgiving or whatever your biggest meal of the year is, so grab your favorite pieces and put them on the table. As if you were going to do it. Do that and then it might be safe to get rid of the rest so I'm not afraid you know we may have used a mixing bowl to serve chips sometimes or they serve multiple uses but most of us have a lot more. mixing bowls and serving bowls that we really need, so those are some places you can start in your kitchen, but really for me what made the biggest difference was limiting plates, cups, plates and bowls and especially pots and pans because we just can't get big stacks of plates anymore and that's magical, it's so good and as I mentioned at the beginning, I wanted to tell you about this course that I did with cass and dana, so cass is from clutterbug, dana is lazy to be honest and they are just two people who I felt understood that their ideas totally aligned with what I also experienced in my own home and I love that we were all messy people before we discovered these systems. that work in our house to tidy it up but also to manage it, so here's a little bit of what you can expect from that course.

Well, we're so excited to share with you our new course, Take Back Your Home, especially if you're decluttering. has not worked for you in the past we want to support you in this process. I think what makes this so special is not only that we're all talking about the same amazing ways that simplifying changes your life, but that we've all been there. We are all super lazy in recovery, we know what it's like to be mortified by your place or overwhelmed without knowing where to start and in this course you will learn all the tools, all our tips and secrets to regain control of your things and your home, so We're going to talk about three different specific areas, which is how to have less, how to really declutter, get things out of your house, how to do less, because that's what we all really want and what we're going to talk about. how to want less because ultimately that's the goal: to really change the way we look at our homes and the way we look at life.

So I'm Dawn from minimal mom. I'm Cass from Clutterbug. I'm Dana from Slopkim's Clean. and I think you'll find that we understand what you're going through. We have all been through situations where we felt overwhelmed, embarrassed, lazy, disorganized and together we will help you get your house back. I agreed to take your house back, oh okay, so no, I think it's take your hands back, oh, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, that's perfect and of course we'll put up links so you can watch the course, but is available for pre-order. Now it starts on January 1st, but we have a private Facebook group that you can also be a part of and we're going to do some Facebook gigs and stuff before the course launches and then once it launches, we'll be able to review these things together , so I'm just a great supportive community and it can also be helpful for accountability if you need any of that so it's going to be a lot of fun and one of my big things when we start talking about the Of course, the only way I I feel good about doing it is if it contains information that you can't just get from our YouTube videos, so it was important to me that there was new information and a new way of looking at it. that might fit you if other things haven't worked before and that's why I'm excited about it because I think it's different and I think that no matter what stage of life you're in, whatever gets in your way makes you that way. that you have not been able to go up to the roof of your house.

I feel like this course will be able to help you get through it and I'm really excited about it, so details below, but we'd love to see you there. and if not, that's okay, we'll continue sharing all our normal content and hope we can help you that way too. I love you. I hope you have a very good day and I will visit you again soon.