Green Cleaning through the Seasons: Part Two-Kitchens

Last week we began a new series entitled: "Green Cleaning Through the Seasons."  To start this series, we began with the office.  If you missed this great launching point, click "Organize my Work!" and get linked to the nuts and bolts of why we need to begin here and how. 

This week we are heading to the kitchen!

If we were to take a survey of the top ten New Year's Resolutions individuals make, one of the Top Ten would be—eat healthier!  Eating healthy on a consistent basis is best done by eating at home where you have greater control over the ingredients used in your meals.  Eating healthy meals at home are also less expensive than eating out.  Changing our eating habits will reveal changes we need to make in our food storage areas and refrigerators. 

To advance this resolution, we need to get our kitchen in shape!  Let's get to work…

Step One:  Marry your Ideals with Reality

If your New Year's Resolution to eat healthier means you are going on a complete vegetarian diet, don't jump to the conclusion that your frying pans need to go!  Eating healthy may be a process you implement in steps over time; such as eating one more fruit every day or eating an extra serving of vegetables a day.  However, if you need to eliminate red meat from your diet, then maybe you should give your steak knives away.  The bottom line-be realistic!

Step Two:  Map your kitchen

Organize the kitchen with "ease of use" in mind.  For example, keep your frying pans closest to the stove.  Cooking utensils should be near the stove as well.  Plates and bowls in a cupboard that compliments ease of use.  I keep my bowls in a cupboard above the cereal containers.  When re-organizing and green cleaning my kitchen, keeping "ease of use" in my planning helped me create the best system for an optimal functioning kitchen.  The same will benefit you I'm sure!

Step Three:  Gutting and green cleaning

Remove everything in the cabinets. Put the items on the kitchen table, dining room table, and in boxes if need be.  Thoroughly, and all-naturally clean all surfaces in the cabinets with Brightly Green Dish Wash or Brightly Green Multi-Purpose Cleaner and a dampened cloth.    

Return items to the cabinets with your "ease of use" plan in mind.  NOTE:  not everything has to go back in the cabinets!  If you or a family member has the tendency to knock things out of the cabinets when getting an item out, chances are your cabinets are too full.  Return items to the cabinets if they are an essential need, or you love it.  Unnecessary extras should be boxed up and taken to a resale store. Holiday dishes could be stored in a tote in the location of other holiday items.

Do the same process of removal and green cleaning with your kitchen drawers.

Step Four: Stretching space

If you completed step three and still have items that need a home, consider creative storage solutions. 

Hang pots and pans from a ceiling rack.

Add a magnetic strip to the back of the backsplash to hold knives.

Attach hooks to the inside of cabinet doors for extra storage.  This works great for pot holders, car keys.

Step Five:  Food storage and the refrigerator

Gut and green clean as mentioned in Step Three.  When returning items to the pantry and refrigerator, keep your New Year's Resolution to eat healthier mind!  Now is the time to throw out those bags of chips, cookies, and other munchies that are counter to the changes you want to make.  If they remain in your kitchen, they pose as a temptation.

Check the expiration dates on food in the pantry and refrigerator, tossing out expired items.

Gutting the pantry and refrigerator will make room for the healthy, alternative snacks you want and provide more space for all those delicious fruits and vegetables!

We hope this enhances your efforts for a healthier you in 2016!

Keep following along as we continue Green Clean through the Seasons!

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