Still feeling the organizing vibe? There’s no better place to start your organizing frenzy than in the kitchen. Think about it…whether you love to cook or hate to cook, everyone eats. Cooking and eating in an organized kitchen is better. If you have health goals, organizing your kitchen can support you with a bigger payoff than any other single effort can.

10 Things All Organized Kitchens Have In Common

1. The counters are mostly, if not completely, cleared off.
2. A designated space holds the non-fridge food, whether it’s an organized pantry closet, a cabinet, or a nearby bookshelf.
3. Kitchen things have an obvious “home” near where they get used, and returning them to their homes is easy.
4. Spaces are labeled, making it easier for everyone who lives there to put things away.
5. Dish towels and hot pads fit neatly in the allotted drawer or space, with a little room to spare.
6. Disposable goods are kept to a minimum…or eliminated. (Napkins, paper plates, plastic forks)
7. The “dumping ground” spots of the mudroom and paper desk/catch-all are not in the kitchen.
8. Cookbooks and electronics, anything needed for recipes, are organized and neatly stored.
9. Dirty dishes have a circular route, either through the dishwasher to the cabinets, or through the hand wash sink to the storage spaces. Dishes don’t sit out overnight.
10. The floor isn’t used for storage. No soda on the floor. No bags of groceries under tables.

If your kitchen has all of these qualities, you’ve probably noticed that it’s easier to keep the whole kitchen clean, whether you do the deed yourself or hire a cleaning service.

If you need to organize your kitchen, you might need to break it down into a few mini-organizing sessions. Tackle targeted kitchen zones for just 15-minutes each: counter, the fridge, the freezer, the pantry, the table, and so on. Organize everything, but not all at once.

You practiced yesterday using the five simple steps of SORT and Succeed. It’s a bigger space today, but it’s the same process. Remember to do all five steps, from start to finish. Write down step 1 (for example: Organize the kitchen counter) AND claim your reward for today.

Do you think organizing your kitchen this year will help you reach your health goals? How many of these 10 things that all organized kitchens have in common are you already nailing?