Declutter your kitchen for better health.

You may be aware of the decluttering movement that’s been popular in the last 15
years.
Well, new research says that decluttering not only makes your bedroom, garage
or kitchen look a lot better, it can also do wonders for your health, both mental
and physical health.

That’s right, keeping clothes, papers, pots and pans all over the floors and counters
means chaos and disorder and that chaos and disorder can affect your health in
a number of ways. Plus, clutter and big messes can raise cortisol levels.
And many of you may be aware that cortisol, is the stress hormone,
a type of stress that keeps you depressed and unable to lose weight.

So, if your bedroom, den or kitchen are always messy, perhaps cleaning up this
weekend will do wonders for your health and to help on this path of more
order and less chaos, here are 5 easy kitchen tricks to declutter your kitchen.

a) The Spice of Life-
Do you enjoy spices and herbs on your soups, salads and meat dishes?
If so, keep them (spices and herbs) in one place. There’s no need to buy a
a fancy spinning device–it’s easy to make your own to keep spices
within reach.
To make a lazy Susan rack:
Place a few marbles in a pie plate, then set another pie plate on top and fill
it with spice jars. The marbles let the top plate spin easily.
Another tip: This lazy Susan is also great for canned goods that get lost in
your storage room or pantry.

b) Cleaning Supplies-
Another group of items that can get lost and overwhelm a certain room
or space: Cleaning supplies. The problem with storing cleaning items
under your kitchen sink-the cabinets tend to be deep and narrow, causing
items to get lost in the back. To fix this problem-just place your supplies
on a boot tray, then slide it into the cabinet. Doing this enables you to slide
the tray in and out easily to grab what you need, plus it will catch drips and
spills from the cleaning items.

c) Make More Room-
Are some of your kitchen items (baking sheets, lids and cutting boards)
creating big messes? If they are, head to your local home depot, office supply
or Staples and buy magazine and file holders. Just pop the file holders
or magazine holders into tight cabinets and slide slender items like
baking sheets and cutting boards into them and you’ll double your space.

d) A Place For Lids-
If you need a place to store those pot and pan lids, you may want to invest in
some sticky hooks. Place a few sticky hooks on the inside of door cabinets
and hang a few lids on them. Place the lids at the 4′ and 8 O’Clock position to
fit the circumference of the lid and they should slide right in.

e) Save Your Grocery Bags-
A lot of stores no longer carry plastic or paper and want to sell you cloth bags.
To avoid spending money, make sure you get all of the bags out of the pantry or
junk drawer and store them in a box, that’s easy to see and reach. You may
want to save a shoe box or tissue box and store the bags in them. Make an opening
in the top of a shoe box and since the tissue box already has an opening, this makes
it easier for you grab one or more bags. Another tip: To keep the tissue box out the
way, you can easily tack the box to the wall or cabinet door to make smart use of
vertical space.

Sources:
* NancyTraylor.com-Professional Organizer
* Eileen Roth, Author of Organizing For Dummies
* Marie Kondo, Author and Professional Decluttering Expert

Please pass this article along to family and friends who need more
more order and less clutter in their lives. (especially kitchen clutter)
Share it over at Facebook, Instagram (stories), Pinterest, LinkedIn,
Reddit, Snapchat, Tik-Tok and Twitter.
Thank-You!