New Year’s Resolutions

Weight loss and getting organized are two of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. This year I am going to combine them into Kitchen Organization so that you can be working on both goals!

Your kitchen is like any other room in your house. It has a purpose – to store food and to aid in the preparation of meals. Too often the kitchen becomes a dumping ground for papers, mail, food, containers, backpacks and whatever else might land there. No wonder so many of us have a hard time cooking or even thinking about cooking when our kitchens are so cluttered.

I want to help you get control over your kitchen and the things that are stored there. If you are trying to lose weight and your pantry is filled with junk food you are going to have a hard time sticking to your resolution of eating healthier. If you can’t find the tools to do the job (in this case pots, knives, cutting boards etc) how can you even start? Just like a home office needs to be set up to do the bill paying and filing of the important papers, your kitchen needs to be set up so that your food preparation tools are ready and available before you can start cooking.

Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? By Peter Walsh – This is a must read if you want to lose weight and get organized. He walks you through the process of setting up your kitchen to thinking about the foods you eat to helping with the meals you cook. If you can’t do it alone or the whole process is overwhelming call me and I can help you get your kitchen organized, pantry purged and organized, to help you with organizing the meals you will make.

Cooking Light The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook – With over 350 delicious recipes you should be able to find something to cook that is healthy and tasty. With full color photos for every recipe you will have a hard time deciding what to make first. Also comes with well balanced menu suggestions too.

Quartet Magnetic Dry-Erase Planner – Put this calendar on your refrigerator and uses it to keep track of family schedules and meal planning. Easy to wipe off. You can have up to six weeks on this calendar.

My Year, My Week, My Life – This magnetic notepad will help you organize your weekly agenda (I like to use it for meal planning & what I need to shop for). It also has a to-do list and sticky notes for helping you keep life on track.

Dinner & Salad Plate from Target – Today’s dinner plates are super-sized just like fast food. To help make the portions you eat look more satisfying you need to switch to the salad plate for your main course. The salad plates are sized more like our old dinner plates. Pick a new shape and maybe a new color to make your meals more fun.

Sink Works Container – This handy cup will help you organize your scrubbers and vegetable brushes so they are always handy for cleaning up dishes and veggies. The suction cups hold it tight to the inside of your sink and the open design lets the brushes drain.

Reorganize Junk Drawer Organizer - We all have one drawer in the kitchen that contains a variety of things that have no other home. This organizer has pictures in the bottom of each of the sections to help you remember where everything goes making it easy for everyone to keep the drawer organized.

As much as we all hate papers in the kitchen it often is the most logical place to keep them – especially the kid’s papers, receipts and bills. So make the best use of your counter space to set up a small area for papers and easy to reach office supplies.

Real Simple Portable Caddy – This portable caddy will help you corral handy office supplies like scissors, pens, pencils and highlighters. Set aside 5 minutes each day to scoop up loose items and put them in this caddy. With the large handle it makes it easy to grab and go to a table to work on bill paying and correspondence.

Real Simple Filing Tote – This tote will not hog your kitchen counter space and like the caddy is easy to pick up and take with you. Inside it has a metal frame to best hold hanging files. I have a hanging folder for each family member, bills, items to file and receipts. I love the open top so it is simple to file quickly as you are opening the mail and cleaning out the backpacks.

> Watch Ruthann discuss how to organize your kitchen to become healthier on Fox 6 News

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