Tag Archives: kitchen

Tidy Up Your Kitchen: The Easy Way to Sort, Store, and Simplify

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Is your kitchen feeling cluttered and chaotic? It’s time to whisk away the clutter and start taking control. Organizing doesn’t have to be overwhelming — with a simple sorting system, you can create a space that’s both functional and enjoyable. Let’s get your kitchen working for you!

At Organizing CU, we believe that a clutter-free kitchen starts with simple, intentional sorting—making room for what you use every day and letting go of what no longer serves you.

When organizing the kitchen, I start by pulling everything out and sorting it into three groups: “A” for everyday essentials, “B” for occasional use, and “C” for donate or store away. Trust me, you’ll find plenty to donate that you forgot you even had!

Your “A” group is your go-to stuff: plates, cups, and favorite pots.

Remember, some items in the same category might fall into different groups—fancy China is probably “C,” while your everyday dishes are “A.” Same with cups: regular ones might be “A,” champagne glasses “B.”

Next, assign spaces: “A” items go where they’re easy to reach—like lower upper cabinets.

“B” items fit on higher shelves that require a stretch.

“C” items get tucked away in less-used spots—like the bottom of the pantry or a dining room shelf. (Personally, I stash big appliances and fancy serving dishes there)

Bonus tip for parents: keep kid stuff in a bin at their height (like bowls, plates, sippy cups) so they can grab what they need and help put things away.

Check out my earlier blog post about kitchens, along with episode 21 of the Organizing Confidence Unlimited podcast!

Your kitchen is the heart of your home so let’s transform it into a place that inspires and supports the life you love every day.

I’m Maggie, owner of Organizing CU and a busy mom who gets the chaos. With my motto—Reduce the mess, Arrange the rest, Maintain the calm—I’ll show you that getting organized isn’t a dream; it’s something anyone can do. Let me help you take control of your space and keep your peace!

Blog Overview

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Blog overview. After being a professional organizer for years, I’ve worked with people on every area of the house, whether it be your closet, kitchen, garage, or paperwork. I would love to discuss any other topics with you. Organizing CU. Helping busy moms get organized.

After being a professional organizer for years, I’ve worked with people on every area of the house, whether it be your closet, kitchen, garage, or paperwork.

I’ve written blog posts and have the Organizing Confidence Unlimited podcast about all of the common areas that everyone struggles with. Many of these topics, such as paperwork, are covered in depth as a series as it can be addressed to the majority of people with only a few modifications.

Other topics, such as kitchen and closet, are shorter and more generic as each person will need the final result to be personalized in order to maintain it over time.

Take a look and see if anything strikes a chord with you:

Don’t see exactly what you’re looking for? Search the website for any topics you are interested in using the search bar on the menu.

I’m Maggie, owner of Organizing CU and a busy working mom who understands the struggle of trying to juggle all of it. Using my Reduce, Arrange, Maintain philosophy, I can help you get and stay organized!

Organized Grocery Shopping

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Organized grocery shopping. Being (and staying!) organized doesn’t just apply to your physical house. Over time, it becomes a part of every routine you have in your life. Including grocery shopping. Organizing CU. Helping busy moms get organized.

Being (and staying!) organized doesn’t just apply to your physical house. Over time, it becomes a part of every routine you have in your life, including grocery shopping for busy families. Here are some tips and tricks to keep you organized before and during the shopping trip.

First, I like to keep an ongoing family grocery list at all times – you know from previous posts that I love a list. Make sure everyone in the house knows where it is. I have a terrible memory so I will never remember to get more cat litter when told in passing while brushing my teeth in the morning.

But when I have a list that everyone can get to, it can be added without me wasting brain power.

One of my favorite tips is to print off copies of identical lists of items that we tend to buy every week (milk, orange juice, bananas) so I don’t have to re-write the same things every single time. The list is generally in the same order I go through the store so I can avoid some back and forth and back and forth.

Our family likes to discuss our upcoming week and then start our meal planning. I make sure I check out my (decluttered) kitchen to avoid getting duplicates of items already in my pantry.

Once you get to the store, make sure you grab a grocery store basket in the main part of the cart as you load up produce. After you’re done with the produce department, just slide the basket under the cart so you have room for the heavy stuff.

I have recently been putting a spare laundry basket in the back of my car for all of those heavy items that you can’t carry in a bag, but also don’t want to take 10 trips in and out of the house.

After you start organizing parts of your life, you’ll see that even small routines like grocery shopping can benefit from organization tips for busy moms. Every part of your daily life can become calmer, more efficient, and less overwhelming with simple systems.

For more tips on grocery shopping and meal planning, listen to episode 8 (grocery shopping) & episode 9 (meal planning) of the Organizing Confidence Unlimited podcast!

I’m Maggie, owner of Organizing CU and a busy working mom who understands the struggle of trying to juggle all of it. Using my Reduce, Arrange, Maintain philosophy, I can help you get and stay organized!

The Easiest Meal Prep System

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Do you know what you’re doing for dinner? Are you planning to stop at the grocery store today to pick up something for tonight?

Planning your meals will save you time by cutting down on the grocery trips and mental energy as to what you’re having for dinner. Now that we have a little one and I have Organizing CU (which includes nighttime networking, business meetings and organizing sessions) weeknights can get busy in our house.

Every Thursday night, my partner and I go through our upcoming schedules and discuss what is going on over the weekend and following week (such as date nights, guests, tailgating) as we decide how many meals we need to plan.

The easiest meal prep system. Do you know what you’re doing for dinner? Are you planning to stop at the grocery store today to pick up something for tonight? Planning your meals will save you time by cutting down on the grocery trips and mental energy as to what you’re having for dinner. Organizing CU. Helping busy moms get organized.

To make it easier, we have the same basic routine for our meals: brunch on Sunday morning, a bigger Sunday dinner, two simple meals during the week, and leftovers in between. He digs through the recipes and chooses some options. I keep notes in the upper corner of my recipes that let him know if it’s a weekend, weekday, or Crock Pot recipe so he can choose accordingly.

After picking the recipes, I check the pantry and make my grocery lists. My partnerand I divide and conquer: he gets anything from the co-op after work on Fridays while I will hit the regular grocery store for everything else whenever my schedule allows.

Sunday mornings are usually reserved for cooking. In addition to prepping my two Sunday meals, I also take care of my lunches and the breakfasts for my husband and daughter: an 8×10 baked egg dish with a variety of ingredients (broccoli and goat cheese; mozzarella and tomato; green chiles and cheddar). Each weekday morning, they get a hot, home cooked meal that I only have to heat up during the busy morning.

Meal prepping for busy families takes some time and effort when you first get into it. But eventually, you reach the spot where you’re not worrying about dinner at 3 pm and you have something simple ready to go. If your family likes leftovers, maybe you only cook two meals a week, but double it and freeze half for later. Maybe you end up with a themed week: Meatless Monday, Italian Tuesdays, Pizza Fridays. But I’ve found that a basic routine and some family meal planning strategies make your entire menu much easier.

Start small: choose one week to plan your meals and prep ahead. Even tiny steps toward organized meal prep save time, reduce stress, and bring more calm to your family’s week.

Even more meal prep and grocery shopping tips can be found on episode 8 (grocery shopping) & episode 9 (meal planning) of the Organizing Confidence Unlimited podcast!

I’m Maggie, owner of Organizing CU and a busy working mom who understands the struggle of trying to juggle all of it. Using my Reduce, Arrange, Maintain philosophy, I can help you get and stay organized!

The Best Way to Declutter Kitchens

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When I explain what a professional organizer does, the top three places I get asked about are always toys, closets, and the kitchen.

Kitchens can be one of the toughest place to organize. You’re likely in there all the time, whether you’re a cook or not. It’s the place that people tend to gravitate towards, during a normal week or a party. It’s the drop zone for basically everything in your home: mail, paperwork, toys, dishes, bags. Though it’s certainly fine for a short-term storage, you need to have a permanent home for everything in there.

The best way to declutter kitchens. Kitchens can be one of the toughest place to organize. You’re likely in there all the time, whether you’re a cook or not. It’s the drop zone for basically everything in your home: mail, paperwork, toys, dishes, bags. Organizing CU. Helping busy moms get organized.

I like to keep my counters clear of everything but snacks and toaster oven. That means everything else needs to have a space in my cabinets or drawers.

My husband and I combined our households when we got married so we had too much stuff. Though we had space for all of it, the kitchen felt crowded. We used to have about 10 larger dinner plates that we didn’t use; I kept them “just in case.” I finally realized that I’m not going to suddenly host a dinner party with seating for 10.

I hosted Christmas at our house for about 15 people last year and guess what I used? Paper plates. (Sorry environment!) I’ve now had them out of our kitchen for about 3 months and I have not missed them a single day.

When working on kitchen organization tips for busy families, I like to start by pulling everything out and then dividing everything into several categories: stuff you use all the time (your “A” group), stuff you barely use (your “B” group), and the stuff you could donate (your “C” group). Of course, I recommend a donate pile for all those things you forgot you had and no longer need!

The A group should be pretty obvious to you: dishes, cups, specific pots and pans. While you’re working on this, keep in mind that a type of item may have some A and some B or C. If you have fancy china, that may fall under C, while your everyday dishware is going to be A. Cups may be A and champagne glasses may be in B.

Next, you need to determine what areas of your kitchen are for A, which are for B and which are C spaces. The A spaces should be readily accessible. For us, that’s the bottom shelves in the upper cabinets, where we store plates and glasses.

The B space is the higher shelves in the upper cabinets, which require some stretch to reach. We keep things like extra travel mugs up there.

The C group gets put somewhere that we don’t go to often. In our house, it’s the bottom of our pantry and the shelves in our dining room. The bottom pantry has pull out drawers and I keep a popcorn machine, crock pots, immersion blender, etc. in those. The dining room shelves get the prettier items: trifle dish, cake stand, and the Dutch oven.

A quick note for parents: we keep all of our kid stuff in a big bin on a shelf within her reach: bowls, sippy cups, plates, etc. She knows where to get a plate to tell us when she’s hungry and she knows where it goes after it’s been washed. It’s never too early to start organizing!

Start today by tackling one cabinet, drawer, or pantry section — small wins add up quickly and create a calmer, more functional kitchen for your family.

Looking for even more kitchen organizing tips? Listen to episode 21 of the Organizing Confidence Unlimited podcast!

I’m Maggie, owner of Organizing CU and a busy working mom who understands the struggle of trying to juggle all of it. Using my Reduce, Arrange, Maintain philosophy, I can help you get and stay organized!