Have you ever thought that organizing your kitchen and cupboards can make your routine much more practical and your life lighter? Japanese writer Marie Kondo is a specialist in organization and has developed a method that has made many people look at their belongings with the desire to transform the way they store utensils, clothes, books and objects.

With this dynamic of organizing the kitchen to speed up your day in mind, we've selected seven tips so that you can start the search for a more practical and functional environment today!

1 - Start by cleaning

The first step in organizing your kitchen is to clean it out. However, we're not just talking about cleaning the shelves and the floor: the start should be focused on removing what is no longer used and separating what can be donated or discarded.

Throughout life, it's natural for things to stop being used, to get damaged, to wait to be repaired or to be replaced by new ones. However, these things often don't receive the correct destination.

So your first task will be to open all the cupboards in the kitchen to look at the items carefully and dispose of them responsibly! 

Make a classification as follows:

• Is it working and you haven't used it for over a year? This item can be donated!
• Is it broken and do you want to fix it next week? Then take it to a specialized service center. If you don't intend to fix it, dispose of it.
• Do you use it often and does it fit in with the style of your home? Then keep it organized.
  

2 - Separate items into categories

After the cleaning, which must be done carefully, it's time to plan where the items will be stored.

The ideal is to keep similar articles together, for example:

• Pans are kept together with other pans and their lids;
• Pans and baking trays in the same place;
• Cups and bowls;
• Crockery;
• Serving plates;
• Dishcloths and tablecloths.

Find a way to make your routine more practical by keeping everyday items within quick reach. Dishes that are used less often can be stored higher up.

3 - Use dividers to organize the kitchen

The secret of kitchen organization is to be able to store what you need in a functional way, even if you don't have much space. One way to do this is to use dividers in the cupboards. 

They can be made of acrylic, wood or plastic and will delimit the space so that your organization by category is maintained. Are you going to use the same cupboard to store platters and plastic pots? A divider between them will help keep each item in its proper place.

4 - Dish organizers increase space

One item that helps a lot when it comes to keeping cupboards in order are dish organizers. Made of metal, they create niches so that each dish has its own space. 

5 - Create heights inside cupboards

Dish organizers, as well as shelves placed inside cupboards, will multiply the space inside. By creating heights, it will be possible to store crockery more securely.

6 - Store open food in jars and label them

When you get to organizing your kitchen, you'll want to know everything that's in the cupboard.

Discard anything that is past its sell-by date and look to see if there are any items that you buy more than you need and sometimes end up losing because you use them less than you think.

It's best to store groceries such as grains, pasta and flour in closed, labeled jars. This is better than leaving them in their original packaging, open and accumulating dirt in the cupboard. To avoid losing the expiration date, you can write the information on a label or cut it out of the packaging and store it inside the jar.

Organize canned goods and other packages as well. A good tip is to use trays or baskets to keep them organized. 

7 - Commit to the work you've done

Now that your dishes, food and utensils are organized, and your kitchen is cleaner and more practical, it's time to call everyone in the house to look at how everything is in its proper place.

Everyone's commitment will ensure that things stay where they are when organizing the kitchen. 

Creating the habit of storing things in the same place should be a collective responsibility! Establish a kitchen-cleaning routine with everyone in the family so that everyone can understand that items are not cleaned and put away magically. The kitchen is a shared environment and whoever lives in the house should understand that it is a pleasant and cheerful place for everyone who prepares and eats meals.

Start in the kitchen, but take the practice to the whole house!

Did you like the tips on organizing the kitchen? Once you've got the hang of a more organized routine, you can move on to other rooms in the house. Use the same technique of cleaning and organizing by category.

Take the opportunity to get rid of items that are no longer useful and see your life lighten up with fewer things you no longer need.

We want to know how your organization turned out! Once you have everything ready, post a photo on Instagram and tag our account instagram.com/superaurbanismo, we'll love to see how it turned out!