A Clutter Free January: Kitchen Drawer

Today I officially began my kitchen project for "a clutter free January," which I wrote about yesterday. My kitchen is actually already in reasonably good order, but there are some things that could be improved and made more functional. I started with the drawer next to my refrigerator. 

Our dining room used to be right next to the kitchen, separated by an open doorway. We use cloth napkins regularly, so they were kept in the dining room. That room also served as my husband's home office, but alas, he would not keep it neat on his own, and he didn't exactly appreciate my efforts to keep him organized. As such, I decided to convert my home dance studio into our dining room, which we've been loving. But retrieving the napkins from the home office has been inconvenient, so today I moved them into the kitchen, in the cabinet area seen at top. 

The drawer was previously a kind of junk drawer, but it held important paperwork for the dogs and house, and also odds and ends like seed packets, pictures, magnets, and recipes. I had forgotten about these recipes so never used them. I sorted through them, recycled what I didn't want, and put what remained with my recipe books. These will further need to be dealt with, but that will be a project for another day.

Once the drawer was empty, I cleaned it out and then transferred the napkins, plus a set of cloth place mats. The paperwork and some of the other odds and ends were swapped into the drawer in the home office. Items that did not belong either place either found a new home, or they were taken upstairs to my bedroom annex for future organizing. Here is the finished drawer: 

This drawer is the closest one in the kitchen to the dining room, so it will be perfectly convenient now to grab the napkins to set the table! The only drawback is that when this drawer is opened, it grazes the refrigerator handle, so I can no longer hang a towel there. But there is always a towel hanging from the oven door handle, and I also keep a work towel on the counter, which I often dry my hands on anyway. I don't anticipate any problem with having one less kitchen towel. 

Originally I planned to set a timer for 15 minutes to work on this project, but I decided to just do it, however long it took. I didn't anticipate it being a terribly long project. However, setting a timer is a great way to help you get started on a chore you don't really want to do, so I recommend it. If you don't finish in the first 15 minutes, you can set the timer for another right away, or you can go do something else for 15 minutes and then come back to it. 

Please share in the comments if you are joining me for decluttering this month, and whether you are starting on your kitchen or somewhere else. I would love to read about your progress!