Having a calm morning routine, where you get everyone out of the house to school and work in the morning, with a healthy breakfast, is the aim of mums across the country. But it’s not as simple as it sounds and can easily evolve into chaos, with water bottles falling out of overflowing cupboards, hunts for break time snacks and shouts of “where’s the…”
This spring Co Armagh breakfast cereal producer White’s Oats embarked upon their Making Good Mornings since 1841 campaign. As well as launching healthy new granola and Quick and Oaty pots, they encouraged people to make other small changes to improve their wellbeing.
Your living environment can have a massive impact on mental health, so when I got invited to be part of their campaign and have my kitchen organised to help make mornings run smoother, I jumped at the chance.
Surrounded by bulging cupboards of accumulated cutlery, crockery and baking equipment, as well as all the junk that inevitably ends up in the most used room in the house, my kitchen badly needed an overhaul.
Providing the much-needed tips and assistance were Claire Savage and Lisa Skinner, who have been running their Order in the House organising and decluttering company since 2021.
“For most of us, the kitchen is where the day really begins so it’s important to have it as organised as possible to start your day right,” says Claire.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling both nervous and embarrassed about their visit to my home, but getting started is the hardest part and the vision of a kitchen, where everything has a purpose and a place, spurred me on.
As all the contents of my kitchen cupboard were spread out all over my kitchen table, I felt felt like I was part of Stacey Solomon’s Sort Your Life Out TV programme.
“Our advice is to take everything out and then only put back the things you absolutely need or you absolutely love,” explained Lisa, grouping similar items together.
There’s also the crucial question of whether things are in the right place: shoes, junk mail, school notes, leads and cables and Santa mugs and Christmas napkins don’t need to be in your kitchen all year round.
With all the food removed from my cupboards, Claire and Lisa’s first task was to check the best before labels.
“To date, 100% of the kitchens we’ve organised have housed out of date herbs and spices,” laughs Lisa. I didn’t let them down, and also raised a chuckle when they discovered a pot of gold edible glitter that dated back to 2014.
Before refilling the cupboards, it was time to plan out my kitchen in a way that worked for my family.
I’m gluten free and my daughter is dairy free, so that proved a challenge when it came to organising snacks, breads and pasta. It also accentuated our problem of a lack of storage.
Kitchens rarely have enough storage space, and after losing some counter top and two cupboards to make way for a sunroom extension, mine certainly was lacking.
“We work with some clients when they are designing a kitchen. The key is to maximize vertical space,” said Lisa, recommending I invest in a stand-alone dresser in the future, as well as add more adjustable shelving within my deep cupboards.
Our advice is to take everything out and then only put back the things you absolutely need or you absolutely love
— Lisa Skinner
Claire’s priority was creating a designated breakfast station, complete with cereal, bread, toaster, teabags and condiments. “This makes it easy to grab what you need without searching through cabinets and restricts any mess to one section of the kitchen,” she explained.
The breakfast counter is also the perfect place to use a turntable and easily reach the jam, honey and chocolate spread without searching through a hard to reach sticky cupboard. The kids loved the novelty factor, whilst the functionality made them enjoy breakfasts more independently and get out the door in time to catch the school bus.
Claire and Lisa came with a boot full with storage solutions. As well as the fashionable iDesign cereal containers, seen in the Netflix show The Home Edit, the girls waxed lyrical about the wide range of economical options available at the likes of Home Bargains, B&M, Matalan and Ikea.
“We love having containers because you can see what you have and it means things don’t go out of date and you’re not spending unnecessarily,” says Claire.
Another handy device was the tiered shelving which Lisa added into my dried food cupboard. It lets you clearly see what foods you have – and realise you don’t need six tins of baked beans...
I love tea, but have been trying to cut back on the caffeine by drinking a variety of fruit and green teas. So, my favourite storage solution was the tea storage box the girls used, from B&M. It was like something you find in a hotel.
When it came to decluttering some decisions were easy – plastic cutlery, chipped cups, promotional plastic water bottles, grubby placemats, tarnished Tupperware and even a cardboard Peppa Pig cake stand.
Other decisions proved more difficult, especially when sentimentality came into play – a salt dough ornament made for Mother’s Day, the unused cheese board wedding present from a late aunt 15 years ago and those many gadgets I had been seduced into buying.
Claire’s aim was to get the unsightly boxed devices, which were gathering dust on the top of my fridge, out of view and out of their boxes, with their instruction manuals put in a folder.
Although I knew they were taking up precious real estate in my kitchen, I really struggled to decide what to give away. In the end I managed to say goodbye to my little-used mini muffin maker and chocolate fondue set.
Gazing into an organised cupboard certainly does, to borrow the phrase used by decluttering guru Marie Kondo, spark joy.
My kitchen is far from a minimalist kitchen, but it’s organised and hopefully it stays that way.
“Endeavour to keep countertops free of unnecessary items to create a clean and inviting space. Waking up to a clean and organised space sets a positive tone to the day ahead,” adds Claire and Lisa, suggesting dedicating a little time before bedtime tidying the kitchen and even preparing those overnight oats.
For those overwhelmed by the prospect of decluttering they advise to “start small” targeting a specific drawer or even checking your expiry dates.
My ‘homework’ was to have a go myself at organising the as-yet-untouched junk drawer, which is home to everything that has nowhere to go – from Blu Tack and batteries to screws and candles.
Lisa believes labels are “key to maintaining order in the kitchen in the long term”. So, armed with drawer dividers, labels and washi tape, my new party/DIY drawer awaits...
