Joy the Baker

The Well-Kept Kitchen Challenge

by 23 Comments

Hello dear friends!

I’ve put together a kitchen-focused challenge for us!  It’s called The Well-Kept Kitchen Challenge and it’s designed to be a way to purge, clean, and organize our kitchen spaces in a way that feels approachable and less daunting than flinging cabinets open and stressing all the way out.

I’ll be the first to admit that my kitchen has gotten away from me.  Drawers are spilling over with utensils, cabinets are filled with half bottles of cleaning products, the junk drawers seems to be contagious and has infected several other spaces in the kitchen and listen… enough is a enough.

The Well-Kept Kitchen Challenge is a daily two-week kitchen cleaning program inspired by @mariekondo and @lifeinjeneral.  Each day we’ll tackle one single cleaning project (like today:  clean under the sink), purge, clean, and take notes of  and likely buy on Amazon) the sorts of organizational systems that will work in that space.  

I’ll share my spaces  with  you each day and show you the way’s I’ve purged, organized, and the systems and bins I’m thinking of placing in those spaces.  

We’ll spend one week of cleaning a kitchen zone every day.  The second week we’ll install our organization.  Taa-daa! Just like that we’ll take back control of our kitchens.  

The hope is to make our kitchens clean, efficient, and places we want to spend some time (now that we know all of our wooden spoons will be in the same place).  

The Challenge will start today (February 1st!) and be documented in the my Instagram Stories.  

The invitation is to take on as much or as little of the challenge as you’d like.  This is meant to serve and inspire you – not stress you out! Listen, I’m the first person to want to wiggle my way out of an organization project. It’s just doesn’t come naturally to me.  This challenge is meant to circumvent my escapist tendencies and help you work around yours, too.  

Find the challenge on Instagram in my stories by clicking my little profile picture.  Follow along.  Screenshot the little calendar.  Find your own inspiration.  

Thank you for joining me in this.  

Thank you in advance for not judging my junk drawer.  It’s a doozy.  

My love to you!

xo Joy

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I’m a little late to the challenge but after getting all of my kitchen cabinets painted it’s time to start putting my kitchen back together. I love that you can focus on one thing at a time and really put in the effort to make sure the space is functional for your family. Thank you for this! I’m starting today.

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  4. Ugh!!! I know I NEED to do this!!
    A few weeks ago on of the sides of my walk in pantry came off the wall from the weight of all the stuff in there!! I had been wanting to get pull out shelves instead of the deep still ones because I didn’t know what I had in there and had expired stuff from (I’m red in the face) 8 years!!! So I have new sliding shekocws beibf installed next week!!!! I know it will change my life. The pots and pan drawers are next!! Thanks to all for chiming in. I felt like I was the only one with this problem.

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    • You’re on the path Nancy and gosh it’s so easy for things to pile up, especially when they can be tucked away in a deep pantry. I hope your cleaning and organizing is going well!

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  5. I reorganized my pantry a few weeks ago – almost four hours of hard work. The best part was having my husband notice and complement me on the improvement. This past week I also tackled my spice/herb collection.

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  7. This week I happened to see my aunt/uncle’s under sink area — it was SO neat and clean and inspiring! The primary inspiration for me is how they’d cut soft kitchen floor tile (like linoleum) to fit the bottom, Super-easy to wipe clean, etc. It’s on my list for the weekend!

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  9. You’re so funny! You must be living in my head! Started this just this week all on my own…. feels good to downsize and organize. Guess if I follow your list, I’ll just have a few extra days off (any excuse to procrastinate a few days)

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  10. Last year my friends and I did a kitchen swap – we brought everything we didn’t want anymore and shopped each others’ items. Anything unclaimed was donated afterwards. Also made sure to invite younger ladies who had just moved out on their own, they didn’t have to bring anything to swap but could take whatever they wanted. A fun way to purge!

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  12. Thank you, Joy! This is so very welcome and exactly what I need to tackle a kitchen cleaning and organizing project!

    Could you maybe do this for, I don’t know, every room? ;-) For me, breaking down such an overwhelming project into manageable tasks is the main challenge when it comes to re-organizing a room and straightening up my space. So thank you for making that wonderful calendar for us!

    And off to “under the sink”…

    Reply

    • I totally understand you! Breaking it down makes it more do-able for me too. And posting it on Instagram for you all everyday keeps me accountable. I always need to create systems I can’t squeak out of, ya know?

      Reply

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