The kitchen is an area of your home which gets used more often than most other areas. It stands to reason, that if your kitchen were more organized and simple to use, that your life would feel easier. Here are ten easy steps to organize your kitchen, and make family life flow more smoothly when it comes to meal preparation.

1. Pull everything out of each cabinet and go through it. Discard or donate those things which aren?t frequently used, duplicate items, broken items, or things you forgot you had. Do this with each cabinet and drawer, setting up separate areas on floor for each group. Be ruthless. Most kitchens are short on storage space, so goal is to only have things you love and use.

2. After your cabinets are all empty, consider what is best for you in terms of how to group items. Sort all your baking items and pile them together. Sort your cooking items and pile them together. Group dishes you eat from, glassware, holiday or other seasonal items that only get used once or twice a year, as well as those special entertaining or serving pieces that are only used occasionally.

3. Now that you have groups laid out on floor, decide what space makes most sense for them to live. Cooking and baking pieces should be kept close to where you do food preparation. Cooking utensils should be in drawer nearest to food preparation area as well. Glassware might be best near sink or refrigerator. Make a coffee or tea station where you have coffee and tea, sugar, mugs, and filters, and try to place it near water source. This way you avoid going back and forth across kitchen for things you need just to make your morning beverage. Storing things where they are used and with other items they are used along with, helps to simplify things.

4. Containerize inside your cabinets. Group together packets of sauce mixes, gravy mixes, hot cereal packets, hot cocoa envelopes, and put them into small plastic containers to avoid them being scattered all over cabinet. Use clear plastic shoeboxes to store food that is in tiny boxes such as Jell-O or pudding mix.

Organizing is something that many people are born with, yet those who aren?t need not despair. Organizing is a LEARNED SKILL and one that kids and adults alike can pick up at any time. Here are some ways to organize a kid?s room, and teach principles of organizing at same time.

OLD FRIENDS If child has a lot of stuffed animals that he/she has outgrown?but just isn?t ready to part with yet?use a HAMMOCK or a net that hangs way up in corner of ceiling. The toys can be put up there and they can still be seen but they are out of way.

SETTING UP CATEGORIES Kids can organize their toys by category (cars and trucks together, dolls together, specific types of games together, etc) in big bins or baskets. If child can read, LABEL bins to help them remember which bins are for which category. LIDS are usually too much for kids to deal with, so get containers without lids, or store lids elsewhere for when kids aren?t using bins anymore.

GET IN THE ZONE Set up ?zones? in room for DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES?art & craft zone, reading zone, puzzle zone, and a large play area to play with blocks and whatnot. Get appropriate TOOLS for each zone, such tables for child to work at in art and craft zone, shelves for puzzles and games in that zone, and a comfy chair and a bookshelf in reading zone.