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It's day 5 of neatntiny.com's 30-Day Spring Tidying Challenge! If you're just tuning in, check out the link above explaining how it works and the links below for what we've covered so far.
Day 1: Kitchen Counters
Day 2: Under the Kitchen Sink
Day 3: Dining Area
Day 4: Cutlery & Utensils Drawers
Today we're tackling the Tupperware drawer!
If you haven't already, please subscribe for a free, printable 30-Day Spring Tidying Challenge schedule!
Here are my suggestions for how to approach tidying up your Tupperware:
1. Clear out your Tupperware drawer or cabinet. If you don't already have a designated Tupperware storage area, you can use any old cabinet or drawer and outfit it with dividers to serve the purpose.
IKEA makes modular drawer dividers that work in their drawers. You can get extendable drawer dividers that conform to almost any drawer.
If you don't have an entire drawer to devote to Tupperware, you can commandeer just a portion of an existing drawer or cabinet for this purpose. I prefer drawers for Tupperware because they're easier to access and won't result in an avalanche of plastic when untidy, the way cabinets can!
Shop This Idea
Kitchen Drawer Dividers - Set of 4 ($29.99, Amazon.com).
Tupperware Lid Organizer ($14.99, Amazon.com).
2. Clean the inside of the drawer/cabinet with your favorite multipurpose cleaner.
3. Decide which pieces of Tupperware you'll be keeping.
Tupperware Decluttering Tips:
- Get rid of any lids without bottoms; put aside the bottoms missing lids, as you can reuse these to organize smaller items within your other drawers and cabinets on day 6.
This was the fruit of our last Tupperware purge.
- Get rid of any damaged Tupperware.
- Get rid of Tupperware you never use. Most of us end up accumulating more than we need over the years. If you're like us, you may have accidentally stolen some from friends and family who've sent you home with leftovers.
- A good rule of thumb is to keep the amount of Tupperware you'd use over the course of a week..maybe a couple of extra pieces, just in case. For the most part, leftovers stored in the fridge should be eaten or disposed of within a week, meaning any one piece of Tupperware will be out of rotation for no more than a week at a time.
- For smaller, single-serving Tupperware (i.e. lunch containers): the number you need depends on the number of people in your family who bring a lunch to work or school each day. Keeping three serving-sized Tupperware containers per person allows for just enough backup if you get behind on the dishes .
4. Divide the contents of the Tupperware drawer into four groups/bins.
i) belongs in the Tupperware drawer
ii) belongs elsewhere in the kitchen
iii) fit to donate or sell used
iv) garbage/recycling
5. Return only the Tupperware you've decided to keep to the drawer (or cabinet) and organize. I recommend separating the bottoms from the lids to save space, while keeping the lids close to their bottoms. Stack smaller pieces within larger ones.
6. Redistribute any items that belong elsewhere in the kitchen, or somewhere else in the home, to their appropriate spots.
7. Donate. Take the boxes designated as 'to sell/donate' and put them somewhere out-of-sight, but accessible (i.e. mudroom or basement). You'll continue to add to these each day for the rest of the month, with the casualties of each day's tidying task. At the end of the month, you can make a trip (or several) to your local donation bank and/or go on an online selling spree.
8. Dispose of and/or recycle items from the designated garbage/recycling bins.
That's your task for day 5! Join us tomorrow for day 6, when we'll tackle what's left of the kitchen drawers, cabinets and the pantry!
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