Day 13 – How to Declutter Your Pots, Pans And Cookware
Your task for today
is to declutter and organise your cookware by keeping only the best pieces and discarding
the rest. (We will declutter bakeware in a later task).
Some of you may assume you have little to get rid of, and in some cases, you might be right. However, think carefully before assuming that you don’t have to bother about completing this task.
When we purchase a
new pot or pan, we often leave the old one behind. Similarly, when we receive a
set as a gift and don't use all of the pieces, they are relegated to the back
of the cupboard and forgotten.
The best way to ensure that you only keep the things you use is by taking out all of your cookware from wherever it is currently kept today – Yes this might mean emptying 2-3 cupboards – but trust me it will be worth it.
As I’m sure you are aware pots and pans occupy a lot of room, so even getting rid of one or two large pots can significantly increase the amount of space you have available in your kitchen.
Questions To Consider Before Deciding Which Cookware to Declutter.
To make sure you
only keep what you need and will use, consider the following questions as you
complete this task.
1. Do I use this frequently,
infrequently, or never?
The pans that you
never use, should not be taking up space in your kitchen.
If you only use a pan occasionally - consider whether you need to keep the pan. If you do occasionally use something, like your turkey tray for example, which you use at Christmas, make sure to move it from the prime storage location in your kitchen and put it somewhere a little less convenient to reach, just to make room for the frequently used items in the most convenient locations. Perhaps put it in the loft – so you can bring it down to wash it when you bring the Christmas decorations down.
2. Do I enjoy using this particular
cookware?
Each of us has a favourite
pan, go on admit it!! – there is one that cooks particularly well and is easy
to clean for me it’s my Teflon-coated frying pan. And then there’s THAT pan, my nemesis, you
know the pan that you loathe using because it has a wobbly handle or it burns
everything, everything sticks to it and is a pain to clean. It would be in your
best interest to get rid of the cookware you don't enjoy using because life is
too short.
3. Is this damaged or worn out?
Give any cookware that has deep scratches or
that has been scorched beyond repair some serious
consideration. You should also discard any non-stick cookware that has a flaking or peeling coating.
4. Do I have a second one?
Consider carefully
how many pans you require. If you have four rings/burners on your cooker, it
seems a little excessive to keep seven saucepans, how many pots or pans can you
use at one time?
You don't need and more than likely can't use all of the duplicate items at once, even if you like each one individually. To make room, discard the extra items, keep the best ones, and then give the ones you can't use to someone else who actually may need them.
5. Does this cookware have a
matching lid?
Sometimes we may
find that we have a pan with no lid or a lid with no pan - I have no idea how
this happens, but it does. If this is the case, then these are prime items to
declutter.
6. How much space do you have to
store your cookware?
Finally, determine
how much space you have for storing pots and pans. Practically speaking, you
can only keep as many as you have room for, so you might need to become picky.
Naturally, there is no reason you can't store some of those items outside your
kitchen in a different location if you don't use them frequently to make space
for the previously mentioned more frequently used items.
You are now prepared to start this task after considering these questions.
How do I store my pans?
As you know space in my kitchen is at a premium. So I have my regularly used pans on top of my fridge. I turned the lids upside down (so the handle is facing inwards) and they sit perfectly on top of each other. I have had these pans for over 25 years, and apart from one which has a dink in it, when I dropped it recently, they are as good as new.
The Cast Iron pans that my husband uses are usually stored on top of the cooker - as they are way too heavy to keep lifting them up and down from the fridge
My cookware is stored down the side of my cooker. Before and after the
and as you saw in the Decluttering the fridge top and front my excess pans are stored like that.
Are You Ready to discard Your Cookware Clutter? I
hope this has inspired you to declutter and organise some of your own pots and pans clutter and has given
you some ideas for which ones to discard versus which ones to
keep. Let me know in the comments or tag me on Instagram #GoDeclutterBlog30DayChallenge