Simplify Expert is Featured in ‘The Seattle Times’

While it happens regularly, it’s still always so exciting when Simplify Experts is featured in the media! Owner/Founder Denise Allan is in the July 14, 2023, issue of The Seattle Times:

The kitchen counter is prime real estate. Anything that’s out should be things you use every day, says Denise Allan, a certified professional organizer and owner of Simplify Experts in Redmond. Make sure there’s a clear landing zone for papers away from any heat source. Allan has been to two houses that had kitchen fires that were started by papers placed too close to the stove.

If you use something once a week, it can go in a cupboard. If it’s once a month or less, it goes to longer-term storage. Allan keeps her holiday dishes in seasonal bins, not her kitchen. You could get a rolling shelving unit for the garage; one shelf for Costco overstock, one shelf for small appliances you don’t use frequently.

Speaking of appliances, be honest about what you actually use, not the fantasy Top Chef version of you.

Do your kitchen drawers need a makeover? We’ve all got a junk drawer (okay, maybe two), so that’s okay. But if you’ve got more than one drawer that sometimes get stuck because it’s overfilled, or if it takes you too much time to find something in a drawer, then it may be time to do a little decluttering and reorganizing in those areas. Set aside a few hours to pare down your problem drawers’ contents, and then place the remaining contents back into the drawers. To help them stay neat and well laid out, we’ve got some clever drawer organizing solutions.

kitchen organizing

15 To-Do’s to Prep Your Kitchen for the Holidays

You’ve survived Halloween, and now you’ve got Thanksgiving and the December holidays coming: Yayyy…and yikes, right?! It’s definitely our favorite time of year, but also the most daunting. There will be a lot of decorating, cooking and eating, guests, music, setting up and cleaning up, leftovers, wrapping and unwrapping, garbage and recycling, washing, drying, and folding. Oh my! But all so, so worth it because it’s also the time of year to see and enjoy all the special folks in our lives as we partake in festivities and traditions! Your kitchen will be the most used room in the house for the next two months. To help you out, we’ve got some great to-do’s to prep your kitchen for the holiday season.

holiday prep, Holiday Season, kitchen organizing

Step-by-Step Guide to Decluttering Your Fridge

The end of the summer is a perfect time to declutter your fridge. All those impromptu barbecues, ice cream parties, late night fast food runs, TikTok recipe experiments, and leftover vacation foods have probably filled your refrigerator with all kinds of random items. If a funky, unidentifiable odor is emitted each time you open the fridge door, it’s definitely time to do some clearing out. Follow our step-by-step guide and in a few hours, your fridge will feel spacious, clean, and fresh. Just in time for the busy holiday season that is just around the corner!

home organizing, kitchen organizing

The Best Under-Sink Organizers for Your Bathroom, Kitchen, or Laundry Room

That cabinet under your bathroom, laundry room, or kitchen sink is a funky storage area, isn’t it? It’s spacious, but because of the sink, pipes and hoses, and possibly a garbage disposal, it may be a challenge to find a storage solution for. It’s either a cluttered pile of items, or bins and baskets that are hard to reach and find anything in. Plus all that vertical space going to waste! With these clever organizers, you can make much better use of this very underutilized space—click on the images to see in the shop.

bathroom storage, home organizing, kitchen organizing, laundry room

Don’t Buy These 10 Things In Bulk

We all love a bargain, and shopping at warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s Club definitely cuts costs on groceries and household items. Diapers, pet food, paper products, detergent, vitamins—items such as these are certainly a way better deal at the big stores! But is everything a better deal at the warehouse stores? Not necessarily. Here are ten things you (generally) shouldn’t buy in bulk.

buying in bulk, kitchen

Fall Decluttering: What To Get Rid Of

It’s probably safe to say most people are spending a lot more time at home these days! With Fall coming and the cooler, wetter weather on the horizon, there is even more indoor time to be had. While we’re all looking forward to pumpkin spice lattés, new Netflix shows, and the start of the holiday season, we should also take the opportunity to get rid of stuff. “Stuff” is an excellent catch-all term for items that just seem to accumulate over time and overstay their use and need. I look at the start of every season as a perfect time to clear out certain spaces around the house. These are awesome mini projects that should take no more than 1-2 hours each. Do one or two for a few weekends, and by Halloween you’ll have accomplished quite a lot!

decluttering, Fall, home organizing

Better Mornings Begin With an Organized Kitchen

Looking to get a jump start on your productivity or make your mornings less of a struggle? There’s no better place to start than the kitchen. A well-organized kitchen can have a lasting effect on your health and happiness. There are ample opportunities to streamline your morning routine. From your first cup of coffee to grabbing a coat and rushing out the door. Use these organizing tricks to put frustrating mornings to rest and start celebrating the sunrise on your terms.

decluttering, kitchen organizing

10 Quick Ways to Make Your Kitchen Holiday Ready

During the holidays we use our kitchen more than any other time of the year. We will bake cookies. We will host family and friends for dinner. Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve give us plenty of opportunities to use all our dishes, kitchen gadgets, cookbooks, appliances, and panty items. This makes it a perfect time to make decisions about what kitchen items are still relevant, needed and useful.

Holidays, kitchen organizing

Why Decluttering Your Kitchen Will Help You Eat Healthier

It’s the month of January and many of us are trying to eat healthier and make better food choices. We know that clutter causes stress, anxiety and a sense of feeling overwhelmed. Not many realize that a cluttered environment can also keep us from being successful in making good food choices. What if our home environment, specifically our kitchens are sabotaging our dieting efforts?

Tired and hungry after a long day, you may be confronted with all the clutter and to-do’s in your kitchen. In that moment, your stress level may go up, but it is unlikely you will want to declutter! Your brain will seek something pleasurable instead, and you might want to reach for the bag of chips on the counter.

Research shows that if we unclutter the kitchen counters and pantry cupboards we may eat fewer snacks. Brian Wansink, PhD., Cornell Food Psychologist, author of the book Slim by Design states that according to research, people who live in cluttered environments eat 44% more snacks than people who live in clean environments.
Tackling clutter can give you a sense of control over your environment and may also help you feel less stress. When we feel less stressed, we are less likely to stress eat and we may have more energy to cut up veggies or cook a healthy dinner at home.

It is much easier to control our environment than it is to control our cravings. Keep snacks off the counter, hide junk food out of sight, or better yet – reduce it. In a tired, stressed or hungry moment, you will more likely eat something healthy, if it is the only thing you see.

According to a Nutrition Action article, we can extend this strategy to dinner time. When serving dinner, leave everything but the salad on the stove. People tend to eat what is right in front of them, so they are less likely to have seconds, or another dinner roll, if they have to leave the table to go get it. They may just reach for more salad instead, thus eating fewer calories.

When we open up our pantry and survey eight boxes of cereal, it becomes harder to choose the healthy cereal. You want to be able to open the pantry and see only a few options, to keep decision making easier. If you need help, work with a professional organizer on pantry organization. According to Brian Wansink, the average person can make about 200 food related decisions each day. With an uncluttered kitchen and pantry, we may have fewer decisions to make about what to eat and we are more likely to have those decisions be in line with our diet goals.

declutter, kitchen organizing