4 Ways to Declutter the Kitchen

Whether grocery shopping is a joy or a royal pain, no one loves the kitchen mess that results in unloading all those bags. Here are three good ways to cut down on the grocery clutter:

Get a few sturdy reusable shopping bags — and use them!
The average American uses about 500 plastic shopping bags every year. If you're a hoarder, or at all concerned about the old Reduce Reuse Recycle mantra, you've probably been stuffing these under the sink, or in some closet for years, in case you need them. Stop! Get a couple of good reusable bags and make a habit of storing them in the car so they don't clutter your kitchen and they're on hand when you need them.

Drink in bulk
Sick of lugging 2-liter bottles of soda and seltzer, and case after case of bottled water from the grocery store, only to watch them clog up your counters, cabinets and closets? So stop. For water, a reusable bottle and a good filter will pay for themselves — in psychic well-being — in no time. And even carbonated drinks can be made at home with simple home soda makers. To find a good water filter that fits your needs, use Environmental Working Group's water filter buying guide. Prices range from $80 or less for a basic well-rated carbon filtration system like the Culligan RC-EZ-Change 4 to $670 for reverse osmosis system like the Water Factory SQC-4 Reverse Osmosis System, or several hundred for a combination carbon-reverse osmosis filtration system.

Use Reusable Napkins and Towels
Paper napkins and towels spill out, fill up space and clog the trash bag – to say nothing of the impact of deforestation to create all that disposable paper. A more elegant solution is to buy some attractive reusable napkins and dish towels. Unlike paper, they look good hanging from a kitchen cabinet, and when they're soiled, just toss them in the washing machine with the laundry.

Snack on fruit
Even the most well-organized kitchens tend to overflow onto countertops. One way to keep that overflow from looking like clutter is to turn it into decoration: Get a simple decorative fruit bowl, then substitute fruit for your junk food snack purchases. One nice side benefit: You'll cut down on the number of times you have to take trash to the curb, since the majority of American household waste is made up of packaging. An even nicer side benefit: You're more likely to choose a healthy snack if it's right in front of you, so fill up the fruit bowl and enjoy!