The One Item In Your Kitchen It's Time To Purge For A Clutter-Free Space

It's easy for clutter to build up in the kitchen. Pots and pans keep accumulating even though you only use three main ones, new small appliances get brought in to help make cooking easier, and your utensil drawer might be overflowing as you keep buying new specialty items. Overindulging in your kitchenware isn't necessarily a bad thing — it just takes up a lot of space. And as you run out of space, things either get messy inside the cupboards or spill out onto the countertops. And we all know how hard it is to say goodbye to cluttered countertops once they get messy. However, it would be easier to keep things neat and organized if you had more room in your cabinets. While you might not be able to magically install a few more units, you can make space in one particular one if you prune unnecessary items from it. Specifically, it's time to get rid of the collection of vases in the cabinet under your sink. 

Since that cabinet has no shelf dividing it in half, it's often seen as the perfect spot to fit tall vases. While that might be true, it's also taking up valuable real estate. Unless you're buying multiple bouquets per week for various rooms in the house, you don't really need that many vases. Here is a closer look at why you should make the cut. 

Vases are a necessary staple to have in the home, and it makes sense to store them in the kitchen. After all, that is most likely where you would cut the stems, strip the leaves, and add water to the vase. But earmarking your entire under-the-sink cabinet for them is a wasted opportunity. If you have multiple vases, their bulky shapes can take up a good portion of space, not allowing you to store other necessary items. For instance, if you didn't have them in that spot, you could set up shelves and house anything from your cleaning products to sponges and scrubbers to paper towels. However, you can't fit in under-sink organizers if you have a bundle of vases taking up the back.

So what should you do? First, you should prune your collection. "I suggest picking your favorite two and letting the rest go," organizing strategist Brenda Prinzavalli told Real Simple. Only keep your favorite ones and donate the rest. Secondly, find a new spot for them, preferably outside of the kitchen so that you can utilize all the cupboards for different things. A great secondary place is to store them in the laundry room or powder room, since there is another sink in there. However, if you want to keep it closer at hand, consider adding it to an out-of-the-way cabinet you don't use very often, like the one over the fridge or one that you need a stepstool to reach. By making this swap, you'll be able to utilize every square inch of cabinet storage space.