5 Easy Ways to Organize Your Kitchen When You Suffer from Depression

This post contains affiliate links. I received 3 free products to facilitate a review. All opinions are honest, my own, and may differ from yours.

Suffering from depression or major depressive disorder is nothing to be ashamed of in any way. It would be like being ashamed of having cancer or diabetes. It is something you have, not who you are. Unfortunately, major depressive order is more than just being sad. It affects many aspects of your life, and one of those areas is organization. Looking at the big picture of organizing is overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be.

There are many philosophies out there about organizing, including the The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo which I am currently reading.

My friend Sarah at Journeys of the Zoo shared this book with me. I am really enjoying it, though I’m not sure I have the stamina to use the entire method. I do love the fact that the author allows you to keep things! She just wants you to feel joy about the things that you have.

Organize Your Kitchen with YouCopia

Though I’m not following her method specifically, I am trying to find easy ways to declutter and organize without becoming overwhelmed. YouCopia has products that can help you easily organize several areas of your kitchen.

I was given three of these products to try out in my own home.

I am currently using the Drawer StoraStack from YouCopia in one of my cupboards because I don’t have a deep enough drawer in my almost 100 year old home!

I’m giving you an honest look here. My cupboards are usually a disaster area. I’ve had my lid holders from Tupperware for years, and they just look sloppy most of the time.

I like this because I feel like it takes up less room and my lids are all nice and neat. If I had containers like they show in the picture, I’m sure it would look even better.

The next two items I received were too tall for any of my cupboards, but I gave them to my parents because my dad loves to organize. He moves stuff around without telling my mom. She loves it….not so much. When I gave them to her, she said that dad would be excited!

I did take pictures, so you can see how they look. Just be sure you measure your cupboards and add the extra inches for your pans standing upright. This Store More Bakeware Rack from Youcopia is nice because you can put all of your cake pans in it. You put the dividers in, so you can decide how wide you need them.

I love this Lid Holder from YouCopia. This Lid Holder has little spots for the lid handles to fit right in.

5 Easy Ways to Organize Your Kitchen

Now that we know that there are products out there to use for organizing, how do you actually look at the big picture without breaking down and giving up before you even start? I’ll admit that you have to get into the right mindset. Remember the concept of joy? Does this item bring you joy? Why are you keeping it? Are you using it? Is it sentimental? Think about those things. My grandma’s napkin holder is sentimental, but it’s something I use. It brings me joy as well.

Here are my 5 suggestions to organize your kitchen when you suffer from depression:

• Start with one category. This is something suggested in the book. Take out all of your plastic ware and decide quickly what you need/love and what you don’t. Be sure to look around the house, not just in your kitchen, for these items. Your kids may have them in their rooms or you might even have some in the garage. Toss or donate what you don’t need/love.
• Organize your canned goods. I feel so much better when I look in my cupboard of canned foods, and I actually know what I have!
• Take all of your baking goods out of the cupboard and give the shelves a good wipedown. If you don’t feel like wiping the other cupboards down, don’t do it! This one makes me feel better because I know flour and sugar and salt and sprinkles spill! When you have the items out, you can look at them to see if they’re expired. It happens. Then just put them back in however you want. Don’t stress over it. You organized your cans; you’re good.
• If you’re house is like mine, the kitchen table has school books and papers on it. It only bugs me if they are strewn all over the table and not in neat piles. If the kids need to find a paper, they can look in the pile! I don’t have the energy, nor the desire to organize their stuff.
• Finally, and remember, don’t do all of these in one day, clean out your junk drawer. Yes, even my super organized dad had to live with us having a junk drawer while we were growing up. Does he have one now? No way! But when we were little there was undeveloped film in that drawer for years.

I know this is just the tip of the iceberg, but it’s a start. When you suffer from depression, that is rough enough on its own. One day at a time, one area at a time. We can do it!

Don’t miss my post on 6 ways to cope with depression!