November 25 - Avoid Playing Dish-Jenga

Organizing Solution
Between now and the end of the year I’ll be offering suggestions for ways to bring order to areas of your home where clutter may persist in returning.

Keep your everyday dishes easily accessible. Special holiday dishes can be stored in a less convenient location (maybe not even the kitchen). One of the biggest challenges with everyday dishes can be succumbing to the temptation to stack different items - say, plates beneath a serving bowl or perching a mug atop another mug. 

The problem here is that putting away clean dishes involves moving other dishes out of the way. The only items that should get stacked are like items. So, dinner plates in one stack, dessert plates in another stack (not on top of the dinner plates). 

Also, avoid having a stack of plates or bowls behind another stack, even if there is space in your cabinet to do this. Again, focus on how easily it will be to put things away as opposed to what fits in the space. 

(If you have space behind your everyday dishes, you could store some less frequently used items, like serving items.)

Focusing on the ease of putting away your dishes can help you see where you have an excess of items.