The kitchen is easily the most lived-in room in the house. It’s where food is prepared, shared and stored, but it also serves as the meeting place for family and friends. Achievements are fastened to fridges, homework is completed at its counters, debates are held at its tables — it’s the lifeforce of the house. So, it’s no wonder our kitchens are overrun with stuff and the residue of those experiences.

Here are a few ways to help you separate the treasures from the trash and keep your favorite room in the house decluttered and in tiptop working order.

Those squishy sponges you use to scrub your dishes clean are leading a double life — as a sanitizer and haven for nasty microbes — which is why your kitchen sponge has a shelf life of about one to two weeks. In the meantime, you can sanitize your sponge in the top rack of your dishwasher.

The glossy coating that keeps omelets from sticking and stir-fries stirring eventually starts to break down. As soon as the gloss is gone, or a dreaded scratch appears, it’s time to toss the pan. After all, no one wants their food stuck to the bottom of the pan.

To keep your pans like new longer, avoid using metal tools on them. If you stack your pans in the cupboard, place a protective sheet of paper towel in between them to prevent scratches.

Lidless Tupperware falls under the useless category. A storage container that can no longer stow has no business cluttering precious cabinet space. Much like the missing sock mate situation, the Tupperware/lid mystery may not be solvable either, except to discard those useless containers.