Spring-Cleaning the Kitchen

Today I cleaned my kitchen. Deep cleaning, spring cleaning, and organizing my kitchen.

If I am very honest I will have to say that this is a day-before-yesterday, yesterday, and today job. I haven't wanted to dedicate the entire day to cleaning, but I have put 2-3 productive hours each day into it and it's now done. It's not rocket-science, but it is a Big Job. And yes, it does deserve those capital letters. Every single thing in every single drawer or cupboard was taken out, assessed, cleaned, and put back. With a little re-organizing of course!

First I cleaned my normal kitchen-clean so that my surfaces were clean and ready to handle things coming out of the cupboards. I worked 'one at a time' (you won't believe how much fits in one!) and from left to right, top to bottom. I washed each cupboard as I went, and while one was drying, I'd begin to empty the next one.

My spouse does all the shopping and cooking so the kitchen is a bit of a battleground for us. Well, more like an uneasy peace. I do the cleaning in the house. And the organizing. And the decorating. So in the kitchen, two worlds collide. I've retained his placements of pots, pans, and implements. We are both strong-minded (two leos, both strong signs in the Chinese zodiac, and both smart-@sses). It took him visiting his parents for a few days for me to tackle this job.

Here are a few tips if you do yours:

• Use a cleaner without a residue, so you waste no time in re-washing things, surfaces etc
• Throw out anything broken. If it's not working, it's just clutter. If there is something you genuinely love and it's broken, get it fixed immediately so you can enjoy using it again. Don't put it away until it's fixed.
• Ditch any past-date foods, sauces, cans etc - this is the perfect time to check those things that get pushed to the back. Any foods you have bought and not used and don't need that are within date can surely be used by a food bank.
• If you never use something, maybe it needs to go. I am donating my bread-maker, napkin rings, big salad spinner, and one set of martini glasses - do I really need 3 sizes of martini? Do not feel bad about giving away gifts - these are guilt-anchors around your neck. Donate them to a cat-shelter garage sale or to a friend who will use it, and it will feel good. 
• Do you have multiples of things like kitchen scissors, wine bottle openers, serving sets? We tend to re-buy things we can't find or are unhappy with. Keep the one you like the most, throw out the broken ones, and donate the rest.
• Do things collect? I have a big ziplock full of soy-sauce from take-out. And a big ziplock full of unused freebie plastic utensils that also come with take-out. Why do I keep these?? Find places where this will be appreciated and just let these go. (Turns out my mom and aunt sometimes use soy for stir-fry's but don't often buy soy sauce. The office lunch room is always short of plastic utensils). Whatever your collections of excess are, let them go to be used.
• Keep a pen and pad convenient and list things you genuinely need to buy. Last time I did this, I went to the store for an armload of plastic trays and baskets. They have worked wonderfully to keep things neat and allow me to wash them so easily if there are spills etc.  This year my list was short... only about 4 small plastic trays and some rubber drawer-liners. It's tempting to buy all sorts of organizing tools, but if they don't get used, then they become part of the clutter problem.
• As you work, keep considering what can make your use of the space easier or more efficient. Keep your most used things close at hand and near where they are used. The biggest change for me was being able to finally put all my glassware together and in the cabinet closest to the table - this will absolutely make a difference. I'm going to put some thought into a built-in lazy-susan for the lower corner cupboard (you know which one!) It would require some construction and that space is not a real problem so I've got to think it through.

What's lazy about all this? It's lazy because I love creating a system that works. Time and effort up front means that for the next 2 years I will save a little time and frustration every single day because things just work. You know the system and placement of things work if things are exactly where you expect them to be, you spend no time searching, you don't have to constantly work to re-organize things. Lazy-smarts? I hope you think so!

Is Fall the New Spring?

Is fall the new spring? Do you actually clean your whole house in spring?

Spring cleaning has always been a challenge for me. I try to do it but when the weather is still cool in March and April, I can't air out the house and really get to that cleaning. As soon as the weather is nice in late April and May, I certainly don't want to be cleaning. I get 'some' of my house done by my May 1 deadline.

Photo Pixabay

From the days of being in school and starting a new school year at this time, fall has felt like a new start to me. Summer is winding down, the days are getting shorter, and the air has a bit of crisp cool to it. To me, this is a perfect time to get to those things I am too lazy to get to in spring.

Honestly here are a few things that are smarter to do in fall:

• Steam clean the carpets.Before the house is closed up for the winter months and after the open doors and dirty feet run through the house. 
• Paint. Spring can be cool and damp and who wants to be painting when the nice weather finally arrives? The over-hot and humid days of summer are not the best time to paint and neither is any day under 12C. Fall is fresh and those low-humidity days are perfect painting weather - inside, so you can take advantage of a drying breeze and outside because you are so weather-dependent
• Wash the baseboards. This is not a fun task; it's not hard it's just dreary. I will put on my headphones and listen to a book on audio and get to it. It's a perfect fall task because you are cleaning off all the summer dust from the open windows and blowing breezes before the house gets 'sealed' against the weather. 
• Wash curtains. For the same reason, the drapes collect dust all summer long. I like to wash my drapes and hang them wet in early November. Why? Because the house has less windows open to let dust in and because I usually  have the heat on so the drapes dry easily. 
• Wash blinds... yep same reasons. Then they are clean through the winter and just need the regular cleaning to keep them in great shape. 
• Attack paper clutter. When there are cool or rainy evenings or afternoons, that is the perfect time to get rid of the build-up of magazines (consider donating them to an emergency room or doctor's office), piles of flyers or junk mail, and the other assorted piles of papers.

Besides, if you are a gardener, this is the perfect time of year to put in trees and shrubs! They have a couple of temperate months to settle into the ground before the winter comes, the earth is warm, and there is none of the full burning sun of June/July.

My version of LAZY means being smart about when I do my big cleaning jobs. My goal is to have the easiest time of it, have it stay clean for the most number of months, and get it right the first time. There is nothing I hate more than having to do something twice or having something half-done!

How about you? Do you clean in fall? How do you get your 'spring cleaning' done?