Operation Clean Kitchen

So my kitchen really wasn't too bad to start with. I had some dishes piled up in the sink and some mail on the table. Not really that big a deal. Here's the catch: my kitchen goes from "not bad" to "holy crap where is the floor/counter/kitchen" in about two seconds flat. The reason for this: it isn't organized very well.

As part of this growing up process, I am moving from room to room within my house and completely reorganizing them. Last night, I started with the kitchen. In the space of eight hours or so, I managed to empty out half of my cabinets, line them with new, green shelf liner, and put them back in (a better) order. After making sure my sink was shiny (a tip from the Fly Lady and a small victory for myself), I called it quits around midnight, promising to start back up again first thing in the morning.

Unfortunately, one of the side effects of working in childcare is that you wake up sick quite often. This morning, I woke up feeling like I had swallowed a box of knives. Not the best way to start the morning. I popped some handy dandy cold medicine and pain pills and crashed on the couch until they kicked in and the drowsiness began to wear off. It is now 2:20 pm, a whole five hours after I got up, and I just now returned to my kitchen project. 

Today's plan of attack is as follows:

1. Take out trash.
   Quick tip: I have about a billion pizza and soda boxes to take out with two bags of trash from yesterday. Instead of making multiple trips, I just rip each box up into small pieces and stick them in one of the bags. Anything to make one of my most hated chores a little more bearable.
2. Clean off counters and table.
   I made a huge mess yesterday, and I want to fix things up a bit before I destroy the kitchen for the second time in 48 hours.
3. Tackle lower cabinets.
   Most of these have pots and pans in them right now. I need to come up with a way to keep them organized so I don't go crazy. I also need to organize and clean out underneath the sink. I'm not looking forward to that.
4. Tackle drawers.
   Of the six drawers in my kitchen, three of them are junk drawers. My objective for today: only have one junk drawer, and make it as empty as possible.
5. Clean out refrigerator and freezer.
   I'm not a fan of this, but there is a lot of stuff in there that just needs to go. I either can't or won't eat about 80% of what is in there. Why let it take up space?
6. Tackle pantry.
   I need to assess what I have, and what I need. I also want to move all the extra kitchen stuff that I have in my living room closet into the pantry, meaning I need to declutter and find a way to make space.
7. Clear off counters again.
   I'm sure I've turned them back into little disaster areas by this point.
8. Sweep and mop floors.
9. Done!

 Before I get to work, I wanted to share a handy cleaning tip I learned yesterday. When I cleaned out my lazy susan last night, I found the copper shelves to be covered in dried vegetable oil. Dawn and regular kitchen cleaner wouldn't take it off. The solution? Baking soda. Use a little baking soda on a damp sponge and, with a little elbow grease, the dried oil comes right off! Now my lazy susan is clean and functional! Anyways, it's time to get started. Wish me luck!


P.S. In case you didn't see it already, here's my "Not a New Year's Resolution" video. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button!