I don't know about anyone else but I've been bitten by the "spring bug" and I've thrown open the windows to let the fresh air blow through the house. As a kid I used to laugh when I'd hear someone talk about doing their spring cleaning but I am long since over that because over the years I've come to appreciate the meaning of those words. You want to get in there and clean every nook and cranny, to get out all the stale smells that accumulated in your home from being closed up all winter long. The sun is shining and you want to open all the curtains and let it shine into your home, the warm glow it creates as the beams of light come streaming across your freshly polished floor.
Many people go through an entire redecorating phase at this time of the year. Some will think about painting, be it one room or the entire house. Others will be adding light colored slipcovers to furniture, changing out throw pillows, getting out the light weight curtains and adding spring colored spreads to their beds.
Spring is a the beginning of life anew; be it the start of new grass and flowers growing, to that of the birth of farm animals, the return of the robins or domestic animals looking for a mate. We emerge from winter, wanting to shed all the extra layers of clothing and the heaviness of multiple blankets and comforters on our beds that kept us warm for the past few months. Spring is wanting to go out and dig in the dirt or run through mud puddles after a rainstorm and the clean fresh smells that the rain brought with it.
It is a good time to be cleaning out your closets and drawers, to give things to a charity, offer them to some one in need or have a garage sale and earn a few extra bucks.Now you can reorganize those closets and cabinets with ease.
I am so anxious to get busy with a paint brush it isn't funny. I have a large bookcase shelf unit that needs some repair work first and then a fresh coat of paint. Then I am bringing it indoors, putting it in my laundry room to become my pantry shelves. After that is done, I need to put a fresh coat of paint on the little country bench that sits on my front porch.
What projects are you going to tackle?
Showing posts with label organizing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organizing. Show all posts
Monday, February 21, 2011
Monday, March 16, 2009
Tackling the Kitchen
Okay, it's Tuesday and no more procrastination!
Let's get up and get that bed made, the coffee brewed and take a quick look at the bathroom and see if it needs a quick touch up. Usually the bathroom and the kitchen are the two rooms in my house that get the messiest and of course need to be more hygienically clean than any other rooms in the house, unless you have people with lots of allergies, asthma or other breathing difficulties.
After you've gotten some breakfast and that cup of coffee, check to see if perhaps you need to get a load of laundry started and if so, throw it in while we get ready to tackle some deep cleaning.
How long has it been since you've really cleaned out that refrigerator? Lets empty everything out, make a pan of hot water and detergent or vinegar (my personal preference) and wash down everything.... walls, shelves, vegetable bins and the freezer. Now you can start putting things back in, stacking things neatly in your freezer, and organize the foods in the refrigerator section. I am sure you are going to find some things in there that you are sure are some sort of science experiment! Organize the vegetable bins. Now wipe down the top outside and all the sides and the door. If you really feel energetic, pull the unit out from the wall, unplug it for a few minutes, grab the vacuum cleaner and clean the coils off and the floor where the refrigerator sits.
Guess what? You just finished the worst part of cleaning your kitchen! Everything else is going to be a breeze. Now preheat your oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Now take a bowl of vinegar (white distilled) and set it inside the oven. Now if you are fortunate enough to have a self cleaning oven, just set it to self-clean and let it do it's thing. Take off all the burners, burner drip pans, and rings and set them in the sink with hot sudsy water. While these are soaking, wash down the top of your stove and the front again using a solution of white distilled vinegar and water, a half and half mixture in a spray bottle is wonderful for this.
In my kitchen, the sections where my dishes, glasses and coffee mugs don't get messed up. So I never have to worry about straightening them up but I do need to work on the section where I keep all the pots and pans and baking dishes. So down on my knees I go to dig into the bottom shelves and straighten out this area. This is also the area where I am a pack rat...I have this horrible problem throwing out every empty plastic margarine container, empty large peanut butter jar, and "hodge podge" of glass jars. Now this would not be so bad, if I always remembered to match up covers to containers, but some how I end up with more of one or the other. Now is the time to grab that trash can and be ready to pitch! If you can't match a lid to a bottom.... pitch it! If you can't think of at least 2 other uses where you can use more than 1 size of each item you have saved..... keep one and ditch the rest! You know you buy the same things over and over again most of the time, it isn't as if you won't have more in 2-4 months!
Nest your pots and frying pans and put them up towards the front of the cupboard because you use them often. Why kill your back stretching and stooping every single day to retrieve them out of the back of the cabinet? Hopefully you will have enough room up close to the front to put your favorite casserole dishes and baking dishes. You may have forgotten to utilize the drawer in the bottom of your stove, if you have, you can move things like cookie sheets and bread pans over there, or perhaps you would rather put your pots and frying pans in there if the drawer is deep enough and that is more convenient for you. While you have everything out of these shelves, go ahead and spray them down with your vinegar and water mixture and wipe them out.
By now, the burner drip pans and rings of the stove should have soaked enough that most of any burned on accumulations will come off quickly with a soft scrubbie. If not, then it is time to get out the steel wool pad and apply some elbow grease. After letting everything dry, put the stove back together. Now is the time to wipe down the interior of your oven if it wasn't the self-cleaning model. The warmth and the vinegar solution should have loosened everything sufficiently to make this easy.
By now that load of laundry is ready to go out to the dryer, so get up off the floor and stretch your back really well before you head out to get that tansferred over. You deserve a break and a good stretch!
Now check to see the condition that your pantry supplies are in. Do you have half packages of the same thing in there? are your spices just thrown in there every which way? Cans of everythin all mixed together? Take everything out and put it on the counter. What I like to do is as I take it out of the cabinet, I put like items together on the counter, so that when I am ready to put them all back in, they are already organized.
For my spices, I have two plastic baskets and I sit all my spices in those baskets. When I am cooking, I can just grab the entire little basket out and find what I need and return it to the basket after using it and then into the cupboard. My counter space is at a premium (my kitchen is not that large) so the less I have on the countertop sitting out the better. I also have glass jars that I store rice, beans, spagetti noodles, sugar, macarroni shells, and macarroni noodles in. Those sit on the first shelf above the counter top where I can reach them easily. The shelves are tall enough that I can stack my vegetables two cans high and I keep them together by type.
Take a quick look at your cabinets where you keep your dishes and glassware. Chances are they are fine. If not, it shouldn't take but a minute or two to straighten them up.
I have two drawers where I keep odd sized utinsels that I use for cooking. One drawer has knives in it and I have them in plastic baskets also rather than just thrown loosely in the drawer.
There are some odd ball things in that drawer also, like a tea strainer, potato peeler, and two types of can openers and wooden spoons. The other drawer has all the spatulas, the whip, potato masher, baster tubes, and meat thermometer in it. the drawer between has my silverware and there is a plastic insert to keep everything neat and tidy in that drawer. On the other side of the sink, over by the refrigerator is a drawer with all the kitchen wash rags, new sponges, scuffy pads and dishtowels. And then the preverbial "junk drawer". This has a conglomeration of things in it that I need to throw out! No longer do I use the room plug-in deodorizers, so why do I have like 15 of them in there? The package of picture hanging nails that need to be returned to the tool box but I was too lazy to put back into it's proper place? Good heavens, there is that extention cord that I have been searching for the last month! So see, I'm not perfect and you don't need to be either but if we start making this cleaning part of our routine at least once a month, then we won't be searching for things. Now that everything is straightened up, you should be able to take just a section of this at a time, look inside a cupboard or a drawer and see if it needs a quick straightening up. Now the refrigerator and the stove, you can do general maintenance cleaning on weekly, but at least once a month do what we did today, take everything apart and clean it well. Now you have a spic and span kitchen and you will feel confident coming in to cook every day because everything will be in it's place.
Now I do have some items on my counter top and you probably do also. Your toaster, take and open up the bottom (after you've disconnected it from the wall) and go shake the crumbs out over the trash can and wipe down the counter under where it sits, wipe down the top and sides. My microwave, be sure the top is cleared off of all clutter (we have a tendancy to plunk things down there) wipe down the outside, the inside walls and the rotating plate and underneath it for spills. The coffee pot, wipe down the outside. Now if you have finished that pot of coffee that you made, why not rinse out the basket well of grinds and then make a mixture of half and half water and vinegar (some people prefer to use all white vinegar with no water) and run it through your pot to clean out all the accumulated oils. After running the vinegar though, you will want to run another full setting of water through to get all the vinegar out. Clean out the pot itself, you can use that spray bottle of vinegar and water to clean it up so it shines like new also, being sure to rinse thoroughly.
Let's get up and get that bed made, the coffee brewed and take a quick look at the bathroom and see if it needs a quick touch up. Usually the bathroom and the kitchen are the two rooms in my house that get the messiest and of course need to be more hygienically clean than any other rooms in the house, unless you have people with lots of allergies, asthma or other breathing difficulties.
After you've gotten some breakfast and that cup of coffee, check to see if perhaps you need to get a load of laundry started and if so, throw it in while we get ready to tackle some deep cleaning.
How long has it been since you've really cleaned out that refrigerator? Lets empty everything out, make a pan of hot water and detergent or vinegar (my personal preference) and wash down everything.... walls, shelves, vegetable bins and the freezer. Now you can start putting things back in, stacking things neatly in your freezer, and organize the foods in the refrigerator section. I am sure you are going to find some things in there that you are sure are some sort of science experiment! Organize the vegetable bins. Now wipe down the top outside and all the sides and the door. If you really feel energetic, pull the unit out from the wall, unplug it for a few minutes, grab the vacuum cleaner and clean the coils off and the floor where the refrigerator sits.
Guess what? You just finished the worst part of cleaning your kitchen! Everything else is going to be a breeze. Now preheat your oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Now take a bowl of vinegar (white distilled) and set it inside the oven. Now if you are fortunate enough to have a self cleaning oven, just set it to self-clean and let it do it's thing. Take off all the burners, burner drip pans, and rings and set them in the sink with hot sudsy water. While these are soaking, wash down the top of your stove and the front again using a solution of white distilled vinegar and water, a half and half mixture in a spray bottle is wonderful for this.
In my kitchen, the sections where my dishes, glasses and coffee mugs don't get messed up. So I never have to worry about straightening them up but I do need to work on the section where I keep all the pots and pans and baking dishes. So down on my knees I go to dig into the bottom shelves and straighten out this area. This is also the area where I am a pack rat...I have this horrible problem throwing out every empty plastic margarine container, empty large peanut butter jar, and "hodge podge" of glass jars. Now this would not be so bad, if I always remembered to match up covers to containers, but some how I end up with more of one or the other. Now is the time to grab that trash can and be ready to pitch! If you can't match a lid to a bottom.... pitch it! If you can't think of at least 2 other uses where you can use more than 1 size of each item you have saved..... keep one and ditch the rest! You know you buy the same things over and over again most of the time, it isn't as if you won't have more in 2-4 months!
Nest your pots and frying pans and put them up towards the front of the cupboard because you use them often. Why kill your back stretching and stooping every single day to retrieve them out of the back of the cabinet? Hopefully you will have enough room up close to the front to put your favorite casserole dishes and baking dishes. You may have forgotten to utilize the drawer in the bottom of your stove, if you have, you can move things like cookie sheets and bread pans over there, or perhaps you would rather put your pots and frying pans in there if the drawer is deep enough and that is more convenient for you. While you have everything out of these shelves, go ahead and spray them down with your vinegar and water mixture and wipe them out.
By now, the burner drip pans and rings of the stove should have soaked enough that most of any burned on accumulations will come off quickly with a soft scrubbie. If not, then it is time to get out the steel wool pad and apply some elbow grease. After letting everything dry, put the stove back together. Now is the time to wipe down the interior of your oven if it wasn't the self-cleaning model. The warmth and the vinegar solution should have loosened everything sufficiently to make this easy.
By now that load of laundry is ready to go out to the dryer, so get up off the floor and stretch your back really well before you head out to get that tansferred over. You deserve a break and a good stretch!
Now check to see the condition that your pantry supplies are in. Do you have half packages of the same thing in there? are your spices just thrown in there every which way? Cans of everythin all mixed together? Take everything out and put it on the counter. What I like to do is as I take it out of the cabinet, I put like items together on the counter, so that when I am ready to put them all back in, they are already organized.
For my spices, I have two plastic baskets and I sit all my spices in those baskets. When I am cooking, I can just grab the entire little basket out and find what I need and return it to the basket after using it and then into the cupboard. My counter space is at a premium (my kitchen is not that large) so the less I have on the countertop sitting out the better. I also have glass jars that I store rice, beans, spagetti noodles, sugar, macarroni shells, and macarroni noodles in. Those sit on the first shelf above the counter top where I can reach them easily. The shelves are tall enough that I can stack my vegetables two cans high and I keep them together by type.
Take a quick look at your cabinets where you keep your dishes and glassware. Chances are they are fine. If not, it shouldn't take but a minute or two to straighten them up.
I have two drawers where I keep odd sized utinsels that I use for cooking. One drawer has knives in it and I have them in plastic baskets also rather than just thrown loosely in the drawer.
There are some odd ball things in that drawer also, like a tea strainer, potato peeler, and two types of can openers and wooden spoons. The other drawer has all the spatulas, the whip, potato masher, baster tubes, and meat thermometer in it. the drawer between has my silverware and there is a plastic insert to keep everything neat and tidy in that drawer. On the other side of the sink, over by the refrigerator is a drawer with all the kitchen wash rags, new sponges, scuffy pads and dishtowels. And then the preverbial "junk drawer". This has a conglomeration of things in it that I need to throw out! No longer do I use the room plug-in deodorizers, so why do I have like 15 of them in there? The package of picture hanging nails that need to be returned to the tool box but I was too lazy to put back into it's proper place? Good heavens, there is that extention cord that I have been searching for the last month! So see, I'm not perfect and you don't need to be either but if we start making this cleaning part of our routine at least once a month, then we won't be searching for things. Now that everything is straightened up, you should be able to take just a section of this at a time, look inside a cupboard or a drawer and see if it needs a quick straightening up. Now the refrigerator and the stove, you can do general maintenance cleaning on weekly, but at least once a month do what we did today, take everything apart and clean it well. Now you have a spic and span kitchen and you will feel confident coming in to cook every day because everything will be in it's place.
Now I do have some items on my counter top and you probably do also. Your toaster, take and open up the bottom (after you've disconnected it from the wall) and go shake the crumbs out over the trash can and wipe down the counter under where it sits, wipe down the top and sides. My microwave, be sure the top is cleared off of all clutter (we have a tendancy to plunk things down there) wipe down the outside, the inside walls and the rotating plate and underneath it for spills. The coffee pot, wipe down the outside. Now if you have finished that pot of coffee that you made, why not rinse out the basket well of grinds and then make a mixture of half and half water and vinegar (some people prefer to use all white vinegar with no water) and run it through your pot to clean out all the accumulated oils. After running the vinegar though, you will want to run another full setting of water through to get all the vinegar out. Clean out the pot itself, you can use that spray bottle of vinegar and water to clean it up so it shines like new also, being sure to rinse thoroughly.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Lets Get Organized
One of the hardest things to do about getting organized, is the getting started! I don't know about you, but I often feel overwhelmed by the thought of tackling it all. Then I take a deep breath and remember that it didn't get this way in a day and I am not going to get it undone in a day! So take one room at a time. This will be your project room, where you will start doing all the deep cleaning first. Now I know you are saying " but I have children to pick up after and regular household chores to do every day as well." Well, here is the great part, you are going to start to learn how to do things in 15 minute segments of time. We are going to start with the easiest room in the house, the bathroom and the linen closet.
So lets get started by planning to begin this project room this coming Saturday. You are actually going to get your week started on Friday night by making sure you get all the dishes washed and the kitchen picked up, ready to face Saturday morning. After you breakfast out of the way and either the dishes washed or into the dishwasher and the kids busy playing or on a project, you are ready to hit the bathroom.
If you are the usual family, all your toothbrushes are sitting out on the vanity countertop in some type of open container. PITCH THEM ALL! If the container can sit inside your medicine cabinet, fine keep it, after you have washed it very well with soap and water and bleach. This is a breeding ground for bacteria! Did you know that the spray that comes out of your toilet, even though you may not be aware of it, goes all over the surfaces in your bathroom. Therefore it is one reason you need to really clean well in there and keep toothbrushes off the counters, use liquid soap in a container on the vanity top and bar soap (if you use it) in the tub behind a closed shower curtain.
I like to use a squirt bottle filled 1/2 and 1/2 with water and vinegar or water and bleach to clean my counter tops, faucets, the outside of the toilet, and all of the tub and tiles.
Look inside of your medicine cabinet. Are there medications and sharp razors and possibly scissors or clippers that need to be corralled? Find closed containers that you can put the medicines in one and the other sharp objects into the other. Put them up high on the top shelf where little hands can't get them. Wipe down the inside of the medicine cabinet.
Has it been 15 minutes yet? You can always get an egg timer or an alarm clock and set it if you are worried about going over the time limit. Because that is all the time we are going to spend on this if you have reached your time limit.
Now I want you to use the same principle with the other chores that you need to do today. Only 15 minutes to pick up each room, make a bed, throw clothes into the washer or dryer and then 15 minutes to fold them. If you aren't done with it, that's fine, go on to the next chore that needs to be done.
By now you should be ready to fix lunch, take time to sit down and relax and enjoy. After lunch, get the children to either take a nap (if they are still young enough) or get an older sibling that is old enough to supervise, or Dad, to play with them or take them out in the yard to play for a bit.
Now you are going to go back to the bathroom and tackle the linen closet. You are going to put towels and wash cloths down on a shelf where it is easy for little ones to get them out by them self. The linens for older siblings or adults can be higher.
Now take sheets , and take the fitted bottom sheet that has been folded already and place it inside the final fold of the flat top sheet. That way when you go to change a bed, you have both sheets there together and they will come out as one unit. If you have matching pillow cases that go with that set, fold them inside also. You will want to label your shelves with the sizes of the sheets so that they can go into the correct stack. If you have special bedding for each bedroom, you might want to label with the name of the child that those sheets belong to. Not only will it be helpful if someone else is putting laundry away, but it also makes the child feel special too!
I would suggest putting blankets in plastic bags for summer storeage and putting them up on the top shelf of their bedroom closets.
Now get out the windex and clean the window glass and the mirrors. Get out the mop bucket and clean the floor. You are done! Chances are you were able to get it all done in 30 minutes total by doing it in 15 minute sections of time! If you didn't, that's okay too, just set aside another 15 minutes after dinner, or after you got the children into bed and finish up. But my guess is that it is done and you have one room totally clean and organized, ready to greet you the next morning. Now that the hard work is done, your daily cleaning of this room will be minimal. A quick swish here and a swipe there and you are good to go!
Next, we are going to tackle the children's bedrooms...... one at a time..... and they are going to help you! If they are two or older, they are able to do some things and it is going to surprise you.
Now go rest!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Kay's Country Cottage
WELCOME TO KAY'S COUNTRY COTTAGEFirst of all I would like to thank the House Plan Shop for giving me permission to use this house plan as a logo on my website. I love to look at different house plans and fell in love with this one! It seems no matter how many I look at, I always end up coming back to this one as my "dream home." So hopefully, someday, I will be able to have "my dream home" built. You may visit their website by clicking here.
Are you anxious to try some new recipes? Are you trying to get your home and your life organized ? Do you have parenting questions? Thinking about adding a garden this year and not sure what all to plant or how much to plant?
Perhaps you have been thinking about taking up a new hobby or craft, such as knitting, painting, crochet, or genealogy research, but were not sure where to start to find out information about it. Well, you have come to the right place. We can share ideas together on some or all of these topic or other topics as they come up.
I want to make this an interactive blog where we can learn and grow from each others experience and training. I am looking forward to hearing from those who wish to participate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)