Spring Clean the Kitchen – The Drawers

The messy kitchen gadget drawer

Spring Clean the Kitchen

The kitchen can be a big job to spring clean. You will want to allow several hours for this room, or break it into a couple days.

I start with the drawers.

1) Take out each drawer and all of it’s contents Thoroughly clean the empty drawer. Get all those crumbs that gather in the corners out. Pick up the twist ties that seem to accumulate (at least at my house…do they ever get back on the loaf of bread when you have 5 kids?) Contact paper can work well to protect the inside of the drawers.

The empty kitchen drawer (in cleaning process)

2) Go through the items that come out of that drawer.  Make sure if it is silverware….is it clean? Does it have any rough edges (from getting caught in the garbage disposal)  Do you use the item?  If it is something that has been in your drawers for years and you don’t use it, or are not sure what it is or it is broken…or you don’t like using it. Then get rid of it! Toss it!  (or donate of course if in good shape)

3) Make sure the outside of the drawer and all the tracks and edges are clean and then put the items you are keeping neatly back in the drawer.

4) Before you put the items back into the drawer – figure out a system. If it is silverware or gadgets, you can use something like the Rubbermaid Drawer Organizer that I am currently doing a review and giveaway on (until 3/15/10) I did like this one because of the rubber on the bottom & it doesn’t slide around…but there are many different ones out there to choose from. You can use small baskets or even the lid to a shoe box.

Rubbermaid Drawer Organizer

5) Place the items back into the drawer neatly.  It is ok to label things in your kitchen.  You can label in your gadget drawer if you would like to and that system works for you.

Kitchen Drawer after organizing

It will feel so good the next time you open those drawers….to see how clean and how organized they are.

Be sure to check out my giveaway that is going on until 3/15/10 on my review site.  Rubbermaid Drawer Organizer

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Spring Cleaning

Spring at our Farm

Spring Cleaning

The Sun is out, it is warming up…things are beginning to grow and you want to clean.  The spring brings new growth, new smells of flowers and grass.  The windows are open…the breezing blowing in – and you don’t want it to blow papers all over your house and stir up pet hair and dust bunnies do you?

Where to Start?

To clean, you need to “put away”. Many time there in lies the problem. There may be no place to “put away” to.  Clutter building up can increase the difficulty of cleaning.  So do you dust around the piles of “stuff”, or do you just not dust because that just seems silly.

Start your cleaning much like you start your organizing.

1) Set aside a time to clean each room

2) Get cleaning supplies, bucket of cleaner or spray (I personally like Odo-ban). Rubber gloves (because it doesn’t seem so gross to clean if you have on gloves). Trash bags – black for trash, white for donate.

3) Start in one place. This is a great time to sort through the clutter. Sort quick, clear off a surface and clean it well.

4) Be sure to clean your walls, inside drawers, baseboards, etc.

5) Have your family help you. Many hands can accomplish the task much quicker than just yours.

I reviewed a book last year called Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Home Book . The contest is closed, but you can go look at the review.  She has some great tips for cleaning….anything you can imagine!

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Organizer Blog Link

This starts my list for Organizing Blogs.  Feel free to link to this page on your blog. I would love to have more of you listed. Just let me know in the comments and I’ll add you to my list!!  This a list I compiled to be on Guy Kawasaki’s site AllTop.com.

Thanks

1) Sandy Jenney – Organize with Sandy

2) Stephanie Calahan – Productive and Organized

3) NAPO – National Association of Professional Organizers

4) Monica Ricci – Monica Ricci

5) Aby Garvey – Simplify 101

6) Julie Morgenstern – Julie Morgenstern

7) Dorothy Breininger – Dorothy Breininger

8) Ramona Creel – Ramona Creel

9) Laura – I’m an Organizing Junkie

10) Martha Crouse – Organized for Life

11) Melanie Dennis – Neat Streak

12) Rubbermaid – Rubbermaid Blog

13) Molly Gold – Go Mom

14) Beth Flarida – Get Beth

15) Lisa Montanaro – Decide to be Organized

16) Paul Burton – Quiet Spacing

17) Elizabeth Hagen – Elizabeth Hagen Inspires

18) Robin Stephens – Your Life in Order

19) Ellen Daly – Daly Organizing

20) Laura Aridgides - Who is Laura?

21) Tracy Campbell – Simplicated

22) Ellen Hankes – Ellen Hankes

23) Adele Blair – Green Apple Organising

24) Nikki Kinzer – Take Control Organizing

25) Elaine Shannon – Elaine Shannon

26) Kim Eagles – Organizing Connection

27) Allison Carter – The Professional Organizer

28) Nancy Nino – Nancy Organizes

29) Julie Seibert – Healing Organization

30) Lurlene Anderson – Lurlene Anderson

31) Carrie Green – Carrie Thru

32) Heidi DeCoux – Clear Simple Inspiration

33) Stacey Anderson – Organized innovations

34) Jacquie Ross – Baltimore Organized Families Examiner

35) Sheila McCurdy – Clutter Stop

36) Ann Bingley Gallop – Open Spaces Feng Shui

37) Lelah Baker-Rabe – Lelah with Anh

38) Kathi Burns – Add Space To Your Life

39) Grace Brooke – Grace Brooke

40) Margarita Ibbott – DownShifting Professional Organizing Solutions

41) Vicki Winterton – The Organized Woman

42) Maureen Nuccitelli – Harmonious Life Designs

43) Sue West – Organizing for the Next Chapter of Your Life

44) Jill Marie Hively – Order Up Organizing

45) Iowa & Nebraska Organizers List - Ask an Organizer

46) Monticello Corporation & paper Tiger Productivity Experts – The Paper Tiger

47) Deb Lee – Organize to Revitalize

Disclosure: I compiled this list from Organizers I talked to on Twitter who were interested in being on the All Top.com list. Many more names were given to me by Stephanie Callahan, off her list of Professional Organizers that she has on her blog.

I do not necessarily agree with everything that these bloggers have on their sites, just as they might not agree with everything I have on my site. This is a resource for you to find more information on organizers.

Please do not copy or take any information you find on any of our blogs without permission to do so by the blog owners.

If anyone finds themselves on this list and wishes to be removed, please contact me and I will do so.

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Pepsi Refresh Project

Pepsi is having a contest called Pepsi Refresh Project –  for those who are attending SXSW (South by Southwest).  Since I just found out I am going to get to go to SXSW I entered the contest.  It would be so cool to see this come to fruition.  My friend Debbie is the one who works at a food pantry.  She has told me how important it is to give cash instead of cans for food drives. She is also in the process of developing a web site called “Set Another Place.org”. It should up and running by the end of the month. It will focus on raising money for your local food pantries.

She has referred me to a site called Cash Feeds More that the guy has a funny rap to help you understand why.

You can enter to win on Consumer Queen if you are going to SXSW.  The Consumer Queen will pick one winner from her site of what she feels is the best idea. She will then represent that person at SXSW and campaign for them to win the Pepsi Refresh Project. Whoot Whoot…cheer me on!!

Here is my entry video.

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Target Zone

Make a Sign as a Reminder to Stay in Your Target Zone

Stay in your Target Zone

When you are trying to organize a room, what is one big stumbling block?  For many it is getting side tracked. You pick up a basketball that doesn’t belong in the kitchen and walk it out to the garage where it does belong. Then what happens? Let me tell you…..

You see what a mess the garage is and get over whelmed and think you need to work on it.  You pick up the new package of toilet paper that got left in the garage to take it up to the bathroom.  You get to the bathroom and screek because it is such a mess and the tub has a ring around it and the kids left the toothpaste on the floor without a lid on it. So you grab your supplies to clean the tub….and so on and so forth.  Well, forget ever getting back to that kitchen today….and so your kitchen has made no progress.   So what is the solution to organizing without “drifting”.  Stay in your Target Zone.

What is a Target Zone?

Your Target Zone is the area you are working in.  That room, or area or small space that you have designated “I’m going to organize THIS today”.  Once you leave your target zone you are open to anything and everything that grabs you and pulls you away from your mission.  When you are in “organizing mode” usually you are ready to go and your mind is in …”Let’s get this Done” gear.  So everywhere you look you see things that you need to work on.  We want to do it all Right Now.  But that isn’t possible.

How Do I stay in my Target Zone?

It is actually easier said than done when you are organizing. Like I said there are going to be items that do not belong in the space you are working.  What you need to do before you start is set up a box or a  bin.  You have your sorting cards to help you sort your piles, but for your “move to another room” card…you will need a box, or two.  Rather than taking that basketball to the garage, simply put it in the box that goes somewhere else.  Then you are not leaving your Target Zone.  It will help you tackle the space you are working on.  Focus is the key. You are focusing on one space right now.

Results of staying in your Target Zone

The main result is that you will have an organized space in the place you have targeted to accomplish that day.  But you will end up having a box or pile of other items that you have to find homes for.  Allow yourself time at the end of your organizing of your Target Zone to take that box and drop off the items in the rooms or places that they belong.  An easy thing to do it to leave that box sitting full of stuff and you have another mess.  I just had someone recently leave me a comment that she had a similar box that she cleared out of one room and stuck in her laundry room (I think). She ended up leaving it there for 2 years and was saying she had to go back and go through it.  My comment to her was that if she has not missed the items in that box for 2 years….it is time to get rid of the entire box.

Think Target Zone

Think Target Zone when you go to organize your next area.  Even make yourself a sign that says it.  STAY IN THE TARGET ZONE!  You can even make it a little game with yourself. When you are tempted to go take something to another place…say to yourself, “Oh, I can’t go out of my Target Zone!”, and stay put.  Just put that item in your “move to another room” box.

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The 12 Step Program for the Surface Abuser

I love this desk, family work center. But what a desk CAN look like

The 12 Step Program for the Surface Abuser.

1) Admit that you have a problem.

2) Ask for help with your Surface Abuse problem. (Professional organizers are everywhere!)

3) Remove ALL surfaces in your home.  (Only kidding!)

4) Realize that this will take on going maintenance to maintain.

5) Visualize what you would LIKE this space to look like.

6) Start the process with one surface.

7) Get a black trash bag for trash and a White trash bag for donate.

8) Begin the Sorting process. Clear everything off your counter and clean it first.

9) Realize that clearing your counter will lead to some organizing in other areas of your house. (this is a Good thing)

10) Decide what to do with all the papers and clutter.

11) Plan daily to clear  off anything that might have accumulated in this “hot spot” zone and place it in the folders or cubbies you created.

12) Be sure to take before and after pictures so help remind yourself how you want to keep your new clear counter.

Disclosure: The above picture is not from my home (I WISH!) It was from a Parade of Homes model that boasted like the best family organizing center ever!!  But you can find these products at The Pottery Barn.

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Surface Abuser

Does your counter look like this?

You May be a Surface Abuser if:

1) You think if there is an empty spot on a counter in the kitchen…then you have “more room to put things”

2) You think table tops and counters look “naked” if there is nothing on them.

3) You haven’t been able to wipe down your counter for weeks because of all of the “stuff”

4) You found a dead fish from 6 months ago under some papers on the counter. You thought the other fish ate it. (true story but not this pic)

5) You don’t have to worry about dust on your living room end tables because there is no wood showing.

6) You find expired coupons sitting on counter tops.

7) You know exactly where that lid to the super glue is…and no one better move it out from under the newspaper from 6 weeks ago.

8) You may have left an egg on the counter in the kitchen….but your not sure, it blends in with all the papers so well.

9) You have to clear the papers at the table in order to have room to eat dinner at night. Then you move them back after dinner

10) Other people call you messy, but you feel proud to have been given the title “Surface Abuser” instead. Nikki from The Guilty Parent was my inspiration for #10! Although she is also very visual (which many surface abusers are…so I called her a “Visual Surface Abuser”.

If you were able to answer “yes” to 1 or more of these questions /statements…then you are probably a Surface Abuser.  There is help for you out there….stay tuned for treatment plans.

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