Clearing the Clutter: Monday

First I must say that I know Flylady doesn’t advocate doing all your stuff the same day. That’s okay. I’m not on her list any more because I can’t keep up with all the email. I do read (but haven’t used) the Daily Reminders from Menus For Moms. They have a daily zone cleaning reminder email they send you every afternoon for the next day. That’s nice and it’s what has sort of motivated me to get going on this. That, and my cluttered kitchen counters. (insert picture)

TROUBLE SPOTS FOR ME:
1. Papers, batteries, reminders from the vet & others, school papers that will eventually need something to be signed, returned, or otherwise acted upon. I tend to forget about things which I cannot see.
2. Electric Appliances: I have so many, and several are so heavy or big that they won’t fit IN a cabinet. What to do with them?
3. Plastic containers: To store with the lids, or without? With the lids, they take up a lot more room. Without the lids, I have to dig through the lid drawer to match them up.
4. The counter in general is a catch-all for everything. How do I stop this?

KITCHEN CHORES
Clean out pantry and wipe down the shelves. Check dates on food. Get rid of anything that is outdated or doesn’t look right or sound appealing. Like that apple cinnamon muffin mix I got from one of my Missionette Honor Stars when she graduated. 3 Years ago. (insert pantry picture)
Take everything out of the cupboards and wipe the shelves down. Sort containers and cups and pare them down. I have too many! (insert picture)

Empty the lid drawer and vacuum/wipe it out. Go through the lids and locate each lid that goes with each container. Put containers without lids in a box to donate. (insert picture of lid drawer)
Empty the silverware drawer and the two utensil drawers. Wipe them out and sort things I use/need to keep and things I never use or don’t need into the donation box. (insert utensil drawer picture)
Empty the two corner cupboards and clean the lazy susans. Decide what containers to keep & which to toss. (insert corner cupboard picture)

Mop the kitchen floor, being sure to clean up the scuff marks really good with soft cleanser.

Wipe down all of the cabinets with oil soap.

Clean out the microwave (the steam method is amazing!)

Wipe down the walls, removing the telltale signs of lovable short people.

Come up with a solution for the paper-related mess on the counter, possibly getting rid of the wooden organizer that is there, because it does not help me! I’m thinking maybe of a set of nice-looking, stackable inboxes with labels.

I will add the pictures as soon as the camera is charged, so come back and see what my kitchen looked like BEFORE.