Jan 5 - Kitchen Desk, Kitchen Gadgets

I've been working a lot in the kitchen.  Here is my desk area

BEFORE

It needed a big makeover.  I took everything off the desk and started over.  I also had lots of phone numbers on post its on the wall that were all expired!

AFTER

I now have an out box for library books and or mail that needs to be mailed.  That's the blue basket.  The bills I moved to the draws under the phone.

Here's my kitchen table BEFORE

It didn't take long to declutter that as I normally stay on top of it daily.

AFTER

Onto the gadgets.  I had 3 draws to do.  Here are the BEFORE photos

AFTER

Jan 2 - More Counters in Kitchen

I spent my afternoon instead of napping doing the Jan 2 challenge.  I couldn't do my sink area yet since my kids didn't do their chores yet.  One of my kids always empties the dish washer so I can move the dirty dishes to the dishwasher and, of course, they weren't home yet to do their chores.

Here are the before photos.

next to the sink

 island

 and other side of island

AFTER:

island.  Got rid of the table and cleared all the clutter and folded all the laundry.

DAY 2 COMPLETE!

Jan 1 - 15 Minute Tackle Your Counter Top

I think I spent more than 15 minutes because I wound up doing 2 cabinets and part of my pantry!  I decided to tackle my coffee area.

BEFORE COUNTER

BEFORE CABINET ABOVE COFFEE POT

I moved  the bread to the pantry and the zip locks to cabinet above but first I had to clean out cabinet above.  Getting rid of tea that was expired or anything I just don't use any more.

AFTER COUNTER (now, will it stay this way?)

Cabinet above I only did 2 shelves!  Bottom shelve I put snacks on right, zip locks on left.  Above on left is candles and peanut butter on the left is teas/coffees and sugars.  Still need to do shelves above but today's assignment was COUNTER TOPS so another day!

Happy with the result so far.  

Kitchen - Zone 2

Are we in the kitchen again. Told you I always wind up in the kitchen and hardly ever get to any other room. While the kids were in school I decided to do a mission. The mission was to look up. What do you see? Well, I looked above my refrigerator. This is what I saw.

What is up there? I found lots of tools (hammer, screw drivers, nails), light bulbs, bags of candy from a party, beads that the kids can't play with unless supervised, my cordless headset, bingo games, eye glasses, and garbage. I even found some money (coins) which I added to the kids allowance basket. Not to mention a lot of DUST!!!!!!! See photo below. Gross!

After about 1/2 hour I was able to get rid of everything except my cordless headset. So now this is what you see. Tools were moved to the garage. Light bulbs moved to bathroom closet and toys moved to the toy shelf. It's off for a much needed nap.

Trying to Fly Again - ZONE 1 KITCHEN

I have been so overwhelmed lately. My house always looks like a cyclone came through. This causes anxiety and stress. I've been off and on with flylady. I know it works but I just can't stay with baby steps. I'm a perfectionist and like to get things done quickly or don't do it at all. I also hate to clean and would much rather do something better with my time. I'm going to try again. I am a very busy person going here, going there so just adding one little thing a week is an accomplishment.

It's really funny how each time I get fed up with my house I turn to flylady for motivation to get me back on track. And guess what? This always happens about the same time each month go figure? I always start off in zone 2 which is the kitchen. I tend to never move onto any other zones because I get burned out from doing too much in that zone.

With that all said. I started last week with zone 2 KITCHEN. I managed to only do 2 missions but they were pretty good ones and I did shine my sink the correct way. When cleaning out under the sink I actually found the directions to do such that. If you click above you will be brought to the directions. Bleach Soak, Scrub, and Shine. The sink hasn't looked so white in a long time. I also picked up more bleach to do it again.

What I accomplished this past week:

Mission 1. Take everything off the counter tops and whip them down. It took me a little while to clean under the toaster oven and coffee pot but I did manage to get it done in like 15 minutes.

Mission 2. Clean under kitchen sink. I took everything out from under the sink. Did some purging and organizing and ta da it's all done. Three cabinets worth. I even took before and after photos to show you.

Before:
This is the first cabinet. I basically was throwing everything in there. Some things weren't even being used. It has a pull out draw that I wasn't even using. Basically the only time I was going in here was to get the dish detergent for the dishwasher and occasionally I would use the soft scrub to shine my sink. All the sponges were ones I had gotten free from shopping with coupons.

Cabinet 2. Lots and lots of stuff here. Never being used. Purging must be done.

Cabinet 3: Again lots of stuff not being used. Especially the cat dishes. It's been over a year now that my cats have passed so time to purge them.

After:
Cabinet 1: I have put all my dishwasher and scrub sink supplies along with lysol that I spray in the garbage can and floor supplies here. I can now pull the draw out to reach the floor supplies easier.

Cabinet 2: Just more cleaning supplies.

Cabinet 3: All my extra sponges, more dish stuff. Just everything is now sorted and together with like stuff.

Well, I feel like I accomplished a lot in this week. Wonder what zone we will be doing next week. Stay tuned!