Zone work for 5-11 august 2007: the Kitchen!

So its the week of the kitchen. What will you be doing? Decluttering or doing zone cleanings?

We will be doing our first Zone Cleaning in there. Dont know if it will really work cause the decluttering isnt completely done yet, but we cant go on with it before the pantry is made. So this week will be about wiping the outside of the cabinets, and part of the insides.

Are any of you already detail cleaning the kitchen for a while? What kinda things do you do then? And do you the insides all our your cabinets every month, or did you devide it into several parts that you clean them inside?

I did the inside of the kitchen cabinets, but mostly cuz it was MOM's cabinets and I had to go thru everything... and then decide where I wanted things to go (it was very uncomfortable since... at moms, everything was where it was -had always been there - even if it made no sense, that is where it went) ... does that make sence?

I would tell you... do one cabinet or two drawers at a time. Otherwise you might have a tendency to pull out everything... and it will overcome you. I did mine in drills... and it eventually got done.. but It didnt make a mess until I pulled out the plastic containers and was trying to match the tops adn the bottoms. Have I mentioned I HATE puzzles! I will pay someone to sort my gladware!!!

GO it a little at a time... (its a fun time to clean out your kitchen towels, retire the old thin ones.. and use the "pretty ones" we save for company!

Its kinda fun - just take it nice and Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeasy!
RHonda

I ment something more along the line of "Flylady says to clean a little every month so it doesnt become much, but how much cleaning does it need, once every year (so i can devide the kitchen in 12 parts), once every half year (6 parts), 3 months (3 parts) (all of which will of course be again devided in to 5 for each day of the zoneweek a bit) or anything else..."

But you do definitely have a point. You dont want to get too much out at a time that is exactly why im wondering how to devide..

Rhonda: I will be on 24 hour alert on Wednesday for you. Sneak Peek: "Today we are going to de-clutter our leftover, food storage, plastic,
Rubbermaid, Tupperware, Glad-Ware, etc. containers!" My mother had what we called the "Tupperware Graveyard" in her house. An entire storage area devoted to butter tubs circa 1975 and real TW products so old they were hard. It was scary! She almost moved them all but my sister forced and intervention tossing and bought her a new set of nice containers for $20. The giant green mixing bowl and deviled egg holder were keepers.

I can use this week's decluttering days under the sink and in the pantry. I don't really need that bowl full of soy sauce and pameasan packets from who knows when. The rest of the days won't take long. Hey, try the sock skating thing. It is fun for big kids too.

Natalia, I would suggest decluttering your kitchen pretty regularly. You only use certain things and trust me...the duplicates will start to pile in when/if you get married. Don't get me started on the breeding habits of coffee mugs!

Natalia - this 'lil girl is still immersed in decluttering & then doing the weekly zone cleaning on only what I can get to. Sounds awful, I know, but ir's finally the right start to get this done. I relish the day when I can fully perform detail cleaning - that will tell me I have reached my goal of sustainment!!

My pantry is the ONE thing I tackled successfully - tossed everything out, put in shelves (it had none), then restocked. This I managed to do on my own before FlyLady (2 1/2 years ago) & miraculously have it kept it under control - even my DH respects this area now that it is in order! Stuff is where it's supposed to be & we never have to hunt for it!! It's great!

... & Question to all - per FlyLady we're supposed to remove items as we declutter to where they belong, if they have a home. But, if the "space" they belong in has NO room yet, what are we supposed to do until that area is decluttered - toss them on top of the heap, so to speak?? This is, of course, provided the items are loved & worth keeping, not tossing. What do you all do?

Suggestion? solutions? ... other than just tossing it anyway to resolve the problem!!

Marie

Decluttering is the only thing I did until I could clean a room properly. I'm not done, and really, no one ever is. Forget the detailed cleaning until you have a room close to decluttered!!! You are excused. Just maintain basic home cleanliness to stay healthy like your eating areas and bathroom. I ignored the zone reminders and spent every day deluttering for 15 to 30 minutes and doing 1 load of laundry. The living areas are close enough to clean now. I will do the garage when it is cooler.

When I started decluttering in late May the wall I hit was where to put the things I had sorted. I needed a plan before I made things worse and killed the momentum. I couldn't just toss a donation bag in my car and scoot on down to the thrift store because we use it to haul printing and musician gear all day long. I made a space in the garage first to use as a staging area. It already had "never gonna do it" garage sale items so it was perfect. Guys can help you here with lifting boxes. When David saw I was serious and lugged around the results of my efforts he got into decluttering too. Shocker!

Donations

Trick 1: I called the VVA (Vets) because they have left bags on the door step before and I knew they did pick-ups. http://www.clothingdonations.org They take a lot more than clothes. Many National orgs will schedule pick-ups. The BEST part is that this gives you a goal date to declutter your estimated amount of stuff. On the first pick-up we filled the driveway. We also got rid of 2 vehicles that week via online sources. Make a page in your CJ or make a file (I did this on my Outlook task pane) of the resources you find to help you.

Trick 2: Make a bag or box for each room you are decluttering and leave it out. The laundry room is a great place to hang a bag. You use your kitchen or bathroom daily and the stuff is there just ready to toss in a flash! Yes - it does look a little trashy but if you have to move the container temporarily you can. What looks worse? Scattered clutter or one box or bag? When the container is full seal it and get it out to your donation staging area, grab a new container and don't look back.

Trick 3: If you are storing other people's stuff or saving things for others now is the time to get them to pick it up. Your home is not a storage unit! If they want it they will come get it or it goes in the truck. Be firm! I'm preaching to myself here because David's daughter left us with a bedroom full of things 20 months ago and her inconsiderate actions have made it so we lost a whole room of our home. I am at a point where neither of them has dealt with it so I get to decide the outcome. It's out! I'm not shipping someone else's stuff across the country. *foot down*

Trash

I called the utility and ordered a larger bin for a couple of dollars a month. We already have a large recycle bin. We fill both bins every week and when it slows down I will go smaller again. On trash night plan on a fast paced toss fest to fill the bins. Fast paced meaning don't stop and decide it is time to go through your paperwork. If you are stumped raid the freezer or cupboards for old food or packaging. Cardboard soda flats? Plastic seedling containers from the nursery? The empty shampoo bottle collection? It's all trash.

Keepers

This was the hardest part for me and slowest because it involved now caring for items I wanted, and displaying or storing them correctly for easy use. If you have good items that go to various areas of the house but they don't fit yet do not add them to the pile! You will only have to revisit them later. Do not put good stuff on top of bad! Put these items in a box in the room or area and when you have cleared a space then put them away. If they don't fit you might have to reorganize or declutter more.

An easy example that fits with this week... I don't need worn dishtowels or holiday themed ones packing the drawer. I tucked the holiday ones into the holiday storage boxes and used the rest to wrap breakable donation items or wipe something grimey like the BBQ as a last use. Done. You need about one towel a day and they cost a couple of bucks so go for it.

I'm so sorry my posts are LONG!!! I need to declutter my posts.

It was a long and very well written post Heidi, so dont worry about that.. But now i still dont know how to do the detail cleaning in the kitchen!

One area at a time.
Get trashcan (heavy duty sack)
Get old rag and cleaner.
Open cabinet. Pull out whatevers in there. Pick out your favorites. Pull out the yuckies you dont want. Is it give-awayable?
Ok. Im really bad, cuz I didnt give away my yuckies. I just didnt have the time. I had a whole 2 cabinets full of cooking wear. Chris had to come help me - we kept one GOOD set. Decide how you want to KEEP it there. Wipe out the cabinet insides.. and put it up. Worry abt outsides of cabinets later. Just do the inside.
When one cabinet or drawer is done. Stop - cheer yourself. Plan the next one. The drawers are easier. How many do you have? Too much stuff in the junk drawer? 3-4 can openers? You need one. Pick the favorite, toss the rest. Stained spoons? Chunk them.
Once I got it all sorted. I threw it in the dishwasher (breakytime)
When done.. I layed that rubber like paper in there, and put up the stuff in ONE drawer.

Is this helping any? I dont know if Im helping.
Definately -- set the timer. I would get all wigged out and start making so much of a mess it would have taken me all day. (see and at this point I'd just throw it all back wherever and have a bigger mess than I started.
When the trashcan is full... drag it to the trash.. dont look in there.. just throw it in the trashcan.

Be gentle. Women are the home makers and we resent throwing something away we might need some malinium. (sp) but its ok. You will be a more productive and happy home engineer when you know where your stuff is. I feel like Im happier cooking when I KNOW where the wisk or flatula is... and Im not digging for it.

Doesnt explain my messy flour episode.. but I retain the right to say.. I was enjoying myself - like a kid in the sandbox... I really GOT INTO it!

Rhonda
.. probably not helping.. but I tried.

Thats still decluttering!! I mean cleaning!! You know wet towels to get the dirt of the inside of the cabinets


Miscommunication is very well here!

Oops. You caught me getting distracted there, didn't ya?

Darn it!

Rhonda

http://www.flylady.net/images/Detailed_Cleaning_Lists.pdf

KITCHEN: DETAIL CLEANING LIST
1. EMPTY REFG/CLEAN THOROUGHLY
2. CLEAN MICROWAVE INSIDE AND OUT
3. CLEAN STOVE/OVEN
4. WASH CANISTER/KNICK-KNACKS
5. STRAIGHTEN DRAWERS/CUPBOARDS
6. WIPE FINGERPRINTS OFF WALLS
7. WASH INSIDE WINDOWS
8. CLEAN FAN/VENT-A-HOOD FILTERS AND HOOD
9. SCRUB DOWN CABINET FRONTS (only a few at a time)
10. CLEAN LIGHT DEFUSING BOWLS(GLASS GLOBES OVER LIGHT BULBS)
11. CLEAN UNDER SINK/THROW AWAY OLD RAGS
12. CLEAN PET DISHES

FlyLady's detailed cleaning list. Woohoo! It just so happens this list is part of Captain's Log (CJ) step #6 where all of the zones are detailed. All you have to do to find this stuff is use the Google search on the left of her website. I typed in "detailed cleaning" and clicked the button that says "Flylady.net" under the box. There are a lot of goodies on the site that are not readily visible so try it out!

How handy!! Going to use that one too.

You guys are outstanding!

Heidi – Your decluttering reply nailed it for me & so succinctly – the gruesome “wall” had already started to inhibit me. To me, your input wasn’t long – it was loads of good, useable directions & precisely what I was after! Gracie! Now, I can function again in declutter mode! You would think I would have thought of these solutions, but the everlovin’ “block wall” had already started to rise & I couldn’t think past it – stopped me cold!! So again – gracie!!

Rhonda – don’t put yourself down, gf!! – you must know any & all input is valuable – adds perspectives the rest of us might never venture to think of … & once again, I giggled out loud – how many times have I too plowed into a mess only to “drown” & stuff it ALL back, making it MUCH worse than before. Then, I refused to go near it for months – didn’t want to revisit that ugly feeling again. You’ve got company, girl!!

… & Natalia – your comment & question is what put this kitchen how-to notion in motion & you still don’t have your full "annual timetable" answer!? Sorry, I can’t be the one – sure, I could give “thoughty” ideas but have NO idea if they’d work, ‘cuz I haven’t been there yet! Active detailed cleaning is still on the horizon for me!

Off to declutter once again, Marie

Oh yea! I helped! You can do this BTF. Kicking down the wall will help. It really is true what FL says about how it didn't get this way overnight and it won't go away overnight. Keep plugging away. It will get fun and as you see surfaces opening up you will get that crazed decluttering look in your eye and start tossing more things.

Rhonda - I am on-call today! We are gonna sit on the floor like 2 year olds and play with the plastic containers today matching lids to the bowls, right? Right! I keep them separated - bowls with the Corningware and lids own their own drawer. I hate having to find the lids when they are mixed in!

Ok.. with four hours sleep, Im not sorting gladware. I'd be like, fetal position in the corner somewhere! Besides.. I actually went thru mine about a month ago.. We just have alot of it. I guess it comes from cooking bigger meals and feeding more people.

Heidi.. I'll PAY you to come over and sort my bottoms and lids. Thats like some ancient torture thing to me. I hate puzzles.. they drive me absolutely insane. Give me a recipe and I can follow it. Give me new sheet music for the piano - baby! Im in the zone...

Give me a million puzzle pieces... and I sit and stare at them. Interest gone after about 2 minutes.

DH says "but honey - you can talk on the phone, read a recipe, and cook the recipe or chopping everything...uhhuh... and your point?

Can we say it together.. I have many skills honey! puzzles just aint one of them.

It's a deal Rhonda! I would love to sit on your floor and play tub drums for free orrrrrr for brownies. I will wear wet sweats and mop with my bum while i am down there for brownies.