Here is my Instagram inspired plan for sorting the house:
Step 1: I’m going to declutter the house and tidy everything up Marie Kondo style
Step 2: I’m going to get on top of the cleaning using The Organised Mum Method
Step 3: I’m going to go green by following the tips of Small Sustainable Steps.
Step 4: Bask in the satisfaction of having a tidy and clean home ALL THE TIME, instead of just when people are coming over
At the moment, I am still on Step 1, slowly de-cluttering our home. So far I have been through – all of our clothes, the books and the DVDs. Put like that, it doesn’t sound like a lot but we have to fit these tidying sessions around work, church, looking after the child and some fun now and then.
Last weekend we turned our attention to the kitchen. If we want to re-model it this year (if we ever get the roof fixed!) then it makes sense to de-clutter now so that we have less stuff to move about in the shuffle.
Rob and I spent a good chunk of the last Saturday afternoon emptying the cupboards, throwing things away, cleaning things to keep and re-organising the cupboards. It was hard, grubby work but it was satisfying seeing the extra space free up around the kitchen.
Highlights of the day included:
Rob clearing out the two drawers of assorted knives that were left in the house by the previous owner. Why they ever needed twenty knives I’ll never know. I’m also not sure why we kept hold of them so long! I am just glad to see them gone, and we now have a much smaller collection of knives that we will actually use.
Moving our pans to the deep drawers next to the cooker for more efficiency. It makes a lot more sense, although at the moment I keep habitually opening the wrong cupboard when I am cooking! It’s going to take a little getting used to!
Finding lost things like the little attachment for the food processor that had been missing for months. Hurray, we can make soups once more!
Throwing out all the expired spices and condiments, leaving behind just enough spices to be able to see everything at a glance. This cupboard used to be a densely packed mess of spices, sauces and tubs of baking powder. Now I can see everything in it at a glance. Bliss!
Collecting together all of my baking things in to one dedicated cupboard. It wasn’t until we did this that I realised that I had biscuit cutters scattered in five different locations in the kitchen. It feels so good to have all the baking kit together in one easy to reach place.
Seeing all the glassware gathered together and gleaming. I don’t know why but I find different glassware so pleasing, and I love each addition to our “fancy” glass cupboard. Oversized swirly wine glasses that were a wedding present, the champagne flutes that Rob picked out for hosting our first Christmas, the Whisky tumblers that took forever to decide upon; we wanted to get the right weighty feel. I even love the milk bottles that we collected over a year and are brilliant to use at summer parties and BBQs.
I wish I could say that the kitchen is all finished now, but we still have about five cupboards left to do. Our progress was slow because we still had a three year old to keep an eye on and to entertain, as we worked.
After spending all day in the kitchen neither of us really felt like cooking so we ate out together. We ended up in a quiet restaurant, where the walls are the palest blue, and classical music plays softly in the background. We sat by the big windows watching the rain fall outside and had a really happy relaxed meal together, laughing at Orla’s stories and talking over our hopes for this year, and indulging in peanut butter brownies topped with caramel ice-cream. Well, we deserved a treat!
All in all, I feel that we made the best use of a gloomy Saturday! I’m now looking forward to my next free weekend to do the next section!
Leave a Reply