Kitchen Spring Clean Update

Since posting last  a couple of weeks ago on progress made with regard to my ongoing Kitchen Spring Clean, I thought I'd bring you up to scratch on progress.

During half term, with LB at home, it was quite hard to get back into the swing of things, but I got a little bit done on the evenings, setting the timer and doing at least an hour of deep cleaning most evenings. The insides and outsides of the cupboards on one side of the kitchen got blitzed this way.

I even managed to sift through my recipe box and get rid of lots of recipes cut from magazines that I'm never going to use.  As a previous post explained, the rest I stuck into a book that I can sift through when I want to try something new.

The weekend before last was a cleaning write off, as we went up to Yorkshire to visit relatives. Once back, however, and despite LB being back at school, I found it very difficult to motivate myself to get back to the job in hand.

I managed one half of the kitchen work tops on one side, including the cooker hob. I took off the rings and scrubbed underneath with a brillo pad, to get it as clean as I possibly could. The chopping board also got disinfected and scrubbed on both sides, as did the worktop beneath it.

It was at this point that I hit another brick wall and left off cleaning for the remainder of the week.  I think it may have been a case of overkill the week before.

By the weekend, however, I was feeling motivated to do some more work and on Saturday afternoon I blitzed the under sink cupboards on the other side of the room and then cleaned out the wine rack and recycling drawer.  I also gave the washing machine a good clean, de-gunking the detergent drawer, rubber seals on the door and the filter. (Found 30p for my trouble!;))  I then put it through a hot wash with white vinegar in the drum and bicarbonate of soda in the detergent tray, so it should now be sparkling clean.

I still need to tackle the inside of the dishwasher, as it was part full of dirty crockery, but I'll do that as soon as I've put it through a cycle and can take the baskets out. I do think that it's good to look after the appliances you own, by cleaning them thoroughly, and in turn it usually helps to keep them working better for longer. (Not that I always get around to doing it!)

Anyway, the good thing about doing so much cleaning is that I have managed to use up lots of products that had been lurking under the kitchen sink for quite a while and I can now fit all of my bulk bought cleaning products in one single cupboard.  A small thing, but significant to me, as it is evidence of simplifying my routines and products.

On the left in the picture below, you will see that I also made use of an old bit of Tupperware that belonged to my mum, to house the dishwasher tablets. It's the perfect shape and size for this cupboard and at least it now has a use, rather than been squirrelled away in a cupboard and not used.

Here's a picture of my newly cleaned and organised under sink cupboard.

Not a whole lot different from previous pictures I've posted, and still a little awkward to get to everything at the back, but at least everything is now in one place. There are a few more things in here that I want to use up in the near future, so there is scope to simplify still further and hopefully create more space in here.

I think the next post in this series will be the final one, as I am now very near to finishing the kitchen deep clean.  After talking to our neighbour on Saturday, I realised that this might actually be the last one I do in this kitchen, as they are in agreement to extending their side return along with us, to widen both kitchens.

If this gets done later this year, we might even have a new kitchen by the end of the year.  It's quite exciting, as it is something that we have wanted to do for quite a few years now, but didn't really want to cause upset to our neighbours.  With them onside, however, and intending to do the same, it means that we may be able to go ahead in the near future and both households can benefit.

Anyway, I'll be back with a final post about the kitchen spring clean and possibly an overall picture of the finished result.