I have to admit…I’m scared.
On any given day, my kitchen looks like this:
It was worse, but I cleaned a bit prior to this pic being taken! *gasp*
Now, I KNOW I’ve told you how my husband’s friend taught me to clean my kitchen, and you know I was back on the FLYlady bandwagon, but if I were to be totally upfront and honest (which I strive to be at all times), my kitchen is a disaster.
Why? I don’t know. I wish I could pinpoint the why behind it, but suffice it to say it has ALWAYS been this way (well, except for those 2 years I was a full-fledged FLYbaby). I suspect it has something to do with, dare I say it, laziness?
I’d like to blame it on the fact that my kitchen is tiny. I’d like to blame it on having to cook 3 meals a day for 7 people. I’d even like to think it is simply a matter of having too much stuff (which is why this is the room I chose for this week), but I really don’t think that’s all there is to it. By the time the meal is prepared and eaten and dishes cleared, I just want to retreat to my comfy chair and stare off into outer space…the rest of the afternoon…
And alas, my lack of gumption is rubbing off on my children. I’ve been so convicted of this lately it isn’t even funny! Everywhere I turn is a mirror pointed in my direction showing me precisely the person I truly am. When it comes to cleaning the kitchen, I am lazy about it and just don’t want to do it.
So, I came up with a plan…
Several of our summers have been spent vacationing in cabins where all you have is just what you need and that is it. One cabin we frequently stay at barely has enough plates and cups for our family. We wash after every single meal because we have to. Laziness cannot live there for very long.
So, that’s what I decided to do. I’m not going to get rid of all but 7 dish and cup combinations, but I can make all but that many totally inaccessible; therefore, forcing me out of my laziness. That’s what I did on Monday. By Monday night, my dish cabinet looked like this:
Is that an empty shelf I see???
On the bottom shelf are 7 cups, 7 bowls, and 7 plates (of varying degrees of breakability). Everything else that used to litter that cabinet is packed and stacked into the top shelf, far beyond my reach.
I also managed to get the lower cabinets on one side of my galley kitchen organized. There were a few things I could get rid of, but most of the things on that side were needed items.
That’s all I managed in the kitchen this week, but it’s a good start! Anyone care to share the state of their kitchen???
Amy,
Now in this respect, I am the opposite of you! I cannot function until the kitchen is clean and organized. It just so happens that I’ve posted a tour of my home yesterday and a picture of my kitchen is there. I’ve tried having nothing on the countertops, but I can’t keep it that way. I have a basket to keep stuff in, a bottle rack on the counter, and a usual pile of stuff to do. Check out my blog to take a peek! Now, can you offer any advice on toys? They are everywhere! And we don’t even have that many….I’ve tossed and donated a ton! Have a great weekend…..hope you are feeling well!
Nicki
I would feel overwhelmed too, if I let myself. However, we are big on “many hands make light work” around here, especially when it comes to table chores. We try to clean up the kitchen immediately after each meal, and each of the children (and I) have assigned chores, which makes clean up go by quickly.
I take care of supervision, hand washing pots and pans, putting up leftovers, and wiping down the counters and stove top, etc.
My 10 year old pre-washes the dirty dishes, and then stacks them on the counter, and then cleans the sink.
My 7 year old takes those pre-washed, dirty dishes, and loads them into the dishwasher, and starts the dishwasher if needed. It is usually run twice a day – after lunch, and after supper.
My 5 year old sweeps the floor. (I usually sweep with him, each of us with our own broom, because we hate walking on crumbs, so we keep the floor VERY swept throughout the day)
My 3 year old clears the table, and she and I wipe the table down together.
My children are all good enough with their chores, that if I am unable to clean the kitchen – for example, if I’m sick, or have to run an errand while hubby stays home and watches them, then they can completely clean up the kitchen by themselves. It may not be up to the standards that I would have done it, but it is good enough.
When I explained what we would be doing, the children jumped on board immediately! It’s actually been really great…I’m so proud of them!
Post a picture of my kitchen? Are you *crazy*?! I loaded the DW and swept the floor, now I’m tired and I’ll have to do the counters later.
.-= mama4x´s last blog .. =-.
Oh my, I have been doing what you are starting. We always wash everything as it gets dirty. Keeps the kitchen clean and organized. Not only that it makes a much more happier mom.
Love and Hugs ~ Kat
.-= Kat´s last blog ..Guess Who is Driving? =-.
It sure is nice to always walk into a “ready” kitchen!
Decreasing the available dishes, pots, pans, utensils, cups, etc, makes it a LOT easier! My kids are with yours in enjoying the decreased burden. It’s a lot easier to “get it done” when that means washing a half-dozen or so of things, rather than dozens of them. Less overwhelming!
Now, if I could just beat my husband with sticks until he overcomes his spatula addiction… I swear, the man will come home from any shopping trip with a spatula, “just in case.” In case of what? Needing to beat back zombies with pancakes?
The other thing I did was admit, for good, that I need the dishes to be relatively color-less, and all the same. We switched to heavy stoneware from a restaurant supply house, with poly-carbonate tumblers. The dishes stack better, they don’t break, and we spent less than we would have buying dishes at a Big Box store.
.-= Liz C´s last blog ..Making the Bed =-.
My kitchen…well, we have a love-hate relationship. It’s big enough to work in (my husband complains, but frankly it has twice the counter space of my parents’ kitchen, where I learned to cook, so it’s a step up for me) but I have so much STUFF that I run out of room quickly. And I have put a lot of the “stuff” I don’t need in the basement (various pans and utensils and etc. that I hardly use) but there is a lot of “stuff” I really do need! Like my jars of fermenting foods, bowls of sprouting flour, my ice cream maker (we use at least once a week), etc. I have to have it. So I’ve sort of come to terms with this. I make it as clean as I can and accept that it’s a functional room.
Except for all my glass jars. I must find a new place for them!
.-= Kate´s last blog ..How to Get Started Blogging =-.
My glass jars are downstairs on a shelf.
I know this sounds ridiculous, but that could have been MY post, from my thoughts, and a picture of my kitchen from my home. I don’t know what it is with me and my dreaded kitchen, but I KNOW exactly how you feel. sometimes I think it’s a lot of things, sometimes I think its laziness. And the only time my sink stayed completely clean was when I was on flylady a looong time ago AND when I had mice *gasp*. It straightened me out, but not for long. I am back in my old habits, but a friend had come along side of me and is mentoring me back into kitchen cleaning.
my kitchen is my bane. i am a foodie and i totally need staff to clean up after my cooking adventures.
The kitchen is actually the one area where my kiddos have few chores. One partially empties the dishwasher and sweeps the floor. but honestly, i feel guilty making them clean the major messes i create in there. anyway, when we lived in the apartment we had color coded dishes for everyone. 1 cup, 1 plate, 1 bowl. it was beautiful. we moved away from that after we moved back into a house and have a dishwasher. dh thinks we need to implement it again. and decluttering the kitchen was on the to do list for my week without kids. but trying to dig into those cabinets with a 37wk belly…i simply couldn’t reach. lol! i put a line through it on the list so it wasn’t staring at me everytime i looked.
Yeah, all this decluttering is taking WAY more energy than I expected w/ a burgeoning belly in tow! Slow and steady wins the race, right?
I’ve got to tell you, that’s a pretty smart idea! The worst thing about cleaning a kitchen is aaaaalllllll the dishes! So, 7 of each isn’t so bad in comparison to 21 of each. You come up with some of the best ideas!
.-= Christine (iDreamofClean)´s last blog ..Reader Poll: What Type of Cleaning Products Do You Use Most Often? =-.
Necessity is the mother of invention!
Good job!
My kitchen is usually a mess…but for the past few weeks I have been good about not letting clutter pile up.
Its funny….you sound just like me,wanting to retreat to my chair and daydream!
I was reading some where I forget where but there are two types of people… those who are prefectionist (doers) and those that are just content to be! (us more relaxed folks) sigh***
I have been getting rid of a bunch of STUFF too.(not 1/2 though) Trying to putting things back when I’m done with it has helped! I’ve been watching the show HORDERS from time to time! Its a real eye opener!
Any who….good job!
Warm Blessings,
Georgiann
.-= Fruitful Harvest´s last blog ..More Pioneer Farms Pictures =-.
We don’t have TV, but my mom used to tape shows like Hoarders for me to watch on our old TV and I would always be inspired to dejunk!
The thing about the kitchen is that you can spend hours scrubbing and mopping, and the minute someone puts one dirty fork in the sink, it feels all messed up again.
We remodeled our kitchen a year ago and it was a crashing disappoinment to realize we had not gotten the self-cleaning version. In fact, I have not been able to keep it clean long enough to take the “after” picture.
.-= Deb´s last blog ..Woodpecker =-.
SO funny! I can relate to that. I want a self-cleaning kitchen too.
We moved to this place in February and we have a teeny sink, 10 dishes in it and it looks overflowing, go to my blog and you can see what my kitchen looked like the day I actually got it clean!
.-= Charla Nira´s last blog ..Nothing but Miracles Photography =-.
New to your blog. This post has actually encouraged me in so many ways because I can relate to exactly what you are saying. In fact I think I could have been the one writing it. Thanks for being real.
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LOL,
The reason your kitchen looks the way it does is because…are you ready for the truth? It’s because you are putting it to the great use that it was intended for! stop beating yourself up, and give yourself a pat on the back instead. Im always impressed by real homemaking women.
Out on the farm we have a saying, it goes like this. “A clean stall is a empty stall”.
God bless!
LOL–I LOVE that saying!
Yet again, I feel such an amazing kinship with you!
I HATE to clean my kitchen – and, several years ago, I took the dishes down to 2 for each person, but now I am reconsidering that – maybe I should go to 1 and put the rest up high. At least that way even if everything is left out, it can’t be too terribly overwhelming and the sink can’t be too full to clean the dish you need, right? 
I see that this post was written a year ago, how is it working for you?
It works pretty well except we have company fairly regularly and that presents a pain.
I have glanced through this page and have had the exact SAME conclusions about myself, cabin scenarios and all! I have tried to get rid of all the plastic cups in the “kid drawer” and thought of having one set of dishes per person to make clean up easy. I have so far only dreamed up this lifestyle but hopefully I will be motivated enough by you to actually DO it!:)
Thanks