Kitchen Spring Cleaning and Organization 2011

This weekend I wanted to get a head start on my kitchen organization. I could NOT sleep! My weekends off begins on Friday mornings every two weeks. I only get two weekends off a month so I have to make the most of them! I woke up at 445am because I couldn't sleep, probably because I always work the night shift and am used to being awake, who knows. So I knew I needed to start my kitchen project with my favorite cup of coffee! Dunkin Donuts and sugar free french vanilla coffee creamer and my favorite flower cup! :)

I began by cleaning all of the cabinets out with Basic H2 All purpose cleaner. I wanted to make sure I mentioned that because a lot of people are under the impression that you can't use the Basic H2 on wood and far from it! It makes my cabinets look so nice.

 This HUGE awkward corner cabinet used to be my spice cabinet and it was just FULL of junk. I mean I had no idea which spices I had, I would buy more and have doubles and TRIPLES of things. Ridiculous and a waste. I was having to go through my cabinet all of the time and take inventory. A total waste of my time and I am all about simplifying my time anyway that I can.

 There were so many spices I had to take two pictures. This is the left side. The tupperware modular mate I found at a garage sale for a couple dollars and I keep all of my baking and decorating supplies in there.

 This is the right side and now when I look at the picture I just get visual hives. I am so glad this project is OVER! lol So I am taking all of this and putting it in this...

I bought these 3 ounce spice jars off of Amazon for $18. For almost a dollar a piece, not bad. I love glass. I have an aversion for plastic and boxes. I HATE having boxes in my pantry. I think they are so cluttery and just a MESS!

 This is my cabinet that I decided to turn into my spice cabinet. It is so much easier to find everything. I used to have my spices in here before but I moved them into the corner cabinet about a year ago and it just didn't work out. I could never find anything or keep it together.

 This is how it turned out! I love it! NOW, if you look closely you can see the imposter spice containers in there hiding. They are in glass containers though. I didn't have enough but they are still made of glass. :) They will have to do for now. I have all of my big grill seasonings on the right on the lazy susan. I keep all of my medicines and vitamins in the basket in the middle shelf and baking things on the top shelf.

 I love how it turned out! It was nice to be able to go through my spices and get rid of expired ones and find out which ones I am low on. It's always nice to have a mental inventory of what you need!

 Then I went through all of my plasticware and all of my other junk in my cabinets. Some are real tupperware and some are rubbermaid-ish. I like glass so much better. When I walk around antique stores I see pyrex like the ones my Mom used to use back in the 80's, you know like the olive green ones with 70's prints?  I don't think 30 or 40 years from now we will see cheapo rubbermaid takealongs in antique stores. I doubt they last that long, plastic just breaks down over time. The only way glass is going to break down is if you break it! :) BPA free!

 There was so much I began filling up the floor too! lol Note my stool in the background. I am only 5'3. At one point I had to climb up on the counter like a 3 year old because the stool wasn't even helping. :) I had to make sure everything got clean! :)

 Does anyone have an awkward cabinet in their kitchen like THIS? I HATE this cabinet. It is ridiculous. What is the point? You can't see anything you put towards the back and it is just awkward. Booooooo. I have a very small kitchen as it is but I am usually pretty good at keeping it organized and de-cluttered. I swear every year it seems I de-clutter and find even more things to get rid of. How is that possible?

These are all of the things I got rid of! All of my plasticware! I decided to go completely with glassware instead. They last longer and are so much better quality. I ordered them HERE off of Amazon of course! I love Amazon. :) I want to keep them for YEARS!

So here is my end result! :) All glassware but plastic lids. I love them! I bought the middle row mixing bowls from Target on clearance for $20. I did have some plastic ones but one thing that I hated about them was that they absorbed odors and stained so easily. I don't have to worry about that with glass!

And here is the result of my awkward cabinet. It is usually my parking garage for all of my appliances. I don't like a lot of things on my counters.

 Here is my before of my cup cabinet. I took everything out and wiped it down and only put back what I wanted to keep.

 I like to keep my kid's vitamins in here. That way in the morning we see them when we are getting the kids drinks and breakfast, we always remember to give them to them. This is literally all the cups I have besides my wine glasses. I like to keep things minimal to what we need. Its so much easier and less to maintain.

 I also took the top part vent off of my microwave and cleaned it. I soaked it in a sink of water with Basic H2.

 I also cleaned my microwave with the Basic H2 all purpose cleaner. It was so nice to be able to clean my microwave with something I know won't hurt my family when I cook my families food in there as well.

And the finished shiny result! :)

 Here is the side of my stove that drips down the side of my cabinet. YUCK!

 There are no words. Disgustingness. Just Basic H2 all purpose spray got this off. I guess you could use the degreaser but the all purpose worked just great too.

 I got the food and grease right off but it has white scratch marks. I'm okay with that because my stove hides this part anyway, if its clean, I am happy! :)

 And it got my stove clean! I just wiped it clean, no scrubbing!

 Then I went through my freezer, threw out old food and wiped it all out with the Basic H2.

 Here is the end result! :)

Much neater!

If you are wondering why I have a bag of bread heels of bread in my freezer, I am doing it because I am saving it for this summer for the ducks at the park. Audrey loves ducks and I usually just throw the heels away or feed them to Koda the husky. I decided to saved them all for the ducks. I have more in the deep freeze downstairs. The ducks are going to have some full bellies this summer! :)

I cleaned out my pantry. I really don't like my cereal containers. I want to go with Tupperware modular mates. I like the way I can mix and stack them and they snap securely. The cereal containers aren't airtight. I am going to buy these soon...

 I got the basket on the floor that I keep my potatoes and onions in at the goodwill for a couple bucks. I like spending just a couple of bucks on things that way if it gets gross or ruined I can just figure I didn't spend a fortune on it! :) I also keep our fire extinguisher and lunch boxes down there on the bottom.

I like to keep snacks in the middle so the kids can reach them. I keep loose snacks in the basket because I told you how much I HATE boxes. Almost as much as I hate plastic!

 I took off the door to my fridge where you keep your butter. I have no idea what its called and I soaked it in a sink of Basic H2 and water. I also soaked audrey's teething rings in there to sanitize them.

 Then I thoroughly cleaned out my fridge shelf by shelf and row by row with Basic H2 all purpose spray and purged any old food. Not much was expired but I cleaned it super good and now I know what we have for menu's.

 It is all organized and clean! :)

 Here is the before of my silverware drawer! A MESS! I noticed so much silverware with spots and I think they were from pre-Shaklee dishwasher soap days so I decided to re-wash everything. Crazy, I know. But at least I know they are all clean now. :)

 My end result! :) Much shinier!

 I also got this idea from my friend Bonnie (Hi Bonnie!!) who introduced me to Shaklee. She made the cutest thing to put her bags in under her sink. I had this oatmeal container when I was cleaning out my pantry and I decided to make a place to store plastic shopping bags in.

 It's not perfect but I love it! I can stuff all of my bags in there (we use them as trash bags in the bathroom trash cans) and keep them organized.

 I love getting organizing and cleaning ideas from other blogs!

 Please don't hate me. :( My trash can lid was disgusting. I mean sick. SICK. I used the Basic G to clean it.

 Not perfect but so much better!

 I also cleaned behind my fridge really good. I had to laugh when I saw my painting job that I forgot about. I was so low on paint so I didn't paint in places people wouldn't see! haha See what my kitchen looked like a year ago? Yellow, now it is beige! :)

 NOW, this is THE most embarrassing thing I am ever going to admit on this blog. I am embarrassed. When my husband and I built this house we were 24 and 25. So young. Now almost 5 years later we have learned so much as homeowners. I learned something so embarrassing today. I had a cardboard cover on the back of my fridge for the past 5 years. I thought it was SUPPOSED to be there. Then I read on all of these blogs how you are supposed to vacuum your refrigerator coils under the refrigerator and it will run smoothly. So I tore that cardboard off and low and behold...it looks like everyone elses. I was supposed to be cleaning it. I have never. It looks awful.

 This is just awful!!! I can't believe I didn't take care of this better! I have to take better care of our stuff, I need our appliances to last.

 Okay, its not even decent, but its better. I think my refrigerator thanked me. I swear I heard it... lol

 Here is the end result of my spring cleaning! This is our kitchen!

 Everything is de-cluttered, scrubbed, dusted, and sanitized!

 I know my fridge still has clutter magnets but I can't help it. My kids love them! We have almost all 50 states and they love to sit and try to put them all in order like a map!

HERE is what my house looked like two years ago. It looks and feels sooo much better! So much less stuff, so much more de-cluttered! Check out all of that clutter in the old picture!!! I am totally okay with getting rid of stuff we don't need! :)