The shorter days have me lighting candles (thank you, Walmart!) both in the mornings and evenings.
And one thing led to another, and suddenly I’m ready to start warming up a bit of my home décor for fall.
Which means I need to stow away what I’ve used for summer.
And there’s really no point in stuffing things away, so a bit of purging and a bit of deep cleaning got started this week.
Oh, my. I still have a long way to go, but I did get started on the kitchen—and here’s what I accomplished.
The Drawers
Our kitchen is not huge, and there are definitely not nearly enough drawers.
But honestly, we still have a bit too much stuff, and what we do have could use some better organization.
I started by ordering these two highly rated Better Homes & Gardens bamboo expanding drawer organizers. Because our drawers are fairly narrow, I had to use them sideways to get the most out of them, but they work great.
One of the bamboo organizers went into my “junk drawer,” and now all the little remotes and candle lighters are neat and tidy, with plenty of room left for potholders.
Everything looks neat and tidy, and—best of all—I can actually see what I have.
I also moved our food storage containers out of the lazy Susan cabinet and into a deep drawer where they are much easier to access.
Editing most of our containers down to squares and rectangles has made storing both empty containers and leftovers in the refrigerator so much neater.
Kitchen towels got purged WAY down.
The tea towels I shared in my Little Kitchen Luxuries post have worked out so well that they are mostly what we have left.
Sometimes less really is more.
The Cabinets
Our upper cabinets really didn’t need much attention because I keep after them regularly.
But those lower cabinets?
Ugh.
The rolling racks we installed are a must for everyday access to pots, pans and all the other things that live down there.
But cleaning underneath them is a real pain.
And, by the way, how does all the stuff get in there?
I only put clean dishes away, for heaven’s sake!
I got out the vacuum’s narrow attachment and swept up what I could. Then I used some good old-fashioned elbow grease to scrub out each cabinet.
It wasn’t exactly exciting, but everything is now clean and ready for another season of use.
I shared my under-sink cabinet recently, and thankfully that is still in good shape—so that was one less place to clean this time around.
The Trash Cabinet
Our trash cabinet has been a struggle for me.
As soon as I throw away a cat food can, a meat wrapper or vegetable waste, the smell!
So I emptied everything out, gave the entire cabinet a good scrub down and took the cans outside for a hose-down.
Then I came up with a solution that is definitely not very bougie.
We now throw our daily trash into a grocery bag that hangs on the outside handle of the cabinet. When it gets full, we take it out.
Usually more than once a day.
Not pretty.
But my kitchen smells so much fresher.
And honestly, I’ll take fresh over pretty when it comes to garbage.
Do you struggle with kitchen trash?
We seem to generate more trash than most people I know.
Maybe it’s because of all the cooking. Maybe it’s the cats. Maybe we just have a magical ability to fill a garbage can.
I’d love to know if anyone else has this problem!
A Little Breathing Room on the Counters
The coffee and tea bar section of my kitchen was starting to look a little crowded.
Since I won’t be using the SodaStream nearly as much during the fall, I moved it off the counter.
It may seem like a small thing, but clearing one appliance away made the whole area feel less cluttered.
And I’m all for reclaiming a little expensive kitchen real estate.
One Last Cleaning Pass
I made my handy-dandy cleaning solution of hot water, white vinegar and Dawn dish soap and wiped down all the surfaces.
Counters, cabinet fronts and everything else that needed a little attention got cleaned.
Now the kitchen is ready for a bit of fall décor.
And that is really the goal here.
I don’t want to decorate over the clutter.
I want to clear things out, clean things up and then bring in a few things that make our home feel cozy for the season ahead.
A Little Candle Motivation
I recently talked about the viral Walmart candles everyone has been raving about.
Well, Hub and I popped into Walmart the other day and went on a smelling frenzy.
We ended up buying three.
I lit one while I was cleaning, and I have to admit, it made the task the tiniest bit better.
Amazing how a candle and a good audiobook provides some motivation.
For a true deep clean, I still need to get to the tippy top of the upper cabinets.
That calls for the big-boy ladder, and I wasn’t quite up to that yet.
Maybe later this week.
Or maybe not.
We’ll see. 😉
Thank you for spending a little time with me while I clean.
Not terribly exciting, I know, but this is what actually got done around here this week.
And I hope you think that’s worth sharing, too.
No perfect house. No twelve-hour cleaning marathon. Okay maybe I did clean for twelve hours – it was a lot!
But a little organizing, a little purging and a kitchen that feels better than it did a few days ago.
Are you ready for fall?
Let me know what’s going on with you.
As always, may God bless you and yours.