Kitchen Makeover: Progress not perfection

At this stage, I think it is important to step back and remember that perfection is well, slightly annoying!  Perfection is not the goal here, but progress is.  So long as we are taking steps, even little baby steps, everyday.. we are getting closer to our goals.  So on that note, my challenge for the last week or two was to slowly progress through my kitchen, getting it a little better everyday.

So for 15-20mins on most days, I picked a cupboard or a drawer and tidied it.  I still have five drawers and 4 cupboards to go, but I have got through the biggest ones.. the two large drawers for pots and plastics, the two big corner cupboards for tupperware and baking stuff, the ‘under the sink’ cupboard and the five smaller drawers with cutlery and place sets and the tea-towels.  Then there was the ‘drop-zone’ which is now a tidy basket where we put our keys and everyday stuff, the cupboard for tea and coffee stuff, the cupboard for cups and the cupboard where I was just shoving all the plastic bags, and lastly (the one in the pic) was the appliance cupboard.

Habit: 15mins to do a  Deep Clean Task

So the Deep Clean Tasks include:

Pick a drawer or cupboard or shelf – empty, declutter, wipe out and put it all back.  The more often you do this, the quicker it will be so that you will eventually be able to do a few cupboards in one go or only need a quick wipe around rather then the whole empty and declutter effort.

Clean a section of the stove – the top, the grill, the outside (including sides), the inside, or even pull it out and behind it.  Again, this one will get easier with time with only the ‘pull it out and clean behind it’ being a bigger job.

Clean the window!

Scrub the rubbish Bin!

Clean out the fridge.

Clean out the pantry (or a shelf depending on how bad it is!)

Clean the ‘hotspot’ – for me this is near the door, where everything gets ‘dumped’ as we walked in or put to deal with ‘later’.

Clean your microwave or other appliances.

Clean under the top cupboards – the bits where the oil and grease stick!

Wipe down the cupboard doors (inside and out)

Clean the dining room chairs and the whole of the dining table

Clean the back splash (depending on how bad you might need to do that in sections)

The extra Deep Clean Stuff to be done once or twice a year:

Clean the walls and ceilings in kitchen and dining room

Scrub the floors

Clean blinds and curtains

 

Now all of these jobs will get smaller and easier the more they are done and once I get to that point, I will-assign the tasks into a ‘routine’.

My plan is to have tasks that are weekly and add one to the daily cleaning jobs, eg.

Monday – wipe down and clean the stove

Tuesday – Clean out the rubbish bin

Wednesday – wipe down the cupboard doors and chairs in dining room

Thursday – wipe down back-splash and the whole bench top

Friday – empty Dishwasher filter and wipe down

If I do these every week (missing the odd day won’t be a drama) then they only take about 5-10mins and since I am up washing the dishes anyway it really is no trouble.

On top of that, I want to pick out one week of each month to focus on the kitchen.  This is when the next level of cleaning occurs.. cleaning the windows, the pantry and fridge, wiping out the cupboards and anything that needs doing really!  But, progress not perfection is the aim here so I will deal with that when I get there!  Now I will pick out a couple of those tasks and get them done!