Summer Clutter Detox Day 3: The Kitchen

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Today is all about THE KITCHEN. I knew today’s task would be long, so before I began, I made sure to have all of my proper supplies prepped and ready to go. They included: 

• Garbage bags
• Clorox Wipes
• Magic Erasers
• A Donate pile
• A large iced coffee
• A fully stocked podcast playlist & headphones

It wasn’t so much the purging (since I do that pretty routinely in my kitchen), but the deep cleaning that was going to take some time.  I’m not talking about a surface clean, I mean  the “take everything out, down to the drawer dividers so I could clean the inside of every drawer and cabinet” kind of clean.  

Before I dig into the nuts & bolts of the day, I have a question for ya:  WHERE DO THE CRUMBS COME FROM?

You know the one’s I’m talking about.  The one’s found inside every single drawer: silverware, gadget, even the bless-ed dishtowel drawer for Pete’s Sake!  It’s as if I ate a piece of dry toast over every open drawer. 

I am not even kidding.

Nonetheless, I proceeded to methodically work clockwise throughout my kitchen, cabinet-by-cabinet. (Praise the inventors of the Magic Eraser & Clorox Wipes!) . Aside from wanting to gag a few times, the process was more tedious than anything.  There were a few key items that I decided to donate, such as a really cute ceramic creamer that says “MILK” on it. I picked it up at Home Goods probably around 5 years ago, with the intent on using it when I have friends over for coffee or tea.

Ask me how many times I have used it?  Maybe one. 

My crowd is fine with the carton of half & half, milk or whatever creamer of choice is in my fridge. Plus, let’s be honest, I kinda forget about it until everyone is sipping their drinks and I go “dang! I should have used that cute ceramic MILK pitcher.” So now it’s getting donated to some deserving person who wants a cute serving accessory for their home.

Aside from a few gadgets, a Starbucks travel mug that leaks, and some gross cake icing that probably shouldn’t even be considered edible, I didn’t have a ton that had to go.  However, the big ticket item of the day was a Mario Batali Panini Press.  

I purchased it from one of those home demonstration parties around 10 years ago. It’s really pretty, made of some heavy cast iron with a blue-grey enamel coating.  It could also double as a lethal weapon, and absolutely weighs more than my kids did when they were born.

I have used it approximately ZERO times in the past 8 years, which means that I should have donated this bad-boy 8 years ago. Ask me why I didn’t… “well, it was pretty, and I had space for it, oh and I MIGHT want to use it someday.”

Again, time for me to take my own advice and cut the emotional clutter cord!  I guarantee there is some well-deserving person out there that would welcome this barely used Panini Press.

It’s important to note, that around 2 hours into my project I decided to take a short break to recharge. I grabbed a bowl of fruit salad, sat on the couch charging my phone for around 15 minutes, and did a quick check of email.

Once my break was over, I went back at it until I’d gone through every cabinet and drawer.  After a total of 3.5 hours, I decided to pack it in.  In the spirit of full transparency, I did leave my command center for tomorrow.  I probably could have pushed myself to finish, but it wasn’t worth it.  I was 100% losing steam, and knew that I didn’t want to half-a$% that important space.

That mean that tomorrow I will wrap up the command center, and also declutter the Keeping Room and Hall Closet (2 small spaces that shouldn’t take long).

Until tomorrow….