Cleaning the Heart of the Home -- Part 4

Image courtesy of [Iamnee]/
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

How does it feel to cook in a clean kitchen?  Does seeing the counter and sink cleaned off encourage you to continue the process?  Do you feel a little more energized when you go in your kitchen?  I do.  However, I have also felt the pain from the work I did.  That goes with the territory when you have Fibromyalgia.  In fact, I have not done as many things as I would like to do in the house, but that goes with the territory of being ill.

Despite all that, I feel encouraged.  Just seeing the progress in the kitchen tells me I can do this somewhere else.

There are a few areas I have not mentioned in the last few days' cleaning hints.  However, if you are like me, you are going to have to make choices concerning what is most important to do in your kitchen and other areas of your home.  There are times we have to draw a line and stop, so we can go on to another area of the house.

For the purposes of finishing your cleaning of the kitchen I am going to give you a list of things that can be done in one, two, or three days.  What you do depends on the condition of your kitchen, your time, your pain levels, and your energy levels.  The key to pacing your self is knowing when to rest and when to be physically active.  

Cleaning Hints for Today:  The Kitchen

1. Continue the daily process of unloading your dishwasher and dish drainer. (I admit to not always putting away the few dishes in the dish drainer after they have air dried.  Then, I am forced to do so when I don't have any place to put something I have just washed.)  
2. If you have a table, cutting block, or kitchen cart -- it is time to throw away, give away, and put away everything that doesn't belong there.
3. Don't forget to wipe your counter tops and wipe out your sink. 
4. Omit cleaning the oven, even if it is a self clean oven.  This should be done in cold weather, rather than overheating your house.  Cleaning the oven, no matter what kind you have takes a great deal bending, reaching, and sometimes getting on your hands and knees.  This is a one thing a day job or a shared job (get someone to  help you).  If you do the oven, spread it over several hours.  Who said you have to wipe every surface of the oven out all at once?  That might be what you prefer, but you are less likely to end up with pulled muscles and misery if you spread out the extended movement of your body.  This has to be met according to personal preference and physical ability. 
5. Cleaning the top of your refrigerator can be dicey if you have trouble with balance or arthritis.  However, something that helps keep the top of the refrigerator clean is using a duster with a long handle.  I am particularly fond of Swiffer long handled dusters.  Please be cautious about climbing on step stools, but if you still do that:  dust the top of the refrigerator first.  Then, use a spray cleaner and wipe it off.  If you cannot reach the very back of the fridge, you might consider wrapping a rag around something with a long handle.  This is a good job to do when someone else is home.  (Hint:  put your cleaner on top of the fridge before you climb on the stool--if that is how you plan to clean your refrigerator.)  Caution:  if you get shaky or dizzy, just dust the top of the refrigerator and leave the spray cleaner to someone else.  You should not be climbing on step stools or chairs.
6. Sweep or vacuum the floor.  
7. Mop the floor.

The last two jobs (#6 and #7) can be divided up into two days.  However, it is logical to sweep then mop.  Don't worry about baseboards or wiping cabinets. You can do that next week.  You have been working hard.  You deserve a break! 

Cleaning the Heart of the Home - Part 3

Rubbermaid Expandable Organizer

Today, I started working in the kitchen drawers, because I got an idea for rearranging them from a magazine.  Also, I had visited my sister, and she had utilized a plastic receptacle like one of mine a little differently.  My cooking utensil drawer also needed straightening, so I decided to make some changes.  I pulled the old switcheroo:  my husband just loves tolerates that.   Cheerfully, he said, "I know you're feeling better when you start reorganizing."  I'm not suggesting you switch items in your drawers;  but every once in a while, it is nice to take the utensils out and wipe out the organizers and the drawers.  I am always amazed at how a drawer that is usually closed gets crumbs, hair, and drips, but it happens.

Cleaning Hints for Today: The Kitchen 

1. If you have not finished cleaning off counters,  you need to work on that today.  Use the directions from yesterday for that. 
2. Unload the dishwasher.  
3. Load the dishwasher and hand-wash the things that cannot go in the dishwasher.
4. Wipe out your sink and wipe the counters.
5. Remember, you should work in 15 minute increments or less.  
6. Rest.
7. Look at your kitchen and decide if anything needs to be reorganized.  Aim for one drawer or cabinet a day.  I did three drawers today with breaks in between, because I was switching items into different drawers.  I ended up with some things sitting on a counter without having decided where to put them.  If I have enough energy, I will finish after dinner.  If not, I will finish tomorrow. 

This is a Rubbermaid Organizer with
a sliding section on top.  You can
also lift the top off the bottom section.

*Note:  This is a good time to get rid of the clutter.  Utilize the principle of throw away, give away, put away.  If you have not used an item in a year, it is likely you won't use it.  However, I know there are items you only use a few times a year.  You might want to put these things in their own drawer or shelf, rather  than with your everyday utensils.

It's easy to see your cutlery, even
with a "second story."

Top section.

Bottom Section:  I still have room.

Room for a few items on the side,
 outside the organizer.

Cleaning the Heart of the Home - Part 2, The Kitchen

Right now, I am considering the physical heart of my home to be the kitchen.   Since this is where three meals a day are prepared, it is easier and more enjoyable to do so in a clean, well-organized kitchen, it can set the pace for other things that happen in the home.  When my kitchen has clear, clean counters, I am more inclined to cook a fresh, healthy meal rather than put a frozen, store-bought meal in the microwave.  And those days that I am too fatigued to do anything other than put that meal in the microwave oven, there is very little clean-up to do, so it is a win-win situation.

Cleaning Hints for Today: The Kitchen 

Set your timer for 15 minutes (Do not go over 15 minutes, Rest if needed or work on another task.  I usually use this as a time to do something sitting or rest, depending on how I feel that day.):

1. Start with putting things away on your counters.  Work on one area or counter at a time (cans to pantry, dirty dishes to sink or dishwasher, trash to trash can, papers and directions in a basket--until you decide where  they belong.)  Basically, you can use the 3 rule method:  throw away, put away, give away.
2. Wipe off your counters and the splash board, as well as wiping under the small appliances, and wipe off the small appliances too.  Follow the directions for your counter surface.  My counter surface is old and light-colored, so I used bleach to get stains.  Bar keepers friend is also a good product to use for some stains, and it does not have the odor of bleach.  
3. If you have cleaned off one counter, you may want to go ahead and wash your dishes that have to be washed by hand.  If you have already wiped down your counter, you don't worry about setting a few dirty dishes or pots on them, so you have room to wash.  It will be easier to wipe the counter off after it has been wiped off once.  Note:  FlyLady likes to start with the sink, but I chose to start differently this time, because I had actually run out of room to comfortably prepare food.  I knew I could heat up the oven while I was cleaning the items that had been left unwashed.  Also, I wanted soapy water to wash some of the items that belong on my counters.
4. If you deal with post-exertional fatigue, do not get too enthusiastic and overdo.  Baby steps will get the job done, if you don't keep adding clutter to the area you cleaned. 

There is another psychological factor about having a clean, organized kitchen that is well worth mentioning.  It seems to set the tone for the rest of the house.  Even when the rest of the house could use some attention, a  clean kitchen says, "I care."  Does this ring true with you?  Have you tried working on the kitchen first, before other areas in the house are cleaned and organized?

These are pictures of areas that are bothering me.  Take into account that my kitchen is no modern show kitchen.  I have had a variety of kitchens in my life, and this kitchen is an old kitchen in an old house.  Also, we no longer own a home--we rent.  So, I am not going to spend money on anything other than cosmetic changes.   However, the one thing that rings true in any kitchen is the messy factor.  I don't care whether you have the fanciest kitchen or the most modest kitchen:  no kitchen is a pleasant, productive area when cluttered.  However, even the most modest kitchen can work when cared for.

 The area on the right side of the stove does not give me much room for food preparation.  Organization is needed here.  For those of you who feel like your kitchen is hopeless, the picture to your left, which also is on the left side of the stove, was much worse than this.  However, I wasn't going back to where it was before I got to it on Sunday afternoon.  It had scattered coffee grounds and stains that I knew I could get off if I  applied myself.  I had wiped the whole counter on this side, and I had put things away, but I confess to a little staging here to give you an idea of what it looked like before.  However, I could not bring myself to dirty the counter again.  

By the way, I am planning on some kitchen reorganization, according to how I use items in my kitchen.  I will post more on this later.  I wish I could say my kitchen always looked perfect, but often fatigue gets the best of me, and I have to stop midway in cleaning.  I try to come back, but sometimes that doesn't happen until the next day.  Also, I have to admit that once I leave that area and my mind starts focusing elsewhere, it is easy to conveniently forget. 

Sometimes, it seems I have to get to the point the kitchen is really irritating before I take action.  See, I told you I am not perfect;  and, I know there are probably hundreds of books that have been written to encourage keepers of the home in this area, but I still find this challenging.  The thing is I think it helps the rest of the family become more cognizant of keeping the area neat when we can jump in and get the area organized--no matter how long it takes us.  

Cleaning the Heart of Your Home, Part 1

Tonight, I spent some time looking for articles about the heart of the home.  I wanted to know what room the majority considered the central home of a family.  I finally stopped, because as most of you know, you could spend many tiring and wasteful hours searching the internet for information.

However, this is what I gleaned after thinking that I would probably find most articles mentioned the kitchen as the heart of the home.  And for some homes, this is a correct assumption.  Depending on the where the kitchen is and the size of it, it may very well be the heart of some  homes.  The family gathers there to eat, surf the net, play games, do homework, talk, and of course, cook. However, some  people see the heart of the home as the master bedroom, because it defines the start of the day and the end of the day.  This is where the leaders of the home (parents, grandparents, single moms, single dads) set the pace for their day.  The main point is that the heart of the home involves the people who live there.  A house is just a house without its people.  There is no heart without the living that goes on there.

Maybe, you are wondering what started me on this search.  For those of you that know my age, you know I have been a grandma for a while now.  I have 2 daughters and 10 grandchildren.  Before I went back to college and after I graduated, I have always considered my primary job to be a homemaker.  Surely, after forty-two years of marriage this woman knows what the heart of the home is.  However, I now believe there are several answers.  And, much of this depends on your circumstances;  which can include everything from your religion, the stage of your life (young married, child rearing, empty nest), the arrangement of the rooms in your house, and even your personal preferences at this particular time.

What started this quest?  My kitchen counters and my rolling cart in the kitchen were looking unkempt.  I didn't want to cook until I cleaned the kitchen.  Also, I have been thinking about reorganization;  however, there is no point in crossing that bridge until  the kitchen is clean.  So even though the whole family cannot gather in my kitchen comfortably, I feel that if my kitchen is clean and organized, it will increase the probability the rest of my house will follow.  Therefore, my focus this week will be on the kitchen.  I actually think it will not take me long to wrap up  this job, and it will boost my enthusiasm to work on other areas.

If you would like to follow along I will be posting jobs to do in the kitchen on my facebook page "Chronic Fatigue and Creative Decluttering."  

Food for Thought:

1. Have you ever thought about what or where the heart of your home is?
2. Is there a room in your house that seems to affect your moods more if it is messy?
3. Think about a time your home has been fairly uncluttered.  Which room seems to set the   tone for how you feel when you enter the house.
4. Is there a room in your house that irritates you more than any other if it is cluttered or dirty?
5. Spend 5 to 15 minutes in that room today:  1) throw away trash and 2) put objects where they belong.  Do not try to clean the room in one day.  You need to take time to rest and continue keeping the areas clean you have already been working on. 

 Remember, you can accomplish much with baby steps.