Spring Cleaning - Kitchen

For various reasons, I have been feeling an urgent need to deep clean our apartment. The weather is beautiful, which brings memories and promptings of spring cleaning. I've been sick off and on for over a month so I've fallen even farther behind in my cleaning. I've been reading articles from Ladies Against Feminism which are awakening even greater desires to be a better homemaker. Last but not least, I saw a post somewhere issuing a challenge to eliminate clutter.

In between bouts of sickness, I've been tackling the kitchen. So far, I have sorted through every single cupboard and pulled out all utensils, dishes, food, etc. that we do not use. All of the extra dishes were dumped into a big box and I will be storing it in our spare bedroom for three months. At the end of three months, if I haven't needed anything from the box, I'm selling it all on craigslist. There is enough in that box to qualify as a good kitchen starter set. I don't know why we have so much extra stuff.

Here's what I've thrown out so far (this does not include the storage box items):

Old rice
Bag old powdered sugar
Couple muffin tin liners
4 expired bottles of spices
2 icky ice cube trays
2 measuring cups
2 cat toys
Dried up superglue
Expired cat ear mite medication
2 tea lights
3 cat medication syringes
5 lids with no containers
Old spatula
2 chipped Pyrex dishes
Dried up package ArmorAll cleaning wipes
Feather duster
Really old bottle of apple cider vinegar

Whew. Feels good to have all of that junk out of my kitchen.

I've also wiped out all the cupboards and drawers, organized all food and dishes, scoured behind and under the fridge, and cleaned the floor and one wall of our trash room (tiny little room with one shelf and room for the trash can and broom). I still have to mop the floor, finish the walls in the trash room, clean the oven, scour the inside of the fridge, and have hubby wipe down the ceiling. For some reason, there are food splatters on the ceiling above the stove. How is that possible?

It feels really good to be spring cleaning. It's a lot of work and it's taking days because I'm doing such a thorough and perfectionist job of it (besides being sick). When I'm done with the kitchen, I'll be tackling the living room and then the bathroom. Fun stuff!