34 Weeks of Clean: Week 3

Wow!!!  We're on week 3 of the 34 Weeks of Clean hosted by Family, Faith and Fridays and let me tell you, this week kicked my butt!!!  It didn't help things that I am currently recovering from the flu and was already pretty worthless to start with but I tell you, after this week, my body HURTS!! LOL  But flu or not, I was determined to participate and I will without any guilt consider this project my workout for the week.. haha

For Week 3, we were asked to completely clean out our kitchen cabinets and drawers.  This means taking everything out, wiping down the surfaces, and sort through and put everything back.  I took this a step further.  First, let me state that in my kitchen, I have 7 drawers and 17 cabinets. Three of these cabinets (and 1 drawer) I cleaned last week with the pantry challenge so that left me 14 cabinets and 6 drawers.   So I had some work ahead of me to begin with. But I should also mention that of those 14 cabinets, 8 of them are soooooo high up that they are not functional (even on a step stool I cannot reach the top shelves) and one of them designed in such a way that it's hard to use. Since I spent much of this challenge standing on top of my counters trying to clean them out, I decided that I would just eliminate the use of them all together and consolidate everything into cabinets that are much more easily accessible.  That way, when we move in a few months, I won't have to climb back up on the counters to clean them again, they will already be done.  LOL

Starting with the drawers, I pulled everything out and was completely grossed out by what was hiding at the bottom of them.  YUCK!!!   The kids tend to pour (and spill) drinks on the counter and the spills drip into the drawers along with crumbs and Lord knows what else.. But all this was hidden by other stuff and as my teenager who unloads the dishwasher is blind to stuff like this, it never got cleaned up. So, the drawers got a really good wipe down with LA Awesome and Clorox wipes.

The utensil drawer was just as nasty..

So it got a nice washing with soap and water and then a follow up with Clorox wipes as well. 

Everything nice and clean once again.

 If you've been following my blog for a while, you might remember the last time I did the 34 Weeks of Clean that I procured one of my "junk" drawers to keep my spices in.  Two years later, I still keep my spices in the drawer but unfortunately the spice drawer was a mess.. Now, I knew this one was going to be dirty because the other day I left the pepper flip top slightly opened and it spilled inside the drawer..

 It appears that some of the dreaded kool-aid also spilled in my drawer. As these are the spices I don't use on a regular basis, I just don't ever bother pulling everything out of here and cleaning it..  Seeing this, I guess I will change that lol

Garrett decided he wanted to help out and clean the drawer out for me..

Now it was time to start sorting through the spices.  I had several spices that were expired so it was time to toss them.  

Here's what I kept

And here's what I ended up tossing.

I HATED throwing away this canister of Old Bay Blacking seasoning - I'll have to mail order some more as I can't find it anywhere around here, but it's been expired since April 2011. LOL

But, that's better than this bottle of poultry seasoning that was expired since May 2008 LOL  Can you tell I do NOT use poultry seasoning much? I'm not even sure if I bought this to be honest or if someone didn't give it to me.

Everything back in the drawer

I'll spare you the cleaning of the other three drawers, two were my junk drawers (and still are) and the third just has dish towels and large kitchen utensils. LOL

So with the drawers out of the way, it was time to start cleaning the cabinets.  See this pic, see that bottom shelf?? That's the ONLY shelf I can reach (and that holds true for all the cabinets that have three shelves - the ones with two shelves I can't reach at all lol).. So it was time to climb up on the counters to start cleaning.

My view from the top of the counter!!   Everything emptied out.

Here's some medicine that was put on the very top shelf of the cabinet along with some others to keep the kids out of it - which in retrospect kept ME out of it as well as I couldn't reach it... LOL  It's not any good now.

Tossing all sorts of stuff that are expired or just plain yucky.

Hey look, more spices!!

More expired medications that I will take to the pharmacy to dispose of. (Really wish the Alka-Seltzer wasn't expired, I could use it right now)

Bottles of Alcohol that I have NO idea where they came from!!  Someone must have given them to us, as we don't drink wine.. (I'm a Bloody Mary/Scotch drinker)

Everything consolidated to two shelves.. At least with my step stool I can reach the second shelf.. lol

Time to repeat the process with the twin cabinet.. Back on the countertop I go!!  This cabinet, now that it's cleaned out, will not be used anymore.

I had to laugh when I found these dip mixes.. These mixes are probably 12 years old. I remember buying them at some craft show (or maybe it was a gun show) back when I still lived in Texas, which was before Hurricane Rita.. WHY I still have these, I don't know, but they went in the trash.

Same with this packet of dirty rice seasoning.. I would think this packet is probably 10 years old as I bought it when we lived in Louisiana and that was before I got pregnant with Ashleigh.. It went in the trash as well. lol

Anyone who's a military family will recognize this LOL  I found a few of these.. They all went in the trash.

 Here's another absolutely evil, useless cabinet.. This one is about 5 foot deep and I could probably climb into it, except for this lazy susan thing that blocks the way. If anything falls off of the platforms, it take an Act of God to get it back.. I hate this cabinet.. I gave it a good wipe down, stuck a broom back there to try to sweep anything that was in it out and then closed it up - it won't be used anymore.  One of the things that I swept out of it - a copy of the marriage license from my first husband - I told you this cabinet is evil.

 Next to the worthless evil cabinet is the under sink cabinet. I pulled everything out of it, gave it all a good wipe down and put everything back.  It was at this point however, that I contimplated killing my husband as I found three empty bottles of vinegar that for whatever reason couldn't find their way to the recycle bin until now. LOL  I don't clean under here as there are spiders in the crevices of the sink basin. I hate spiders!!

 Time to climb back on top of the counters again.. There's two cabinets that I can't reach at all.. I can reach the bottom shelf with the help of a step stool but the top shelf is a No Go..

 All cleaned out.. This  cabinet will not be used anymore.

Hey look, MORE seasonings!!  These were from a friend who came over and made some baked beans for us and somehow the bag of seasoning got put in the top of the cabinet where it wasn't seen again.

All cabinet surfaces got a nice cleaning with LA Awesome and/or a scrubbing with Dawn and a tooth brush.  (Although, I'll be honest, this pic is Garrett holding the toothbrush so I could take the pic.. I couldn't hold both it and work the camera).

So, with the cabinets cleaned out, there was a pile of stuff I needed to sort through but that would have to wait til the next day, as I was ready for a hot soak after making a pitcher of cherry lemonade and having a cool drink. I think I deserved it.. LOL

All Clean and ready for move out!!

 I will admit, there are two cabinets that I did not attempt to clean - I will leave both of those to Charles to do. One is above our stove and I'm not about to stand on the stove to try to clean it. The other one is recessed behind the fridge and there's no way I can reach it.  But, everything I could reach was cleaned. And I managed to eliminate a TON of stuff and consolidate most of our stuff to minimal cabinet space.

So, Week Three is over and done.. Since I've done this before, I guess I should get ready for the Fridge and Freezer for Week 4.