34 Weeks of Clean: Week 4

I hate my fridge.. (Heck, if you remember my post from last week, you'll know I basically hate my kitchen in general.. haha).  When we moved into this house, it had a really nice fridge, granted it was a bit older but it worked well.. A little over a year ago, the housing office here on base decided we needed updated appliances and so they came in and replaced the stove, dishwasher, fridge and added an overhead microwave. The stove and the microwave are very nice, I can deal with those. However, the dishwasher and the fridge lack alot to be desired.  The dishwashers are well known on base for breaking down  (mine broke down about a month ago and still is not fixed). The fridges have proven to be the worst as they can't regulate a temperature and usually freeze better than the freezer portion does.  When we received it, it was obviously used and refurbished as it has scratches and stains all over it and looked as if it had been covered with white out, had ripped seals and a water filter that leaked everywhere.. The shelves are very oddly positioned so things are placed inside it like Tetris rather than with any organization.

We make do with it..

So you can imagine my groan when I saw that this weeks 34 Weeks of Clean was to clean the Freezer, the Fridge and the Floor.. It was probably the groan heard around the world. However, it was a chore that I knew needed to be done and so I set off with a bowl of sudsy warm water, a sponge and the mindset that I would get that fridge looking better than it had the day housing gave it to us.

Freezer stuffed full

Old veggies and Yup, thats Doggie Ice Cream.

Tetris Fridge.. with lots of leftovers..

I quickly realized something. There were things in my fridge and freezer that I did not buy. There were things in my fridge and freezer that I honestly had no clue were even IN my fridge and freezer. There were things in there that other people who had moved away from base had given to us rather than throw it away and it had been sitting in my fridge ever since. I quickly determined that all of that stuff needed to go - so I tossed a jug of marinade that I knew I would never use, a bottle of alcoholic Eggnog that I knew we would never drink, and tossed out frozen meats that I had no clue what the heck they were.  I did decide to keep a bottle of wine that was given to us, who knows, I could probably give it to someone else..


In the process, I found an Arby's cup in the back of the fridge. It had been at least a month since we ate at Arby's so I know that had been there for a while. My youngest informed me she put it in the fridge after filling it up with water because she wanted cold water without ice. Sure enough, the cup had cold water in it.. That got poured out and the cup was tossed.

In the freezer, I found a few unidentified meats and a package of shark meat that was at least 3 years old.  If I didn't know how old it was or even what it was, it got tossed..

Each shelf, drawer and barrier was removed and washed and wiped down.

When everything was said and done, I had to admit, it looked MUCH better.. All the ancient, frostbitten and decrepit veggies were gone. No more shark meat hidden in the back corner.  I even emptied out all the ice so that it would be replaced with fresh ice.

The fridge isn't quite such a Tetris level. I tossed out three jars of pickle relish that had maybe a tablespoon or two left in it and kept one jar of relish, 1 jar of pickles and 1 jar of jalapenos. 

Most of the random alcohol that we won't drink is gone and everything is much more organized (although, now I'm looking at this picture and realizing that rather than putting the cheese where it goes, my husband shoved it in the door tonight after tacos. ) 

Notice my cat in the background supervising?

I will admit, I did not clean under the fridge just yet.. When I saw exactly what was under it, it was obvious to me that the last few times he'd stripped the floor and mopped that my husband didn't bother with under the fridge so I'm leaving that job for him this weekend ;) But I did sweep and mop everything else

Its still not too late to join Michele over at Family, Faith and Fridays and the 34 Weeks of Clean Challenge. Just click on the link below and sign up :)

34 Week of Clean: Week 3

There's two things you need to know when it comes to my cooking/kitchen.

1.) Pepper is the bane of my existence
2.) My cabinets are NOT designed for people under 6 foot tall.

I should explain, as these two go hand in hand..  I can NEVER find the pepper.. I usually have no problem finding any of my other spices, but pepper almost always eludes me. Salt tends to hide from time to time as well but it's very rare I add salt to anything, that I usually don't care.. However, pepper is essential and that lil rectangular box tends to grow legs and walks.

The biggest problem, however, is that I am short - 5'2 - and my kitchen is not designed for short people. The cabinets are not very deep to begin with and they are pretty high off the counter. So beyond the first shelf, I can't reach anything. If the cabinets were long, this wouldn't be an issue, as I would just put everything I need on the first shelf, but the cabinets are about 10 inches wide and 10 inches deep. Even the cabinets under the drawers are tiny so I have to turn everything on its side to fit. There is one cabinet that is normal size that we can use for plates and cups, but outside of that, it's a creative process to use our cabinets. To store everything, I have to use the other shelves that are way above my reach. In order to reach the other shelves, I have to use a step stool.  It's military housing: they obviously didn't think about the design LOL

Because of this, when the pepper comes up missing it quickly turns into a game of grab the step stoll and start climbing all over the kitchen to see where the heck I put the pepper last time. Everything gets moved round in the cabinets while I am cooking so while the pepper may have been on the bottom shelf of the right cabinet two days before, somehow it ends up in the cabinet on the other side of the window.  To compound the issue, the stepstool over the years has lost its rubber feet, so it slides easily across the floor.. My husband is always scared that while I am climbing, it will slide out from under me and I'll tumble to the ground. Finding the pepper has become hazardous to my health.

Not the most planned out kitchen design

Three weeks ago, I joined up the 34 Weeks of Clean Challenge hosted by Faith, Family and Fridays. I figured it would help me start getting my house cleaned better than just wiping surfaces.  I hate cleaning. Deep cleaning?? Not a fan of it. I've got dust bunnies that have already had families and are planning for their retirement in Florida soon.

This week we were challenged to clean our kitchen cabinets and drawers.. The goal was simple: "clean out and off all those surfaces and pare down what we don't need or simply do not use anymore.  Remember- we are trying to clean AND declutter!".  No problem I figured..

HA!!

First, I decided to go in and start taking pictures of my cabinets.. as I opened the drawers to take pictures, I realized that out of 6 drawers, 4 of them had become "junk drawers".. Originally, we had 1 junk drawer.. Everyone has one..  Over the four years we have lived here, I guess we accumulated one junk drawer for each year.

While it is embarrassing, I'll post the pictures.. This is what joining something like the Clean Challenge is all about, right??

Wow, I didn't realize how much stuff we accumulated.  Not only that, but the dirt/grime that has accumulated along the lip of the drawers is unreal.. I swear I clean those from time to time (but obviously not often enough).   

And I should also show what the cabinets look like.. Not too bad, could use some organizing, right??  The issue I was having was that because I was constantly climbing up and down, my spices were constantly getting moved around. Some where in my small drawer, the rest were in one of the two cabinets. And the elusive pepper?? Good luck finding it..

Sorry for the poor quality.. The Sun was not cooperating. LOL

I have ALOT of spices..  Hi Ashleigh!!

Well,  after lots of work,  my kitchen is much more organized. I still have a junk drawer, but the "junk" in it is stuff we actually need (but I don't know where to put) as opposed to anything that happened to get shoved into the drawer.

The dreaded step stool that my husband swears will be the death of me!

Notice the lack of spices??  That's because I found a use for one of those 4 junk drawers that I cleaned out :)

And most important:

The Pepper now has its own designated place!!!

If your interested in joining up with the 34 weeks of clean, head over to Family, Faith and Fridays and sign up - it's still early in the challenge.. Just click the link below to join :)