2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 5/19/14 - Second Round

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Harriet
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2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 5/19/14 - Second Round

Postby Harriet » Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:12 pm

Here are Indiana's steps to a clean kitchen, from February 28, 2009

As we continue to maintain our homes, the key is maintaining our homes through out the year instead of a full deep cleaning once or twice a year.

Adjust the outdoors to fit your home.

Not all the things listed need to be done this round. Some may be done daily, weekly, monthly, every 3 or 6 months or yearly. Look at each area with fresh eyes to see what should be done this round.

Kitchen

Clean as you cook - daily
Wipe up spills while fresh in kitchen - daily
Sweep kitchen floor - daily
Ceiling and corners - quarterly
Ceiling light - quarterly
Walls - quarterly
Doors and hardware – weekly (finger prints), quarterly
Door and floor trim - quarterly
Light switch - weekly
Dust lights - weekly
Dust pictures - weekly
Dust decorations – weekly
Wash decorations – quarterly if needed
Cold/hot air vents - quarterly
Window – quarterly if needed
Window treatments - annual
Dust furniture - weekly
Closet/pantry -quarterly
Floor – weekly
Throw rugs – weekly if needed
Drawers, cupboards, and shelves – quarterly if needed
Expiration dates
Discard foods and beverages past their prime - weekly.
Flush drain with boiling water - weekly
Wipe surfaces, including sink, countertops, the outside of the ventilation hood, refrigerator, and cupboard doors - weekly.
Wipe the inside of the oven, microwave, refrigerator, freezer, and toaster oven - weekly
Wipe the inside and outside of trash and recycling bins weekly
Discard food in the freezer that’s past its prime - monthly.
Wash ventilation hood filters - monthly.
Clean hanging pot rack and polish copper - quarterly.
Clean ovens -quarterly.
Organize pantry, discarding expired food -quarterly.
Replace baking soda in refrigerator and freezer - quarterly.
Remove contents of cabinets and clean interiors - quarterly.
Wipe kitchen ceiling - quarterly.
Wipe the inside of the refrigerator - quarterly.
Repairs – either repair or put on a list for the future
Buy – replacements or something new if needed
Declutter – living room (next focus area) and post accomplishments in Harriet’s declutter thread. This is a great opportunity and will make maintaining the living room easier.

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Ivy
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Re: 2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 3/03/14 - First Round

Postby Ivy » Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:17 pm

Yesterday I stripped the long wide utensil drawer, laid everything on the clean towel on the counter, wiped and dried the drawer dividers/organizers and put everything back. Then, it was onto the drawer to the left of it, only it needed much more work done on it. I took several new-to-us (we'd forgotten about them!) wooden utensils, put them in a clear large glass vase, and took several spatulas (I didn't know we had so many different sizes!) and put them in a kitty coffee mug. I moved a ceramic white pottery pot out from under one cabinet to make room for the wooden utensils and the spatulas. Now the ceramic pottery pot, which fastens closed because Baklava came it it, decorates our eating bar. :D So pretty. I threw away tons of rubber bands and spilled toothpicks. I taped the toothpicks boxes closed, for safer keeping. I've not done anything in the kitchen today, except clean up after ourselves after meals. I've not decluttered in the great room today, but am working on a project of writing/reading, etc.. for my job and once it's done, I'll put my mess back away and start decluttering again. :idea:
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her seas. Rest your soul in her solitary places. ~Henry Beston

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Re: 2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 3/03/14 - First Round

Postby Ivy » Thu Mar 06, 2014 9:37 pm

I rearranged, purged expired pantry foods, and decluttered the walk-in pantry well. Next, since the bulk of the stuff is gone, I'll clean the white shelves, will tidy the very tippy-top shelf, and then sweep the floor- after dragging out everything under the bottom shelf. I'll have DH mop it, too. Then, we're rearranged everything, mainly large appliances rarely used, TP always use that, and some things. It'll be such a relief to get this under control, at last! :mrgreen:
Touch the earth, love the earth, her plains, her valleys, her seas. Rest your soul in her solitary places. ~Henry Beston

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Harriet
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Re: 2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 3/03/14 - First Round

Postby Harriet » Sat Mar 08, 2014 9:40 am

A week when we expect houseguests sure can take away from pure Focus time, because of course the guests' needs become priorities. But amongst the extra work on linens and such, we did get to the kitchen here as well.

Happy to have gotten the fridge wiped down inside - a chore that's been nagging at me. Things that need to be tossed are gone. Today the microwave needs the same treatment, with a lemon-water steam from a cup at about 1.5 minutes beforehand to make the work easier. Actually, these are things a houseguest appreciates, too. They might be the one who needs to make a trip to one of those appliances and hope to feel confident.

It's a little bit of a scary or uncomfortable thought to me that one of my goals in my kitchen would be that guests, or for instance my in-law children or HRH's mom, etc., would also feel CONFIDENT in opening cabinets, fridge, microwave, drawers. But that is really as important to hospitality as anything I do at the front door!

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Re: 2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 3/03/14 - First Round

Postby blessedw2 » Sun Mar 09, 2014 11:37 am

I hear you d harriet!!!

refrigerator, stove cleaned
it is always a joy to be here with you!

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Re: 2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 5/19/14 - Second Round

Postby BookSaver » Mon May 19, 2014 7:58 am

Indiana's list looks daunting for just one week. Remember that even she admitted that not all the things listed need to be done this round.

Morning light coming into my kitchen always looks so pretty, especially in the spring.

This round for me, the cupboards are in decent shape, but the refrigerator really needs a good scrubbing in and out and all around.

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Re: 2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 5/19/14 - Second Round

Postby Harriet » Tue May 20, 2014 7:44 am

Hi, BookSaver!

Sunday evening I gave extra time to kitchen cleaning as I waited on a last-minute small load of my laundry (preparing for call that baby is arriving, and trip). That was really helpful to get a good start on this week. I love telling myself that I will "just work while this load is going". A no-hassle way to use time well.

Microwave here is pretty bad, which is interesting to me. Hmmm... ... Above in last round's post I notice I was doing a deep clean of microwave. Could it be I haven't done that since? If so, we were keeping it rather nice for a long while but lately, phhhfffttt!

I used to write the dates chores were done onto my weekly cards (using post-it notes) but haven't been doing that recently. So I don't know for sure when specifics (like microwave) happened. Actually, those notes were really helpful. Hmmmm... ... :D

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Re: 2014 FOCUS - Kitchen - 5/19/14 - Second Round

Postby Sunny » Tue May 20, 2014 9:14 pm

Well, dinner today fit right in with this weeks focus! We had decided we wanted to make soup this week and choices were vegetable or spinach--I chose spinach. I had to stand on a chair to reach into the cabinet over our stove to look for a bag of rice. As I moved boxes around I came across several with expired dates and decided to get rid of them. I sent dh to the store while I emptied the double cabinet, wiped it out and restocked with what I decided to keep. Took about 20 min. The other double cabinet next to it over the counter has cereal, crackers, etc. and I will do that later this week. The bottom cabinet is one half pots & pans and canned goods in the other half which I straightened up last weekend when we took some out for the postal food drive.

Btw....the spinach soup was delicious! I'd be happy to post it in the recipe thread if anyone is interested.
Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. --- Francis of Assisi


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