There are quite a few places to be ashamed of in my house. They are not obvious to the casual observer but lurking behind some doors and in cupboards around my home are shemozzles like this:
This is what my kitchen sink cupboard looked like a week ago. A jumble of cleaning products, plastic bags, tea towels and other odds and ends. It was a balancing act to take or replace an item to and from this messy tower. Something had to be done.
Like many organisational and cleaning challenges undertaken in my household, it was a trip to Ikea that made me address this issue. It was here I bought the Rationell Variera plastic bag dispenser to replace the one that had broken in my house a year prior. With my plastic bags now attached neatly to the door, I could begin the purging, sorting and cleaning that the cupboard needed.
My first step was to get everything out of the cupboard and to give the inside a really good clean. This way I could see the space I had to work with. I noticed, much to my annoyance, that the different appliance cords and the dishwashing hose hitch were necessary messy items and space stealers I had to work around.
Looking at all the things I got out of the cupboard made me realise it had become a bit of a dumping ground. Hidden in the back were craft brushes and cleaning products that don’t even get used in the kitchen. By returning these to their proper homes I could then sort through the items to stay. I also used this opportunity to retire any tea towels that were looking had it to my rags pile.
Reusing the two tiered stand I had in there previously, I put my tea towels in the bottom and my cleaning products on top in easy reach. Adding a small shelf rise and cheap plastic basket, I had a place to keep my kitchen supplies like paper towels, bench wipes and rubbish bags. This left oodles of space to put my hand-held vacuum.
It has thus far stayed neat but I suppose the temptation will be to fill the extra space with other stuff. Hopefully this post and the wretched before photo will shame me into keeping it clean.
There Was a Crooked House 