tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post984615294401592828..comments2024-03-18T16:49:08.253+11:00Comments on All the Blue Day: Declutter Week Three: KitchenJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-65292920053239899052014-10-10T16:56:57.409+11:002014-10-10T16:56:57.409+11:00Linda, I love my file grater and stick blender. Su...Linda, I love my file grater and stick blender. Such useful gadgets, and small enough to fit into the utensil drawer. Win win!<br />Loretta, I hope all spick and span for your sister:) I never had the 'noticing dust' gene either, until I started this housekeeping routine lark. So possibly an argument in favour of just continuing to ignore it..Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-41322195076010281132014-10-10T10:28:51.951+11:002014-10-10T10:28:51.951+11:00There's nothing like having a visit from my cl...There's nothing like having a visit from my clean-freak sister (whom I adore and miss as she now lives overseas, sob) to get me cleaning! Using your blog post as a starter, I've been frantically cleaning the kitchen cabinet doors, degreasing the stove filter (beyond disgusting), cleaning around light switches, decluttering the pull-out drawers of glass jars ( I need to keep some for pickles, jams, etc, but it was reaching hoarding proportions). Feel SO much better now. I have been avoiding cleaning my windows, as I will do them tomorrow, before she arrives. No point doing them earlier as the dog will just filthy them up. At least that's what I've been telling myself for a couple of months now:-) I've done my once-yearly proper clean of all exposed skirting boards too. Fortunately I have been blessed with the 'not noticing dust' gene, which is handy for avoiding housework, but I make an exception when my sister, and my mother-in-law visit. Hope your cold is better! LorettaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-80372843227555675412014-10-08T08:48:02.008+11:002014-10-08T08:48:02.008+11:00Over the years I have decluttered my kitchen sever...Over the years I have decluttered my kitchen several times. I find plastic containers creep up on me so I get rid of the excesses fairly frequently. However I have bought two gadgets in the past year or so and can't think why I didn't years ago - they have been so useful and cut down on time spent cooking. First, a cheese grater shaped like a file ( I'm sure there is s fancy name for them but they are used in Italian restaurants when the waiter grates Parmesan onto your pasta dish). I use it for grating cheese, chocolate, carrots , lemon and orange zest etc. in stead of my old 4 sided greater which I always managed to grate my finger on! <br />Then I bought a stick blender. So much more convenient than using the food processor for blending soups. Instead of washing up all the different parts of the food processor I just wash one small part. Why didn't I buy them years ago? Probably because I thought they were two more items to clutter my kitchen cupboards! Hey ho!Lindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05139897702169696195noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-14664925764165082892014-10-07T21:21:39.293+11:002014-10-07T21:21:39.293+11:00Miss Maudy, that is exactly how I approach the acq...Miss Maudy, that is exactly how I approach the acquisition of new things in my kitchen. It has to be one in, one out! Also, I love my deep drawers which store all my appliances. So easy to lift out and in.<br />e, I know you are wonderfully efficient at editing your kitchen. Go you!<br />Lynda, yes, stuff does creep in, doesn't it? This year Rosy has been doing good old fashioned 'Home Ec' although it is called Food Technology now of course. Cooking, basically. Anyway, every week she brings home something yummy in a fast food container, so now my cupboard is full of them. They are good for when the girls bake with friends and then send half the baking home with said friend. Clearly it is time for more baking round here..<br />Really, I have not done much cleaning yet this week. Also, every time I do a job, which in my head will take hours, it only seems to take less than half an hour. I think I suffer from overwhelming and unnecessary panic in regards to cleaning! Plus, I don't work full time. Give yourself a wee break:)<br />Have to laugh at the thought of your ironing lady shouting instructions about grammar to your son as she irons a shirt. I'm sure that is not how it works, but that is EXACTLY how my homeschooling days used to proceed:)Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-10479226045067062322014-10-07T13:42:06.304+11:002014-10-07T13:42:06.304+11:00Goodness, i cant even write straight. What was i ...Goodness, i cant even write straight. What was i doing above. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12605358521258969537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-10307282374791303312014-10-07T13:41:29.220+11:002014-10-07T13:41:29.220+11:00I left hand is raised and right in my my heart pro...I left hand is raised and right in my my heart proclaiming that i am a plastic container hoarder. I declutter and still it comes back. <br /><br />Im feeling depressed listening to all the housework you are achieving. I think im lucky if i get the dish washer on and a couple of loads of washing done a week in time for the ironing lady (also my son's English tutor). <br /><br />Struggling at the moment to do it all (work, home and garden). <br /> Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12605358521258969537noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-48796641107432643282014-10-07T13:30:23.907+11:002014-10-07T13:30:23.907+11:00best of luck with all that deep cleaning. you are ...best of luck with all that deep cleaning. you are wonderful and very inspiring, jo! <br />i had a chuck out of plastic containers recently - it's very liberating. i try to go thru my cupboards regularly as it's easy to start hanging onto things 'just because'. e / dig in hobarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03448702578845994922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-61842480900152563212014-10-07T09:54:58.556+11:002014-10-07T09:54:58.556+11:00In February/March this year, I renovated my totall...In February/March this year, I renovated my totally impractical and badly laid out for the type of cook I am and the family we are (we're all giants or trainee giants, and the kitchen was built low enough that my very short mother found it uncomfortable). Copious culling and re-homing ensued and the local oppy got a LOT of kitchen stuff. Now, I have a very practical space and very practical cupboards. And a SMALL pantry!<br /><br />I could have gone for a bigger corner pantry, but if you have a bigger pantry, you just buy more things and there's more potential for things to get lost. So eh, I can live with the small one.<br /><br />The kitchen colour scheme was designed around my Kitchen Aid mixer, lol, I use it at least once a week. I've found that since I built a cupboard for ALL my appliances, I'm using them more because I can get them out of the cupboards without breaking a phoofer valve. (Except for the kitchen aid - lives on the bench because pretty *and* heavy, and the breadmaker lives in another room. I do use it occasionally for a fancy traditional dough instead of the normal bodgey sour dough I normally make. It's used often enough that I'll keep it.) <br /><br />However, the whole 'just enough room' thing I have going on means any new purchase for the kitchen has to be weighed up very carefully. Do I really need it? Do I have something else that does the same thing? Does it do anything that something else I have can't do? And finally, do I have somewhere to put it? (NO Thermomix for me!)<br /><br />I just wish I could apply kitchen logic to the rest of the house as easily!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-59456570069108399632014-10-07T09:10:15.531+11:002014-10-07T09:10:15.531+11:00Just do it, Heather! How wonderful it would be to ...Just do it, Heather! How wonderful it would be to have a whole spare cupboard in the kitchen! And I know what you mean about the grime on the cupboards. It all looks fine from a distance. Although my eyesight is distinctly middle-aged as well.. maybe it looks appalling to anyone under 35!Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-1685015108279895072014-10-06T23:37:48.779+11:002014-10-06T23:37:48.779+11:00Just last week I painted my kitchen cabinets, beca...Just last week I painted my kitchen cabinets, because they were in need of a touch up. I couldn't believe the grime I discovered that I never realized was building up. My eyesight must be going. Being up by the ceiling on a ladder and down on my knees by all the nooks and crannies was really eye opening. I have a cabinet over the refrigerator that holds a deep fryer, a dutch oven that I think makes food taste funny, a beer pitcher, and a bunch of never used cookbooks. I never use any of them! I should just give away the whole bunch and make that cupboard useful!Heathernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-60356143576331279722014-10-06T18:44:00.520+11:002014-10-06T18:44:00.520+11:00Jessie, ooh yes, I did buy a large sideboard which...Jessie, ooh yes, I did buy a large sideboard which I filled with 'useful' glass jars for all the preserving:) When the jars are full they go into the high cupboards which I have to climb a ladder to access. Also other little used stuff, like the giant stockpot/canning pot, and that dratted cup cake stand which I think will be a casualty of this week's declutter. It's all a balancing act really isn't it? Space versus wants.. glad your thermomix is working for you. I have friends who love theirs to bits as well and use them all the time. I decided to stick with what I have for now, because I have space for everything I need and other plans for available funds..Johttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17803297366197086152noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4838234360213313454.post-82335572845899808722014-10-06T18:07:20.837+11:002014-10-06T18:07:20.837+11:00I did a big declutter in the kitchen not long afte...I did a big declutter in the kitchen not long after we moved here. We downsized to a much smaller kitchen although with a HEAP more storage space but it's space I want for bottles of preserves, not Tupperware or recycled containers. I do have a Thermomix but I no longer have a hand mixer, mixmaster, rice cooker, food porcessor and more. I know they're not for everyone but my Thermy was probably the start of me decluttering my kitchen. I do save glass jars and plastic take out containers but every now and then the cupboard gets ridiculous adn I need the space for more important things (such as ferments and bottles of produce) and I go on a big cull. I keep the useful sized glass jars and work back from there. I also decluttered our 2nd drawer down, the utensils one. 2 potato mashers, a potato ricer (posh masher), various extra cutlery and all sorts of other bits and pieces. I boxed it all up and put it in the pantry to see what we missed. I've since hauled out the mashers as I like to make mash in Thermy in summer and on the stove in winter (heats up the house less in summerbut uses avail heat on the wood stove in winter) but most of it I can't tell you what is in there. After a few months the boxmigrated out of the pantry and onto a shelf, and recently it migrated to a large box of stuff for the op shop. It's all fun and games but yes, the delicate stacking thing still applies here. It's time to review the cupboards again I think. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com