Making Your Home a Haven Monday: Spring cleaning - Kitchen
It's almost Spring time! Can you believe it?
To ring in the new season, we're going to be focusing on Spring cleaning and home organization over the next few weeks. We'll be finishing up the Finding Time series and I'll be sharing some home organization tips and ideas that have worked for me--from our current daily routine and cleaning schedule to menu planning and my day timer and household organization notebook.
I also have some excellent guest posts lined up from wise and seasoned wives, mothers, and homemakers on the topic of time management, efficiency, and home organization (if anyone else would like to contribute a post on this topic, just email me!).
If you have any specific questions you'd like to have answered by me or others as we tackle the topic of home organization, feel free to email me or leave a comment and I'll do my best to see that we get to it!
Over the next few weeks, I'm also going to motivate all of you to do some Spring Cleaning! Inspired by my friends Monica and Amy, we'll be working our way room-by-room through our home--cleaning, de-cluttering, and organizing as we go.
My hope is that these posts will inspire you to simplify your life and create more order and structure so that you might have more time to devote to what is most important--glorifying the Lord as a daughter, wife, mother, homemaker, or wherever else God might have you at this season of your life!
Since we might as well get one of the hardest rooms finished first, today we're beginning in the kitchen.
Here's my plan:
-Pick up and put away all out-of-place items
-Wash, dry, put away dishes
-Wipe down countertops, top of refrigerator, and outside of cupboards
-Quick-clean the refrigerator/freezer
-Wipe down the windowsill and blinds
-Clean window and sliding glass door
-Wipe down fronts of dishwasher, oven, and refrigerator
-Dust tops of cupboards
-Sweep and mop floor
-Wipe down outside of trash can
-Clean baseboard and walls
Need some guidance and inspiration for cleaning your kitchen?
Monica shares how she spring-cleaned her kitchen here (complete with before and after pictures!).
Amy gives you some step-by-step help to tackle your refrigerator here.
I'll be back soon with before and after pictures of our kitchen project as well as some thoughts on schedules and routines and what has worked for us.
-------------------------
Join in the fun! Post about your kitchen cleaning (with before and after pictures!) or share anything else related to making your home a haven and then come back here and leave your link below so we can all be inspired and motivated.
To ring in the new season, we're going to be focusing on Spring cleaning and home organization over the next few weeks. We'll be finishing up the Finding Time series and I'll be sharing some home organization tips and ideas that have worked for me--from our current daily routine and cleaning schedule to menu planning and my day timer and household organization notebook.
I also have some excellent guest posts lined up from wise and seasoned wives, mothers, and homemakers on the topic of time management, efficiency, and home organization (if anyone else would like to contribute a post on this topic, just email me!).
If you have any specific questions you'd like to have answered by me or others as we tackle the topic of home organization, feel free to email me or leave a comment and I'll do my best to see that we get to it!
Over the next few weeks, I'm also going to motivate all of you to do some Spring Cleaning! Inspired by my friends Monica and Amy, we'll be working our way room-by-room through our home--cleaning, de-cluttering, and organizing as we go.
My hope is that these posts will inspire you to simplify your life and create more order and structure so that you might have more time to devote to what is most important--glorifying the Lord as a daughter, wife, mother, homemaker, or wherever else God might have you at this season of your life!
Since we might as well get one of the hardest rooms finished first, today we're beginning in the kitchen.
Here's my plan:
-Pick up and put away all out-of-place items
-Wash, dry, put away dishes
-Wipe down countertops, top of refrigerator, and outside of cupboards
-Quick-clean the refrigerator/freezer
-Wipe down the windowsill and blinds
-Clean window and sliding glass door
-Wipe down fronts of dishwasher, oven, and refrigerator
-Dust tops of cupboards
-Sweep and mop floor
-Wipe down outside of trash can
-Clean baseboard and walls
Need some guidance and inspiration for cleaning your kitchen?
Monica shares how she spring-cleaned her kitchen here (complete with before and after pictures!).
Amy gives you some step-by-step help to tackle your refrigerator here.
I'll be back soon with before and after pictures of our kitchen project as well as some thoughts on schedules and routines and what has worked for us.
-------------------------
Join in the fun! Post about your kitchen cleaning (with before and after pictures!) or share anything else related to making your home a haven and then come back here and leave your link below so we can all be inspired and motivated.
Labels: Making Your Home a Haven
posted by Crystal Paine at 12:12 PM
13 Comments:
Love your blog...I'm finally going to delurk!! :-0
Here's a question for you...what do you have your girls do while you are deep cleaning? Or organizing? I have a two year old, and a 7 month old. The two year old is extremly active. They are both happy, obedient, and well disciplined, but they are still preschoolers, know what I mean? I would love to hear how you involve or entertain them while you clean. Thanks!
Here's a quick way to do walls- I don't know about yours but my walls get dusty this time of year with the furnace running. I use a Swiffer dry floor sweeper (you can get generic refills for $1 at the dollar store). Instead of dry sweeping the floor I Swiffer the wall! Especially up around the ceiling- you get a lot of cobwebs and its QUICK!
I would like to know too. My two-year old is into everything. I can't leave her for a minute. She is too young to help- she just destroys everything- we call her human tornado.
I found out about Making Your Home a Haven through Joy Home Livin's blog. It has already inspired me to get some work done in our master bedroom and kitchen. I put a link to the pictures on my blog. I hope to participate in this every Monday.
Jenn
My question is for you and all others out there...what to with out of season clothes? We don't have a lot of storage space and these take up so much room in the closet. I thought about those space saver bags but don't know if they really truly work and hate to spend the money on it if they don't! Thanks!!
thanks so much for keeping us on our toes Crystal, love you!
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
My microwave is now so clean I could lick it!
My 2 year old is also very active. She wants to know what mommy is doing and get in on it and preferably mess it up. With cleaning though it's been a little touch and go to get her involved. I have given her a damp cloth to follow along with but she soon drops that for greener pastures so I just have an arsenal of things for her to do.
Water play, stickers, we play our southern gospel and sing (she loves loves to sing). Have something special for her to play with while mommy is cleaning. For my daughter it is our shredded papers. Go figure.
I also call my baby a tornado. She loves to collect. She will also sit on our bed with piles of stuff for hours. It has to be good and messy though.
I think letting her make a mess and then getting her in on the cleaning keep us from going crazy over it all.
Also if I spend good quality time with her before I clean she will be more relaxed and do something a little more calm than usual while I clean.
I would love to be one of your the ladies to give advice but can never figure out your e-mail link, so I am hoping this will work.
I am 40 yrs old and mother of 4 right now hoping to have more. I am a lazy person but hate messes. Does that make sense? No. Lazy people couldn't care less. But I do. I try to post on your blog as much as I can so I hope that is enough.
Your a smart girl for your age. You have a love to be a wife and mother. My oldest daughter has lived by my example of good housekeeping and doesn't follow suit. I am disappointed in her. She could be alot better. I know I raised my children better then that. I pray she will grow up fast. She has 3 children.
But I figured that should stop me from advising other ladies.
Let me know how I can be of help. I am not perfect by any means. But there are a few things this farm girl knows.
God bless and nice job on your blog.
BarbaraLee: My email address is biblicalwomanhood @ sbcglobal.net (just remove the spaces and it should work!).
I posted some on my cleaning my kitchen last night! I think the best way to involve children while you are cleaning is start cleaning! I was mopping yesterday (check out my blog as I posted some pictures! www.homeschoolblogger.com/martha) and my 8 year old begged me to let him mop. My 5 year old was putting away silverware, and my three year old just wanted to be with us. He does make messes, but if he is with you you can give him a spray bottle with water in it and a rag or just a rag if they are the type that will unscrew the top and spill it everywhere and they want to help.
If I really needed to get something done and they were getting into on thing after another, I would set them on the couch with a stack of books and they were not allowed to get down while I clean the living room and kitchen, I also did where they had to stay on the area rug with toys and books, but not come off of it.
My boys are extremally active and it does them good to have this time where they are semi-confined! It is good training!
Anyhow, we are going to be moving hopefully soon so itis nice to do spring cleaning and going through everything, throwing out old bottles, vitamins etc getting rid of clothing you never wear etc.
THANK YOU, Crystal! I really appreciate you linking up to our feature. It made my day- I feel so blessed by your encouragement and friendship.
PS- Your kitchen looks AWESOME! You should be so proud!!
To those of you asking what to do with small children. I would suggest putting them in a playpen with some books or toys. As long as they can't climb out of it, they can play in there happily while you are cleaning.
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