A Virtuous Woman Cleans the Kitchen

• Who can find a virtuous woman?  her price is far above rubies
• She looketh well to the ways of her household
• She eateth not the bread of idleness

Today is Day 15 of the 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge at Money Saving Mom, and I have to say, with one major (my "spare bedroom"/library/office/junk room) exception and a few minor ones, my house is looking better than it has in a long time.  

Today's task is to surface clean the living room and kitchen.  In the living room, all I really needed to do is pick up one pair of shoes (mine!) and put them away, and clean up the end table next to my recliner.  I always have a little pile there--books I'm reading, a Bible, my prayer journal, my daily planner, a calendar--but since I've been sick I had other things laying there--tissues and vitamin C and mentholatum and lip balm--so I picked up and put away what didn't belong, and straightened the rest.  My sweet husband swept pretty much the whole house last night (we have carpet only in two bedrooms), so other than doing some dusting, I'm done with the living room.

Monday tends to be my worse kitchen morning.  We tend to eat a lot of leftovers and snacky-type meals on the weekends, and since it's always "just a few things", the tendency is to just stack everything in the sink and leave them.  These pictures are from last Monday, I just didn't have a chance to post them then, and it was no exception.   

Apologies for the dark photo again, I didn't realize how dark it was until it was too late for another "before".  Even with the poor quality, you can see the general disarray.

Three closer views...left....

...center...

..right..

...and the yucky, up close and personal

Step 1--put away the clean dishes, and pick up and put away items that don't belong in the kitchen--or at least on the countertop.

Step 2--rinse, sort, and stack the dirty dishes ready to be washed.

Step 3--clean the sink.  I squirt a dab of dishwashing liquid on my dishcloth and rub all over the sink, then rinse. How can I get the dishes clean in a dirty sink?

Step 4--put the first batch of dishes to soak in hot, soapy water. 

Step 5--tackle the stove, putting things away, wiping it down if needed

Step 6--start working on the other counter top--putting away, wiping, straightening. 

Wash the first sinkful of dishes, and put the next batch to soak.

After--right hand counter--I know it's still clutter-y for some, but this is my 'normal'

Step 7--Wipe out the sink, rinse the dishcloth and hang it to dry, so that it doesn't sour. Every few days I throw it in the laundry and get out a clean one.  Dry the sink and surrounding area--if you don't let water spots form, you don't have to try to clean them later. 

Dishes clean and drying

Bigger picture--after. 

Today I followed the same basic steps, only the kitchen wasn't in quite so much disarray today. Not because of me, but my sweet husband came in after working all day yesterday and cleaned the kitchen for his poor, sick wife (that's me!)

It's so easy to let "just a few things" pile up until it becomes oh-my-goodness-how-will-I-ever-get-this-mess-cleaned-up, but most of the time, breaking it down into simple steps and doing each thing, one at a time, followed by the next, makes it take much less time than we originally think it will at that first, overwhelming glance.

This post is linked to Money Saving Mom's 30-Day House Cleaning Challenge, Day 15

Until next time...

To see other posts in this series, click on Clean in 30