34 Weeks of Clean - Week 3: Kitchen Cabinets

Yesterday I had a little time in the afternoon to work on this weeks cleaning project.  The assignment was to clean and purge from the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen.

I didn't work the on drawers because for the most part they are pretty straight.  A few months ago I began to rearrange a few things in my cabinets, but didn't get to finish.  I worked on finishing up what I had previously started.

Previously, I moved all my small plastic storage containers to a deep drawer in which I had been using for some utensils.  Here is the current picture.  There was so much space in the deep drawer that I felt I could make a better use of it.  While we do have to put them in just right it doesn't bother me as much as it does one of my children who is on dish duty.  I like having my dishes all stacked neatly so I can quickly grab the size I want and find the matching lid. 

I hadn't finished rearranging the cabinets after moving the plastics, so this is what I started with yesterday.

My spices were spread out over two cabinets and six shelves.  I moved all may savory/ cooking spices to the cabinet where I wanted them.  And rearranged all my sweet/baking spices to take up a much smaller amount of space.  I threw away several old spices and packages and out of date imitation flavorings that I hadn't used in forever.  I decided I probably wasn't going to use them.  I also cleaned up the counter space by the coffee maker and made the space usable again.

Here are the after pictures of my spice rearranging.

I use baskets to help hold some of my spices.  I've found it helps me keep them neater and I can quickly pull the basket out of the cupboard when I am looking for a spice that I don't use as often.
 I also moved the mugs from the cupboard on the right and put them in the cupboard near the coffee pot.  Then I moved several vases that were on top of the fridge to the shelf above the mugs.  In my cup cupboard I put my measuring cups where the mugs had been.  They were displaced after rearranging the spices.







Next I worked on the cupboard under the counter that I had cleared off.  It's been bothering me for a while at how messy it was and hard to find a paper plate, cup, straw, or a tray.  I found probably 75-100 loose paper napkins in this cupboard, and since I only keep special party napkins in this cupboard I put all the other ones out to be used.  There were several items I tossed into the trash and a few items I set aside to put in my giveaway box, because I probably won't need them.  I keep my plastic ware in re-purposed coffee tins.  This helps keep them neat and easy for anyone to access.  You can't see them well because they are lined up behind the cabinet divider.

I'm looking forward to the challenge for Week 4.  You can visit this blog to see what it is and choose to join the challenge.