Kitchen Cleaning - "The Counter Attack"

By Sinea Pies

"Counter Attack"

5 Quick Things To "Attack" While Waiting In The Kitchen

How often have you be immobilized?

Immobilized by how overwhelming it will be to get your house in order.

Halted by the lack of real time to do it. 

I've been there more than once. Have you?

Just contemplating how to get it all done can stop you in your tracks—along with the looming reality that quickly it will get messy again (unless everyone moves out. LOL)  We struggle with the thought, "Why start?" 

Times like these call for a Counter Attack!

“Counter Attack” has more than one meaning. The first is a war term most often used to refer to a retaliation for an attack. 

Ever feel attacked by the stuff in your house?  

The other way to look at it is to "attack" the mess on a counter top.

Kitchen counter.

Bathroom vanity counter.

Desktop.

Let's look at this more closely.

This epiphany came when I was standing in my kitchen at midnight, waiting for my big girl dog (Lexi) to come in from outside. I had my trusty bean-bag heating in the microwave, preparing to keep my toes warm under the covers when I went to bed.  

I looked around the kitchen and said to myself "I have to wake up to this?" The kitchen had been relatively clean after dinner but through the evening it re-cluttered. Dirty dishes sat in the sink and on the counter (again) because the dishwasher had just completed a full load.

Next, I was seeing the future.  In the morning, I would soon be greeted by a kitchen that needed a major rescue before the day even started. That's when it hit me. I was standing there, waiting for a dog and a bean-bag. Could I do something to make this better? You bet.  

I did what time would allow, concentrating on one section of the kitchen counter plus the stove top. I was determined to have that part "clean as a whistle" to start the morning right.

I cleared the stuff, washed and polished it. It took less than 5 minutes and that corner of my kitchen looked GREAT. I felt better. Lexi came inside and we went to bed.

Waking to a clean kitchen is a beautiful thing.

The next day, I took that new revelation and put it to work. Whether the kitchen or the bathroom or my office, the three places that had "counters", I looked for opportunities to do something to move things toward "clean". 

5 Quick Things To "Attack" While Waiting In The Kitchen

1. Stovetops are an obvious starting point if your microwave is suspended above.  Waiting for something to "nuke"? Wipe down the stovetop! Make it shine.
2. Take out the trash. Yes, the waste basket under your sink fills quickly. Wouldn't it be nice to wake in the morning to an empty, newly lined trash basket?
3. Make a to-do list for today, tomorrow or later in the week. Get a grip on what has to be done and when.
4. Throw out old food. Yes, while waiting for the coffee to perk or your microwave to "beep", open up the refrigerator or a cupboard and throw away food that is about to spoil or has surpassed the expiration date. Get rid of it. Removing just a few is liberating and gets you steps closer to "organized"!
5. Sort the mail. This may not be completely doable while waiting for something short to happen but you can at least pull out junk mail and throw it away. Other, more important, mail can be laid aside for a more thorough look.

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I'm partying here. 

What can YOU do while waiting ? 

Share your ideas with us in the comments!

I'm partying here. 

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Photo credits: 

Frazzled Cook by Debspoons on Freedigital Photos

Dream Kitchen by Vyolett on sxc.hu