Day 6 - 30-Day Declutter Challenge . . .

The decluttering suggestions for today were:

• Clean off the kitchen table
• Cleaning supplies:  Condense, get rid of old products & replace with green cleaning.

We've come to our first instance of overlap between the two calendars.  You'll recall that I cleaned off the kitchen table on Day 1.  It currently has the spices on it that I want to donate to a food pantry, but to me that counts as cleaned off because I don't have anywhere else to put that stuff so I will keep it in mind to figure out somewhere to donate it.  

So, cleaning supplies it is and I'm put this disclaimer up front:  I won't be changing over to anything green anytime soon.  This stuff has to get used up, and the last time I tried a "green cleaner" it was useless. Cleaning supplies live mainly under the kitchen sink at my house.  And yes, I know that's like an industrial strength size disposal.  I got a good deal on it when I was having the kitchen redone and didn't realize how big it actually was  :-D  The mess down here was not as bad as I thought it might be.

I have a few cleaning supplies in what passes for my laundry room, which is also in my kitchen, but I decided to leave them alone for the time being because this space is mainly storage - and I've read ahead on the calendars:  there's a day for cleaning the laundry room.  I will tackle this shelf at that time. 

 

Alrighty then.  I pulled everything out from under the sink.  God only knows why I have THREE jars of copper cleaner and TWO jars of silver wipes . . .   I was happy to find a big bottle of Ivory liquid soap that is more than half full.  I have plenty of liquid soap now, but for most of the pandemic I have not been able to find any, and I didn't even realize I had it under the sink.  There were a few things that I know were my mom's - like a bottle of Lysol concentrate and two bottles of rust remover (they are visible in the photo in the bottom left corner).  I kept the Lysol - it doesn't go bad - but neither bottle of rust remover would spray, and since they are probably at least 17 years old, I decided they could go to their Great Reward.  I washed out the blue carrier where most of the cleaning supplies reside, as well as the little white basket (which I for sure know was my mom's because she had a million little baskets - a habit I acquired from her.  Just wait until we get to the linen closet and you'll see what I mean :-D).

Over on the left is a shoebox size plastic box (which also got washed out).  This is appropriate, because it contains assorted shoe polish and other shoe care products.  Not quite sure how it was possible to have THREE tins of Kiwi black shoe polish.  Again, I'm sure some of these were my mom's.  I tossed the two that were the most well-used and kept the other.  I have two tins of neutral, but I kept both of them because I usually use that on my leather Coach bags and both tins are close to being used up.  The bottle of Venetian cream, which my mom taught me to always use on any new pair of shoes before wearing, was down to an almost dried up blob in the bottom of the bottle.  I tossed it, along with my mom's "sneaker cleaner."  I don't remember when I last had white gym shoes!  I ordered another bottle of Venetian cream, and kept the waterproofing products - I'm sure my hiking boots could use a good spray to ensure my feet stay dry this winter.

I got down on my hands and knees (using my foam workout mats folded over for padding) and scrubbed this cupboard.  I don't know why I didn't take a picture of it clean!  :-D  It's still a little stained, but it's cleaner than in this photo, so I'm happy with my results. 

Yeah, baby!  Everything has been wiped off and placed strategically where I can see what I have and where it is.  I seriously better start cleaning the copper pot bottoms every time I use them or I will never use up all that copper polish  :-D   I used to have a pot rack, and I suppose I cleaned them more often then . . .  although I'm not too sure about that.  ;-D  

Since I only had one task today, I decided to use some of my time to go through the rest of the magazines I had saved from Day 3's mail and paperwork challenge.  I got through them, found some recipes to save and the magazines are now safely in the bag for recycling!

Tomorrow's challenge seems to be about purging assorted cabinets - on both calendars . . . Yikes!!

So, 6 down, 24 to go!!  I'm hanging in!

No news yet on the amaryllis front . . .

 

It's the second Sunday in Advent.  We light the candle of peace. This is the last cut on my all-time favorite Christmas CD, Mannheim Steamroller - Christmas, which was their first Christmas CD and,  arguably, their best.  Nothing they've done since touches it.  There is a peace to this cut that touches my soul.  I hope it touches yours, too . . .