ONE DRAWER AT A TIME

A good girlfriend of mine, Danyelle, told me once that she decided as a New Year's resolution she would go through her house and clean everything with a door or a drawer.  Not all at once but just one cabinet or drawer here and there when she had an extra five minutes.  It was part of her resolution to clean up a little.  I've always thought that this is a great idea but lets face it- who likes to clean?  So like a lot of great ideas, I've remembered this over the years but haven't really put much thought into it-  that is, until today.

 

As anyone who knows me knows- I love spending time in my kitchen.  I love to cook and bake and frankly I just love to eat!  Usually I can manage my rather little kitchen with ease.  I know where everything is (most of the time) and it seems to fit our needs of our two person household.  While putting away the dishes today, I ran into that dreaded problem of that one drawer just not opening without using maximum force.  After tugging, slipping my fingers in for the blind sweep and eventually popping it open (I know you have all done this series of kitchen moves before), I was faced with a mess of a utensil drawer!  Life literally came to a screeching halt until this drawer was dismantled.

While sorting through my mess, I came to the conclusion that I had many things I didn't need.  I called my husband into the kitchen for the tie breaker items and the duplicates.  He got to have the final say on what was staying and what was going, until he stated, "the culinary specialist in me says we should keep them both because what if something happens to the other one?"  Seriously?  How many spatulas does one really need?  After sorting, cleaning and properly storing my items I was amazed by my new found space (as well as my new pile of stuff for donation).

What I'm trying to get at with this whole story is we all could learn from Danyelle.  Start with one drawer or a cabinet whenever you have an extra five minutes.  Cleaning one drawer makes you feel amazing!  Cleaning one drawer is also contagious (it will lead to cleaning more drawers- I promise).  If you view this as a simple task (similar to putting away those dishes), you will be amazed at what you can get accomplished in a week!  So I'm going to ask you- Seriously?  How many spatulas does one need?  And what are you waiting for- clean a drawer!

-Mallory Mudd Pomerville