Spring Cleaning

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I don't do Spring Cleaning. Well, at least not in one fell swoop. What I do is bits and pieces. Usually when I do these bits and pieces, it uses up all of my decision making / organizing / cleaning energy and the rest of the place falls to pieces. Yesterday was no exception. Actually, the rest of the place was already a disaster from about three weeks worth of not being home on the weekends.

Here is what my upper cabinets, pantry, hutch, and main bookcase looked like as of yesterday:

(I had started on this one before thinking to post this)

over the sink

baking

pantry - those clear pockets house stationery stuff and miscellaneous tools

bookcase - on which is a "rabbit ears" antennae that doesn't help here due to the "mountain" we live on (technically it is a foothill to a mountain range, but it still blocks the TV reception... I should freecycle this AND the long coaxial cable that goes with it)

hutch

As I progress with re-organizing, purging and cleaning, I will post the resulting after pictures. I completed two of the upper cabinets. The over the sink cabinet (really, whoever planned the layout of this kitchen did a poor job - as the corner end of that cabinet is difficult for even my 6'1" dh to reach!!! I need a step stool) now houses:

cooking wines, extra coffee, medications (in the basket), Busker's bottles (in the yellow bins), first aid supplies (in the Ramen box - I will be covering that to make it look nicer), teas of various sorts, cocoa, coffee and filters, glasses and mugs (most of which were in the dishwasher when I took the picture, hence the empty shelf)

The cookbooks from the before picture ended up on top of my refridgerator, being held by one of those dish separators for a cabinet (it doesn't fit in my cabinets, so I found this worked.

The baking cabinet (since I use it so much) wasn't too bad, and really just needed some straightening and wiping down.

I plan on tackling the pantry today. I want to try to have more Martha moments in my life. Yesterday was a decent start, although I am still frustrated at the chaos in the rest of the apartment. I know I do not have the physical energy to get it all fixed in one day. But I want it fixed in one day. I am not very good with delayed gratification. Which is why diets never seemed to work for me.... I get too discouraged at an apparent lack of progress.

FLYlady has never really worked very well for me, because I get too anxious and impatient to get EVERYTHING accomplished at once - and burn out. (Which is exactly what she warns against and why she insists things get done in a certain way) Growing up, I always heard "If you can't do it right, don't do it at all." I think I took this the wrong way, as now when faced with something I don't feel I can do well, I don't do it at all. I think how that phrase should be taken is simply "Do Your Best in All Things". And accept that my best is not always perfect - and that is ok because I do not have to be perfect. I am going to force myself to just do things in stages during this time in my life, follow FLYlady's instructions and ignore that voice screaming in my head "It has to all be done, perfectly, NOW."

Blessings to you,