The Great Kitchen Makeover War Begins

With the start of the year, I’m looking to improve things around Hectic Manor. While I would love to set aside huge blocks of time and redo everything in the kitchen, I simply can’t. At best, I can spend a little time each week on improvements. That means that I need a plan. Over the next weeks I’m going to share some of the ways I’m reorganizing at Hectic Manor. If there are specific questions you have, please put them in the comments and I’ll do my best to include them in future posts.

There are five areas of the kitchen that I’m going to be working on:

• Cabinets & Drawers
• Pantry
• Refrigerator
• Freezer
• Spice Rack

I’ll continue the series writing about how to attack a major kitchen cleanup and then finally wrap up with strategies you can use to keep your kitchen clean and organized moving forward.

Usually when I approach a major task, I focus on the visible parts. I love the way an organized space makes me feel. I’ve also discovered that I’m really good at surface decluttering but struggle with underlying, hidden spaces. While my kitchen looked great for the holidays, if anybody had opened my cabinets, pantry, or even looked in my bedroom closet…they would’ve found kitchen gear stowed everywhere. Sure, on the surface everything looked great, but underneath it was a mess. A terrible, disorganized mess.

So at the dawn of 2018 I’m attacking the underlying problem first. That means it’ll take longer to see the fruits of my labor, but I’m hopeful it will mean that the solutions will last longer. It’s akin to the difference between microwaving and oven cooking. When food comes out of the microwave it’s steaming hot, but given a couple of minutes it’s cooled down. On the other hand, foods cooked in a traditional oven come out the same temperature as the microwave, but they’re hot for a lot longer. While the microwave is fast, the heat is fleeting. I certainly don’t want fleeting for my kitchen do-over. I’m going the slower route!

I’m plan revolves around doing a small amount of work on a regular basis rather than a massive, all-day affair. I would love to set aside a weekend to attack everything in my kitchen…but that would require time I haven’t been able to find. I know, I know…the things that are important you’ll make time for. But I’ve been trying that for well over a year…and my kitchen is still a disaster. I’m going to try a different approach. If I still haven’t made progress in two months I’ll ratchet up my commitment and set aside a weekend. But for now, that’s not the plan.

I’m fortunate that the Hectic Manor kitchen is really large. As I mentioned before we remodeled our kitchen and put in more storage than we thought we’d ever need. Now that storage is stuffed to the gills. There are plenty of reasons, but mostly it boils down to my inability to get rid of stuff. While I’m not quite ready to audition for Hoarders, Hectic Mom would disagree. Of course, she’s traumatized by anything being on the kitchen counters on a regular basis…so I’m doing my best to ignore her. Then again, ignoring your spouse doesn’t make for a happy marriage. So I’ve got to admit I’ve got more things than I need. That means that I need to pare down and then organize what’s left.

Back in December 2013, I wrote a post over on the Hectic-Dad blog about the general concept of decluttering. When I reread what I wrote I realized how much of it still holds true…and how much I stink at actually following my own advice. Shhhh…please don’t tell anybody. That’s not the sort of thing I’m supposed to admit. I’m supposed to be an expert, and if I admit not following my advice I’m not sure who else will.

But this is a new year, so here goes my attempt at not only dishing out advice, but actually following it.

To be completely transparent, I’m not writing theoretically here. The Hectic Manor kitchen is a disaster, and I’m going to be playing along with the rest of you as we go through this series. The only difference is that you get the advantage of learning from my experience. Hopefully I’ll make the mistakes so you can avoid them. Then you’re better off for having read these posts.

I’m starting off with some infrastructure that’s going to stick with me throughout the entire process. First off, I need the five boxes that are going to collect things while I’m working. I’m going to use some large Rubbermaid containers that we have so I don’t have to go buy anything new. If you want to start a battle, talk with your spouse about how you’re going to be entering a project like this…especially one where you’ve previously proven not quite up to the task…and then say the first thing you need is to go buy stuff. It’s not the route that I would recommend…find something you already have and use that first, even if it’s not ideal.

Now that I’ve got the boxes, they need to be clearly labeled. If your house is anything like ours, not labeling causes things to get repurposed for something else.

So how will I label the boxes? {Take a photo of the boxes + pad of paper}

• Route It – items out of place that need to go elsewhere
• Give It – items in good repair to be donated
• Store It – items that will be used in a reasonable time frame
• Toss It – trash
• Figure It Out – items I can’t figure out what to do with right now

Finally, I’ve got a brand new pad of paper that I’m using for my list. It happens to be one that I’ve had, but I really felt like I needed something new. It was the one concession that I was willing to make to my desire to purchase something, then I found this guy in the cupboard in my office.

• The list collects ideas and thoughts that occur while doing the decluttering

The one downside of the boxes I’ve selected is they are big. I had to spend some time locating a place where I would be able to store them between decluttering sessions. The spot had to be accessible so I wouldn’t have another excuse for not getting started. But it also had to be out of the way so I’m not telegraphing this project is going to take quite a while. I finally settled on a poorly used corner of our laundry room, which happens to be right around the corner from the kitchen.

The next step is to pick a part of your kitchen that’s going to give you a quick win. I decided to steer away from the drawers we use constantly throughout the week. While they would be great to get organized first, too much stuff moves in and out of them daily. For now I’m going start on somewhere that gets less traffic. This should allow me to take my time without creating a lot of disruption. If it sounds like I’m being a bit stealthy here…you’re 100% correct. I’m not making a huge family announcement of this project. I’m not actually telling anybody at Hectic Manor. I’ve done that before, creating expectations for both myself and the Hectic Family. Then when I’ve dropped the ball I not only looked dumb, but I took a lot of grief from the family. To make matters worse, I often selected an area that was hugely disruptive and engendered conflicts that could’ve easily been avoided. This is an example of learning from my mistakes so you don’t have to make them.

I’m also forcing myself to man-up and take the verbal blows from my kids who have moved out. Since Hectic Manor is big, several of the kids are using this house as storage while they get their own places in order. Unfortunately, a couple of them have been moved out for years, yet our kitchen  still holds and eclectic collection of kitchenwares that don’t belong to me. I’ve been reluctant to move those things for fear of upsetting the kids. But every day I’m less effective that I should be because I’m working around the disorganization. So I’m going to accept that there may be some upset caused by my moving things to non-kitchen storage. Some of the kids might be unhappy, but that’s one of the prices that I’m going to pay. If you have college-aged or older kids you probably know what I’m talking about.

Next up…Beginning the Decluttering Battle