I have struggled with keeping my kitchen clean and organized for as long as I can remember.
I’ve never been a clean-as-you-go type of person.
I’ve more been this type of person:
And this type of person:
I just have never been able to stay on top of things.
It’s been even more of a challenge since moving to the new house a year ago.
Most of the systems and routines I had managed to establish in the old house just didn’t translate to our new situation (except for the laundry – I’ve got that nailed down) and the irregularites in our schedules really threw me for a loop.
I tried a bunch of different things, but nothing was working for all of us and more importantly, for me.
It doesn’t matter what system you set up. If it doesn’t work for the person in charge, then it’s not going to work for everyone.
So the kitchen has remained a source of great frustration for me.
Fast forward to last week.
My 12-year-old (Number 5) tested positive for Covid on Thursday.
She had a few rough days, but by day 4 she was feeling much better.
The kids were with their father this past weekend and Number 5 stayed with me since she had to isolate.
The kitchen was kind of a mess, and there’s something wrong with the dishwasher, so I was washing dishes by hand and she was in the kitchen with me.
I don’t remember what we were talking about but the conversation turned to Number 5’s future plans for herself, and she said,
“Mom, when I get older, I’m going to have a simple life.
I’m going to have one cup, and one plate and one bowl and one set of silverware, and I’m going to just wash them when I’m done with them and I’ll never have a lot of dirty dishes.”
A LIGHT BULB WENT OFF.
The move into the house was unexpected. I thought I was going to be staying in the house after the divorce, but I made the decision to move a week or two before we finalized in the end of November.
Six weeks later, we closed on a 3,000+ sq foot condo, and I had very little furniture to put in it.
I put out a call to my friends on Facebook to see if they had any things they wanted to get rid of, and I ended up with more than I needed.
I accepted everything.
I didn’t realize how much kitchen stuff I had amassed until, well, this past weekend.
There were twenty dinner plates in the cabinet.
Twenty!
We had sixteen full sets of utensils, and then a whole bunch more.
I had at least 40 forks of assorted sizes.
It’s no wonder the sink gets out of control.
We had way too many dishes and utensils, and this just didn’t register with me until my 12-year-old planted a seed in my brain.
I looked at the cabinets where we have been keeping the plates and bowls.
There are six sections in each cabinet.
One for each of the kids and one for me.
Number 5 and I emptied the cabinet out.
She got the label maker, and printed out everyone’s name.
I asked her to get the following for each family member:
- one dinner plate
- one small plate
- one small bowl
- one larger bowl
- one small cup
- one large cup
- one mug
- one place setting of utensils
And then everyone got their own space with their own dishes and utensils.
Is it magazine worthy?
No.
But I’m not making a living from magazines.
We need something that’s more functional.
And this will (hopefully) help ALL of us learn to clean as we go and to make that a habit, because godammit I am not putting my kids out into the world without the ability to keep their fucking kitchen clean.
This new set up is going to take some getting used to. All change does.
As we use this system we’ll have to make some tweaks as we figure out what works and what doesn’t.
We are on day 3 of this new system.
And we are on day 3 of a clean kitchen!
It’s been a game changer.
I’ll keep you posted on how it works for us and how it evolves as we implement it!
If you are struggling to develop and implement systems in your house, remember that it’s a process that takes time.
Don’t get hung up on figuring out the perfect system and don’t get hung up on how long it takes you to figure it out.
You don’t know what an effective and efficient system is until you start actually implementing it. That’s the way you establish a new system.
By trying shit out and keeping what works and eliminating what doesn’t.
It took me a year to have this a-ha moment, and it’s going to take us a couple more months to fine tune things.
Stop worrying about perfection and just take action.
If something doesn’t work, you aren’t a failure.
You’ve simply taken action and learned one strategy that is not effective.
Cross that one off the list of possibilities, and try something else.
Eventually, as long as you don’t stop trying, you’ll figure out what works best for you!
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