Three Things to do This Weekend

It's Friday! You may remember this post from last week: 3 Things to do This Weekend. I mentioned that for the month of January I'd help us all out a little by posting some of those dreaded new year organization/cleaning tasks we all try to accomplish.

The key is not to try and tackle everything all at once. Remember, like anything, getting your home set for a new season, organizing, purging, and even decorating, is a process!

Here's what I'm working on this weekend:

1. Tackle the bathroom cabinets. Ok, if you have more than one bathroom, just do one. Unless you're feeling extra ambitious and/or your bathrooms are different levels of cluttered. One may be easier/smaller than the other, so it may be a quick task to do all. Only you know what's going to overwhelm you.

Go through the cabinets & drawers in your bathroom one by one. Empty them out, trash what needs to be trashed & only place back them items you need and use. Be sure to dispose of expired products & medicine properly. If you keep your towels in the bathroom (and not in a linen closet) go through them. Have some of them lived their life span? Do you need to rip some up to use as rags? If that's the case do so; and if you need to replace the ones you get rid of, make a note on the fridge or your phone to keep an eye out for sales. That way you can pick some up when they're on for a good deal. Like always, when you're putting the items back into the cabinets, place like things in the same cabinets. It'll make things a bit easier to find and little more uniform.

2. Clean the microwave. I can't be the only person that had food splatter & blow up in there over the holidays. It really doesn't take long to clean, so let's just get it over with. I generally get a microwave safe glass bowl (pyrex) and fill it halfway with water. Add approx. 1/4 cup of vinegar to the water and then microwave for about 3 min (maybe check on it every min or so...you may need to do a couple extra minutes). Once you notice it get steamy in there, just let the bowl of water sit in there for a few minutes with the door closed. Remove the bowl (careful, it might be hot!) and proceed to wipe down the inside of the microwave. I usually use a damp dish cloth with some water & dish soap. The caked on food comes off much easier thanks to the steamy vinegar bath.

3. De-Scale & clean the coffee maker. So I guess this one only applies to those of you who drink coffee and/or still have a coffee maker. The coffee maker often gets neglected when it comes to cleaning. In order to descale I always fill the coffee pot mostly full of cold water then add apporx. 1/2 cup vinegar. Pour the mixture into the coffee maker like you would if you were going to brew a pot, then turn it on and let it run. After it goes through, let it sit for a bit and cool down. Then run another pot of water (just water) through as if you were going to make more coffee. After it runs and cools, wash the carafe and filters in warm soapy water. Then wipe down the rest of the coffee maker. Done.

Lastly, here's a nice little thought about clutter:

Happy Weekending!