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Monthly Clean Home Challenge: Clean Out One Cabinet

Welcome back to the Monthly Clean Home Challenge daily task!  I am on a quest to maintain a clean and organized home in less time and the goal is simple; four daily tasks, four weekly tasks and one additional quick task each week day. 

In no particular order, here are the individual tasks I am tackling each day this month:

1. Make cleaning supplies
2. Cycle clean appliances
3. Clean out cars
4. Clean out microwave
5. Wipe down cabinets/appliances
6. Wipe down trim/doors
7. Clean out one drawer
8. Clean out fridge
9. Clean out freezer
10. Vacuum under furniture
11. Vacuum mattresses
12. Clean oven
13. Clean out one closet
14. Wash out garbage can/recycle bin
15. Wash windows
16. Scrub grout
17. Clean out one cabinet
18. File paper piles
19. Purge bathroom toiletries
20. Clean out pantry

Today I am chatting about the extra task:  Clean Out One Cabinet

Cabinets get dusty and things get lost in the back and occasionally the cabinet contents become completely forgotten about...  I can either spend multiple hours in one day cleaning out all of my cabinets and drawers, or tackle them bits at a time as time permits.  Although we all work in different ways, this month I have been doing just that and I have been loving the outcome of accomplishing something each day of the week.


At first glance, our glass cabinet doesn't appear to be that bad.


But it was!  What is hard to see in the image above is that the cabinet is a corner cabinet, meaning that there are twice as many glasses lingering in never never land.


There were quite a few other issues with the cabinet; things were put away where they didn't belong {seasonal items are typically stored in our hutch in the dining room and not in this cabinet}, jars were being stacked and I had to come to terms with my mug hoarding addiction.

First step to any good cabinet clean-out, is to start with a blank slate.  So that is what I did.  Ready to see how many glasses were actually living in this little cabinet?


Oh my bananas!  And the ones in the far back were sooooo dusty.  Ew.  Anyone want to come over for drinks?

For the next step, I sprayed down the inside of the cabinet and shelves and gave everything a good cleaning.


I found so many glasses that I had completely forgotten about, and very obviously didn't need any longer.  So I grabbed an empty box and said farewell to a total of 24 tumblers and mugs.  And plastic over-sized wine glasses....


What didn't make the cut?  Anything that we hadn't used in a very long time, anything that didn't make sense for our current situation and about half of the mugs that I purchased out of impulse due to their cuteness but never found myself actually using.


The final step was to just place everything back where it made the most sense.  Everyday drinkware on the bottom shelf and favorite jars and mugs on the next two shelves.  I still placed the less frequently used items in the portion of the cabinet that is harder to access, but at least we know they are items that we enjoy on occasion so hopefully they won't be in the next donate batch...  No cost organizing for the win!

What cabinet are you going after this month?  Anyone else have a ridiculous obsession with cute coffee mugs?