Cleaning tip of the weekThe house could use a major overhaul once in a while. Cleaning expert Marja Middeldorp therefore helps to solve everyday problems. Today: clear out the cupboards.
You just have to ask yourself whether you use all the bottles and jars that are in the kitchen cabinets, Marja begins. ,,I talk about it more often than once a year. That is disgusting. I already have forty removals to my name, and can tell you that everyone is struggling with a surplus of everything. My solution: clean up, get rid of. Even if it hurts to part with some stuff. In many houses it is a mess because the cupboards are too full. A dirty kitchen often has to do with full and cluttered cupboards.”
Start in the kitchen
Where do you start? Of course with a bucket of lukewarm water and a few drops of washing up liquid. The basic room is the kitchen. I always put that in order first,” says Marja, once she has explained her meager soapy water again. “Empty the counter and then clear out cupboard by cupboard. A friend of mine had eighty plates. I asked him when he would have eighty people. never! You may need twelve. Throw the rest away, sell it, or take it to the thrift store. Make someone else happy with it.”
Marja pleads for the same cleaning rage for the kitchen cupboard under the sink. “I often see all kinds of bottles in there that are hardly ever used. It’s dingy and crowded. Everything is mixed up. Do you have bottles that you rarely use? Throw them away! I have one case with dishwashing liquid, all-purpose cleaner, vinegar and ammonia and another case with substances to polish things like copper polish.”
After emptying a kitchen cupboard, Marja takes out the shelves with the soapy water. ,, Then immediately dry it with an old T-shirt or dry cloth and you can clean up again. Place loose items such as sprinkles or herbs in plastic containers as much as possible. Then it is much clearer.”
Room by room, closet by closet
,,If you are going to clean up the cupboards, there is a danger that you want to do everything at once if you come across something. Then it becomes one big chaos. Start with one room and focus on one closet. Better yet, try to estimate how much time you have. If necessary, set an alarm that goes off after half an hour. Then you make it a competition to clear that one closet. Just take on that one project. Finish stack by stack.”
Also take extra time for the wardrobe, advises Marja. ,,Now that the summer is over, you can take off your summer clothes. What looks good on you and what will you be wearing next year? The rest can go to the Salvation Army or to the charity. Also check whether the bath towels are still good. If they fray and no longer dry properly, it is of no use. Are you buying new? Make sure they are white. Then you can also see when to wash them. A dirty towel does not make you fresh.”
A final fun job is clearing out the desk drawers, according to the cleaning queen. “There are really things in there that make you think: what’s the use of that? A proof of vaccination of my child from the past. That man is now 40 years old, why do I still have that? It is useless. A first swimming diploma? Please give it to your child when they leave home. You know that he is now able to save himself in the water. It is especially important for yourself not to drown in the stuff!”
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