January Habit #12 Shine Your Sink? Really

Dear FlyLady,

Shine your sink“….really? YES REALLY!

So I’ve been stalking, if you will, the boards and reading the testimonials/emails and website for quite a while thinking how lucky these women were who could have a company ready house all the time. I even changed up a few of the things we did around the house using ideas from the emails.

For example, I use to toss laundry on my bed to be folded and sorted usually because one of my 3 munchkins was asleep or needed me. Then I would forget and hubby would go to get ready for bed (I was still up cleaning of course) and the clothes would meet the floor of one of our closets. Then of course everyone would be digging thru the massive clothes pile in a last minute scurry to find socks or whatnot and dirty would get mixed in with the clean and…. Yeah I’m sure you know how that turned out.

So I set aside money I would have spent on something else I didn’t need and purchased a set of shelves and a medium sized bin for everyone in the family as well as linens, to be packed and socks. And I made it my mission to fold and sort the laundry as it came out of the dryer. Tada, no more monster laundry pile of questionable cleanliness. But I still never could swallow the idea of shining my sink and keeping it that way…. It just didn’t seem like a good way to start off a routine for someone like “me”. Not to mention for anyone else in my family! Lol little did I know!

Well one day I decided while cleaning up my kitchen I would shine that sink til it was beautiful. I always did like shiny things so why not! And once it was done, I sat down with the kids for a little bit happy with my accomplishment. Then I walked into my kitchen…. There it was that pretty sink, but you couldn’t see it past the counters and, well let’s just say everything.

So I decided to try out the timer technique. Set it for 15 minutes and went to work on the counters. The buzzer went off just as I was wiping the last bit of cleaner off. Not so bad. Came back later and realized that my appliances had random splashes of God only knows what all over. 15 minutes later they weren’t perfectly clean, but you didn’t see anymore splashes of the mystery substance so I was happy.

Needless to say it snowballed into crazy “I bet I could do that in 15 minutes” followed by playing with the kids in the yard or coloring at the mostly decluttered table. At the end of the day, I had probably only spent little over an hour and my floors were clean and the counters were decluttered and I just couldn’t believe I managed to get any cleaning done with all the time I had spent with the kids. It all just snowballed!

It wasn’t up to my grandmothers standards that’s for sure as she sets the bar in our family. I didn’t touch the back splash, there were still finger prints all over my appliances and I didn’t even want to think about the stove top or oven. When hubby came home he was flabbergasted at the kitchen. And to be honest, I was too. After dinner HE did the dishes and shined that sink right back up. So I posted a picture to Facebook for all to see my shiny sink and pretty, clear counter tops.

The next day my grandmother who had seen the picture online popped by for a visit. She’s been to my house when we moved in to “approve” and that was it. She had to see this sink for herself. She didn’t even call until she was sitting in the driveway! Guess she didn’t want me doing the “oh no grandmas coming” routine. She couldn’t believe the kitchen either. She then pointed out that she was very proud of me…….. Which for my grandma is a big big deal.

So. Long story short: I will not question your methods. I will go with the flow. If they work for me, well okay then. If not, then that’s okay too as long as I’ve tried.

I’ve had a shiny sink for almost a week now. And a pretty shiny kitchen too! I’ve haven’t been faithful after every meal but at the end of the night, my sinks all pretty and she’s ready for tomorrow. And as I’ve woken up early this morning and the kids aren’t up yet, I think I’ll try getting dressed to shoes on for size. It’s about time I remember and make time to take care of me too. Without me, who’s would take care of hubby, our 3 kids and our pooch?

Thanks for everything you do.
Loving my sink in Georgia.

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