A Place For Everything
Tuesday 12th February 2008 by Cherry Menlove
It only dawned on me yesterday (as I came across yet more pine needles – does one ever stop finding them?!) that the pre spring clean is a great opportunity for real change in our homes.
 We talked a bit about it in my Light Bright & Heaven to Know
 article in the early new year and if you haven’t got organised yet then now is still a wonderful time of year to set the pattern for the months to come.
The kitchen is the hub of the home so it’s the perfect place to start and if you can only muster the energy to tackle one room in your house then this is the one. (When friends come for tea this is where you’ll be.)
I spent a good part of my day yesterday sorting out, chucking out and cleaning out various areas of my kitchen that were in need of an overhaul.
I’d just purchased two, closed, bunches of the best English daffodils, popped them in my lime green enamelware coffee pot (see (the big split
) and I wanted them to open their eyes to order and colour not dust bunnies and dirty dishes. So here’s what to do:
 Clear your work surfaces of everything that isn’t functional or used on a daily/weekly basis.
Gather all of your cloths, tea towels and cleaning equipment together and sort out what needs to stay, what can be mended and what really should be sent to the great re-cycling bin in the sky. You should be using big, sturdy re-usable cloths by now not to mention eco friendly cleaning products
. There are some super-blooming-dooper ones available now.
Arm yourself with the above and pull out everything you can so you can get behind and into every nook and cranny.
 Paper, leaflets, post and magazines are the most common blight in any well ordered kitchen. Gather every piece together and give yourself nothing else to do but sort that pile of paper out. Keep your recycling bin nearby and be ruthless.
You won’t miss 90% of those take-away menus that you’ve kept ‘just incase’. File the essentials in pretty boxes or files. Hargreaves-Gervis boxes  are covered in rare vintage papers to keep precious things in are covered in rare vintage papers.
Tidy everything into its own place; keep jars and sauces that move constantly on and off the table in kitchen caddies (as opposed to piled in corners) and stock up on vintage tins and baskets (they work as well in the kitchen as in the bathroom) for everything from fruit and bread to napkins and cutlery.
 I’m championing A Place For Everything this week. It’s the kind of company that light the fire of my imagination and make me want to whip out the credit card and spend, spend, spend.
The estore has some wonderfully practical, good looking and ecologically friendly products that’ll help you to work through the miasma that your kitchen may be languishing in; get this one room ship shape and sparkling and it’ll feel like a million shots of wheatgrass in one!
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