The area under our kitchen sink is usually reserved for piling up cleaning materials and supplies. The drain, disposal and plumbing get in the way of shelving and the sink takes up most of the upper cupboard space. Here’s a small project to take on to organise and tidy up your cleaning supplies so that everything is ready and easy to find when you tackle cleaning up the rest of your home.
First empty out the whole cupboard. This sounds straight forward but there is usually years of sticky dust, cleaning material spills and caked up dirt on the cupboard surfaces. Tackle the clean up with some hot soapy water. If you use cleaning products which often leak or spill, consider putting down a rubber mat or removable plastic sheet which can be thrown away or cleaned up somewhere convenient every few months.
Now have a look at the cleaning materials which you do have. Start with the cleaning products, throw away any expired products or products you haven’t used in the last year. If your haven’t used them in the past four seasons then its unlikely you’ll use them again. Consider replacing any broken bottles and sprayers which still contain usable products. Definitely get rid of or re-bottle any leaking products, the ones making the rings and the sticky mess.
Next decide on how you’re going to pack everything back into the cupboard. You could put all of the cloths into a container, sponges and scrubbies into another container and finally the cleaning products into a last container or onto a shelf.
Alternately you can separate them by room; bathroom, kitchen, lounge etc or by use; dusting, wiping, disinfecting etc.
Take extra advantage of the wall of the cupboard by installing hooks to hang cloths, gloves, sponges etc and consider installing a rail just underneath the sink on which to hang your spray bottles and make use of the wasted vertical space. You could also hang a rack or shelf on the door of the cupboard to provide extra shelf space or put up hooks on which to hanging dish towels or cloths.
If you have some experience working with wood, you could also build pull-able storage trays.
If you really have a small area under your kitchen sink then only put the cleaning materials you use most often there. Find a shelf or cupboard in the garage or passage to put the rest of your cleaning supplies. The area under your kitchen sink is quick and convenient to get to your common cleaning items but it wont be if everything is piled up and difficult to find. Try cleaning out this area every two months so that it doesn’t become cluttered with expired products and full of sticky spill rings.
