Naked Housewife's Guide to Cleaning Kitchen Drawers

Date: October 2003

1. Grab the offending drawer (in my house, after 8 years - it probably needs it)
2. Remove drawer from glides - if it doesn't come out easily - get a nearby man to help
3. Dump contents on the floor - pick a spot you can walk around
4. Return drawer to it's glides and close it
5. Repeat with as many drawers as are offensive. If you are a beginner - 1-2 will do if they are large. 3-4 if they are all small.
6. Leave the mess on the floor.
7. Step over for a minimum of one week, that's a minimum of one week, more if you are experienced at this. This may mean leaning over to load the dishwasher. Good stretching exercise. It also helps if it is front of the snak cupboard.
8. If you have not plunged into the morass (also called dumpster-diving) looking for something you need, you don't need this stuff. You now have two options.
   • Throw it all away.
   • Sort it into boxes and put in storage. From whence it will be eventually thrown away.
9. The exceptions are
• Pumpkin carving tools for which you must find a new home
• And candy-making items, for which you require a hiding place where they are "safe" and hence never seen again as you are dieting.
10. You now have two clean drawers, which may now resume accumulating stuff.
         
          This also works for underwear drawers, kids clothes, sock drawers, swearter drawers, and even for those overflowing pots and pans cupboards.