--Marla Cilley, the FlyLady. Sink Reflections page 2.
Lesson Preview
Objectives
- Prove to yourself that you can change
- Get your kitchen sink functioning
Assignment Summary
- Take a picture of your kitchen sink in its current state
- Shine your sink (regardless of the current state of the rest of your house or kitchen)
- Take another picture of your sink and save it along with the "before" picture
- Set a goal to shine your sink (3 min max) every night
Recommended Readings
http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2012/03/how-to-clean-and-shine-your-sink.html
http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/shine-sink/
That’s because your home is an extension of yourself: it both reflects and shapes your mind, attitudes, priorities, abilities, everything. To succeed in achieving a home that supports your ideal lifestyle, this class has to be about changing you and your mental processes in fundamental ways. That may be more than you thought we’d be covering in this class, but we’re going to take small steps in each lesson to make change happen. I believe that you can change deeply as a person as we do these lessons together. You need to believe that too.
So, the purpose of this lesson is to prove to yourself (and to anyone else in the house) that you can change. You can succeed, starting with your kitchen sink. This step will help you experience and remember the power of your initiative in a very visible way.
I never thought about the importance of waste management until I worked as a tech writer for a civil engineering firm and learned more than I thought possible about sewer systems. Municipalities spend a LOT of money and effort maintaining sewer systems, because it’s a sad truth that if the sewer system in your city fails, your city fails. Think about it. But not too much.
Garbage disposal is similarly crucial.
The kitchen sink is a key part of your home’s waste management system. It is one of your connections to that crucial city sewer system, and it’s also a site of garbage disposal (even if you don’t have a garbage grinder in your sink, lots of stuff that gets thrown in the garbage visits the sink site before heading to the trash). However, unlike the trash can or the toilet (other parts of your home’s waste-management system) which can be hidden in closets or behind the bathroom door, the kitchen sink is usually in plain sight, centrally located in your kitchen.
It’s been said that the kitchen is the heart of the home. And if the kitchen is the heart of the home, then the kitchen sink is a major artery. A jammed and dirty kitchen sink that can hardly be used is akin to home heart failure. Conversely, if the sink is clear and clean, the whole house benefits. And you feel fantastic because when you see your clean and gleaming sink, you see and feel that you can change. You also have a serviceable kitchen sink, which makes many aspects of your life, like cooking, much easier. Other members of your home will notice too.
To begin this step, follow the guidelines given on the FlyLady's site here: FLYing Lesson: Shining Your Sink
But wait! Before you start, take a picture. Then, once you're done, take another picture. Keep these pictures. If you don't have a camera handy, write about your experience in your BOPO or journal instead. You could even post your sink-shining experience on Facebook or your blog or something. You just need to capture this transformation somehow so that you can remember it later.
Don't be embarrassed by the “before” picture. I've already seen it. I’ve been there too. It's not pretty. But it's going to be ok because you can make your sink shine. You'll be amazed at how much this step helps you, and what the other members of your household are going to think when they see your progress.
When I was following this step a few years ago, I sometimes had to stack my dishes clear up to the cupboards, then put a few more on the floor. Those were the days when I didn't have a dishwasher. But even if you have a dishwasher, there's no shame in stacking dishes everywhere, especially if it means you get to experience the invigorating success of a shiny sink.
You may be thinking, "What's the point of shining my sink? It's just going to get full of gunk in a few hours." That may be true. But the before and after pictures will help you remember that you can do this. The point is to prove that it can be done, and that you can do it.
But going back to gunk does not HAVE to be what happens. If you're up for the challenge, you can keep your sink shiny for as long as you have three minutes before bed. Here's how:
Every night before bed, empty the sink either by doing all the dishes or stacking them in piles. There's no shame in stacking. Rinse out the sink really quick. Dry it out with a towel. Polish the faucet just a little. If you shined your sink the day before, this simple step will practically return your sink to the pristine condition it was when you first shined it. It takes three minutes or less to do this. I've timed it myself.
You'll still need to do a deep clean of your sink every once in a while, but we'll work on setting up that routine later.
You can also try filling your sink with cold water and pouring a lot of bleach in (two cups or more per sink well). Let that sit for an hour or so. Drain and do it again if it looks like it's making a difference. You may need to avoid the kitchen for a while to avoid the fumes, but it may be worth it to get your sink free from the bacteria and stains that have built up.
I did this bleach trick with my awful sink, and it did help.
If you find something else that works better, or want more ideas, let me know. I’m interested in helping you figure out what works for you and learning from your experience.
Note: I'm deeply indebted to the Fly Lady for the advice to start by shining your sink. It is the foundation of her home-care system. I recommend her methods and products. I especially like her book Sink Reflections and keep a copy on my shelf for motivation and inspiration. I'm not compensated in any way to reference or recommend her.
Full disclosure: Do I polish my sink every night? Not always. Life is not perfect for me either. But I try to do it every night. And that’s fine! I find that by having the goal to do it every night, it happens about three times a week. I don’t beat myself up for not making my goal every night because, please, I’m still shining my sink two or three times a week. And that’s awesome! So don’t feel bad if you don’t shine your sink perfectly every night. Celebrate the times that you do get to it!
When I was just getting started on my goal, though, I was able to polish my sink and make it shine every day. I was living in an apartment with some roommates while I was completing graduate school (no spouse + no kids = more personal time to pursue sink shining). I religiously shined our sink every day. One roommate was so impressed that she gave our sink a name: Felicity. I guess she thought the “pet sink” needed a name. She would ask how Felicity was doing and try to help keep Felicity happy by doing her own dishes. The rest of my roommates were awed by Felicity's persistent glow, and seemed to understand when I took out any dishes they left in the sink and stacked them on the counter.
Felicity was impressive. She gleamed. And she helped me realize I could change my habits and even influence others in the household to change theirs too. Felicity was empowering, and her influence helped my entire household take notice and change their ways.
As you discover your “Felicity” sink, you may find something similar happens in your house too.
What's your shiny sink's name? : ) And how do you feel having shined your sink?
Lesson
Change
Change is tough. Perhaps the hardest part of change is believing that you can change, especially when it comes to the dismal disaster that often characterizes our day-to-day life at home. You may be excited to take this class, and I hope you are, but this class has to be more than just learning a few housekeeping tricks. It has to be about learning to change yourself as a person.That’s because your home is an extension of yourself: it both reflects and shapes your mind, attitudes, priorities, abilities, everything. To succeed in achieving a home that supports your ideal lifestyle, this class has to be about changing you and your mental processes in fundamental ways. That may be more than you thought we’d be covering in this class, but we’re going to take small steps in each lesson to make change happen. I believe that you can change deeply as a person as we do these lessons together. You need to believe that too.
So, the purpose of this lesson is to prove to yourself (and to anyone else in the house) that you can change. You can succeed, starting with your kitchen sink. This step will help you experience and remember the power of your initiative in a very visible way.
Municipal Management
Aside from the personal affirmation you’ll get from shining your sink, this step is foundational because it deals with a key aspect of running a home or a city or a nation, an aspect we rarely think of as crucial, but without which every other system would fail. I’m talking about waste management.I never thought about the importance of waste management until I worked as a tech writer for a civil engineering firm and learned more than I thought possible about sewer systems. Municipalities spend a LOT of money and effort maintaining sewer systems, because it’s a sad truth that if the sewer system in your city fails, your city fails. Think about it. But not too much.
Garbage disposal is similarly crucial.
The kitchen sink is a key part of your home’s waste management system. It is one of your connections to that crucial city sewer system, and it’s also a site of garbage disposal (even if you don’t have a garbage grinder in your sink, lots of stuff that gets thrown in the garbage visits the sink site before heading to the trash). However, unlike the trash can or the toilet (other parts of your home’s waste-management system) which can be hidden in closets or behind the bathroom door, the kitchen sink is usually in plain sight, centrally located in your kitchen.
It’s been said that the kitchen is the heart of the home. And if the kitchen is the heart of the home, then the kitchen sink is a major artery. A jammed and dirty kitchen sink that can hardly be used is akin to home heart failure. Conversely, if the sink is clear and clean, the whole house benefits. And you feel fantastic because when you see your clean and gleaming sink, you see and feel that you can change. You also have a serviceable kitchen sink, which makes many aspects of your life, like cooking, much easier. Other members of your home will notice too.
Shining Your Sink
Shining your sink is the first step in the FlyLady's 31-step program for beginners of her method--a method I believe she built on the foundation of the program described by Pam Young and Peggy Jones in Sidetracked Home Executives back in 1977. Clearly, I’m building on what these wise homemakers have already established. So here's my official "thank you" to them and the resources they have provided.To begin this step, follow the guidelines given on the FlyLady's site here: FLYing Lesson: Shining Your Sink
But wait! Before you start, take a picture. Then, once you're done, take another picture. Keep these pictures. If you don't have a camera handy, write about your experience in your BOPO or journal instead. You could even post your sink-shining experience on Facebook or your blog or something. You just need to capture this transformation somehow so that you can remember it later.
Don't be embarrassed by the “before” picture. I've already seen it. I’ve been there too. It's not pretty. But it's going to be ok because you can make your sink shine. You'll be amazed at how much this step helps you, and what the other members of your household are going to think when they see your progress.
When I was following this step a few years ago, I sometimes had to stack my dishes clear up to the cupboards, then put a few more on the floor. Those were the days when I didn't have a dishwasher. But even if you have a dishwasher, there's no shame in stacking dishes everywhere, especially if it means you get to experience the invigorating success of a shiny sink.
You may be thinking, "What's the point of shining my sink? It's just going to get full of gunk in a few hours." That may be true. But the before and after pictures will help you remember that you can do this. The point is to prove that it can be done, and that you can do it.
But going back to gunk does not HAVE to be what happens. If you're up for the challenge, you can keep your sink shiny for as long as you have three minutes before bed. Here's how:
Every night before bed, empty the sink either by doing all the dishes or stacking them in piles. There's no shame in stacking. Rinse out the sink really quick. Dry it out with a towel. Polish the faucet just a little. If you shined your sink the day before, this simple step will practically return your sink to the pristine condition it was when you first shined it. It takes three minutes or less to do this. I've timed it myself.
You'll still need to do a deep clean of your sink every once in a while, but we'll work on setting up that routine later.
Troubleshooting: A Seriously Sad Sink
Many sinks--especially stainless steel sinks--shine up without too much trouble. However some, like porcelain sinks, can take some real doing to get shiny, especially if they are getting older. I once had a sink that was so stained and awful it would never shine, no matter what I did. If that's the case, don't feel bad. Just do your best with what you have. You’ll still be improving your situation significantly by doing this step.You can also try filling your sink with cold water and pouring a lot of bleach in (two cups or more per sink well). Let that sit for an hour or so. Drain and do it again if it looks like it's making a difference. You may need to avoid the kitchen for a while to avoid the fumes, but it may be worth it to get your sink free from the bacteria and stains that have built up.
I did this bleach trick with my awful sink, and it did help.
If you find something else that works better, or want more ideas, let me know. I’m interested in helping you figure out what works for you and learning from your experience.
Note: I'm deeply indebted to the Fly Lady for the advice to start by shining your sink. It is the foundation of her home-care system. I recommend her methods and products. I especially like her book Sink Reflections and keep a copy on my shelf for motivation and inspiration. I'm not compensated in any way to reference or recommend her.
Full disclosure: Do I polish my sink every night? Not always. Life is not perfect for me either. But I try to do it every night. And that’s fine! I find that by having the goal to do it every night, it happens about three times a week. I don’t beat myself up for not making my goal every night because, please, I’m still shining my sink two or three times a week. And that’s awesome! So don’t feel bad if you don’t shine your sink perfectly every night. Celebrate the times that you do get to it!
When I was just getting started on my goal, though, I was able to polish my sink and make it shine every day. I was living in an apartment with some roommates while I was completing graduate school (no spouse + no kids = more personal time to pursue sink shining). I religiously shined our sink every day. One roommate was so impressed that she gave our sink a name: Felicity. I guess she thought the “pet sink” needed a name. She would ask how Felicity was doing and try to help keep Felicity happy by doing her own dishes. The rest of my roommates were awed by Felicity's persistent glow, and seemed to understand when I took out any dishes they left in the sink and stacked them on the counter.
Felicity was impressive. She gleamed. And she helped me realize I could change my habits and even influence others in the household to change theirs too. Felicity was empowering, and her influence helped my entire household take notice and change their ways.
As you discover your “Felicity” sink, you may find something similar happens in your house too.
What's your shiny sink's name? : ) And how do you feel having shined your sink?
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