Where's the utility in utility room?

Have you ever noticed how a mess you see every day can become invisible? I walk through my utility room 472 times a day and fail to notice what a disaster the lone shelf is. My utility room is tiny and has almost no storage space, so the one cabinet is loaded with "stuff" just waiting to be purged. So here goes:

• 2 bottles of Tide Mountain Spring detergent. One 50-ounce (almost empty), one 75- ounce (brand new).


• a 77-ounce bottle of Downy Mountain Spring and a 34-0unce Downy refill carton.


• an empty bottle of Scott's Liquid Gold


• a bottle of Old English Furniture Polish (moisturizes and protects)


• 2 boxes of Swiffer Wet Jet pads


• 2 dog brushes


• 5 peat pots


• 1 package of zinnia seeds


• a flashlight


• a hammer


• a screwdriver (not the one with orange juice and vodka)


• a pink dog leash


• 5 pair gardening gloves


• 4 static dusters


• 2 socks without mates


• a mitten without mate


• a rain gauge


• a half consumed rawhide dog chew


• a partial package of lime basil seeds


• a phillips-head screwdriver


• a tape measure


• a roll of electrical tape


• a rubber brush that is suppose to remove pet hair from upholstery (but doesn't)


• a ziplock bag of clothespins


• a gift bag from the Cleveland Botanical Gardens containing 12 sample size containers of various laundry products


• a box of Swiffer dusters


• a 1.40 gallon container of 409 cleaner


• a K-Mart plastic bag containing every mouse catching apperatus known to man (funny story: there was once a mouse in my house and out of desperation and fear I went to K-Mart at 3:00 in the morning to find something that would "take care of it.'" I ended up spending a small fortune on everything available on the rodent aisle. Mouse met its demise by trying to walk across a glue trap. My apologies to PETA, but I cannot abide a mouse in the house.)


• a 12-inch plastic tray for under a potted plant


• a box of Swiffer Sweeper refills


• 2 unopened rolls of paper towels


• a steam iron - still in the box


• a stack of old towels (7) to be used for rags


• a one gallon jug of Windex


• a 128-ounce jug of Bissell carpet cleaning solution

Whoa, this project turned out to be more of a relocation than a purge.

• laundry products stay - I vow to use the sample products next so as to get rid of them.


• empty Liquid Gold container - TRASH


• furniture polish - under kitchen sink with other cleaning products


• all Swiffer products stay


• dog brushes and leash put away with other dog "stuff"


• all gardening paraphernalia moved to potting shed


• flashlight stays - I actually use it quite often when I'm grilling in the dark


• all tools and electrical tape put in tool box


• 3 of 4 static dusters stay - the 4th TRASHED


• I reunited socks and mitten with mates (they were happy)


• half eaten rawhide dog chew - TRASH


• false promises upholstery cleaning brush with cleaning supplies


• clothes pins stay


• all large jugs of cleaning products relocated to cabinet under sink in guest bathroom


• with the exception of one glue trap and one spring trap (in case of future emergencies and to save me another 3 a.m. trip to K-Mart) all mouse hunting supplies going to lake house where the likelihood of need is much greater


• plastic plant tray employed - I've been looking for that


• paper towels moved to pantry


• Iron moved to linen closet where I keep ironing board and other iron - who knows when I might need a replacement?


• towels/rags get to stay until my dogs learn to wipe their feet before they come into the house

So...I only threw away three things, but the cabinet is clean. Perhaps it will no longer be invisible to me.