Shining your Kitchen Sink

Further to the numerous comments floating around both on my blog & other blogs at the moment about Fly Lady & her pearls of wisdom for the disorganised soul, I will tell you a story about my first encounter with her.

This was many years ago & we were living in a rental house.

For those who don't know Fly Lady, her very first instruction to those beginning a journey of discovery and decluttering is to shine your kitchen sink.

Her instructions are as follows:

1. Take all the dishes out of the sink.
2. Run some very hot water into the sink. Fill to the rim. Only do one side at a time. Then, pour a cup of household bleach into the hot water. Let it sit for 1 hour. Now, pull the plug with a pair of tongs. If you don't have tongs, then scoop some of the water out of the sink into the other sink and use your hand to pull the plug (wear gloves and don't get the bleach-water on your clothes).
3. Rinse your sink well.
4. Use some cleanser (Comet, Ajax, or Baking Soda) and scrub your sink. Ensure you rinse ALL of the cleanser from the sink.
5. Take a sharp edge and clean around the rim of the sink, just like you would clean dirt out from under your fingernails.
6. Clean around the faucets too. You may need an old toothbrush or dental floss.
7. Now, get out your window cleaner, I use Windex, and give it a good shine.


I followed her instructions to the letter but I only got as far as Step 2 before I struck the iceberg (metaphorically speaking).

I filled my sink to the rim with very hot water & let it sit for an hour. I came back an hour later to find the water level had decreased in the sink. I figured the plug leaked slightly. I finished all the other steps, slightly dissapointed that although doing everything to the letter (including the extra steps for stainless sinks), it still didn't look much different to when I started & I certainly couldn't see my reflection. Oh well, at least I knew it was clean.

We didn't have a dishwasher at this time & that night I went up to the sink to do my dishes & wondered why there was a puddle of water on the floor. I hadn't spilt any (I hadn't even begun washing).

I opened the door of the cupboard under the sink to a gush of water (OK, it was actually more like a dribble, but remember quite some time had elapsed).

Turns out the sealant around the taps was not doing it's proper job & as the taps were joined to the sink UNDER the rim (remember I filled it to the rim?) the water had leaked down between the taps & the sink, into the chipboard cupboards below & sat there for a good few hours soaking in.

Thankfully only so much could leak out before the water level dropped below the join but a little went a very long way that day.

I think I might have overdone it on the bleach though because I kept finding dead cockroaches in that cupboard for weeks afterwards.

It eventually dried out & although there was some minor staining it didn't look too bad & when we left after 3 years of living there, we still got our full bond back.