Transforming a Neglected Kitchen for a Widow Battling Depression #mentalhealth #cleaningmotivation

hi everyone and welcome to A Beautiful Mess uh if you are new here my name is Bonnie and the main content of my channel focuses on helping people who are in difficult situations uh whether they struggle with mental health um they are just going through a difficult time in life um they have a disability they're elderly and just need a little helping hand that's what I'm here to do for them so um today we are in the home of a woman we're going to call Nancy and Nancy is a widow she lost her husband about N9 years ago which is when she moved into the basement of this home that belongs to her daughter and her son-in-law and she has been chronically depressed ever since the passing of her husband but she's also recently had shoulder surgery so that doesn't help with the situation um makes it even harder for her to stay on top of things um but just the chronic depression alone can really be devastating when things start to pile up and get overwhelming and it takes all your willpower just to get up in the morning so things can fall behind like this so I will be helping her with her kitchen in this video and then we may end up doing some more areas of the house because I did find out something about her see that little cart right there does that look familiar like from Mira's place um she is a scrapbooker so um I was so excited when I found this out and asked her on the second day I was there if I could come back and maybe help organize some of her scrapbook supplies and she was baffled that I would even want to do that but was more than happy to let me come back and and help her with that so I am so excited to tackle that on another day okay very important I have to introduce you to this guy this is lucky and he is so sweet you never know with cats if they're going to be scared of you mad at you or love you to pieces and he is sweet I am covered in cat fur and that's okay cuz usually I'm covered in dog fur so anyway you're a sweetheart okay well let's get started on this kitchen so the first thing I did was grabbed some of the totes that were given to me thank you again Jane and Marie for those totes um and I just started piling all of these clean dishes in them because I needed to make room for for the other dishes that I would need to wash and for one person living here this was surprisingly a lot of dishes um I actually see this quite a lot in these situations which is kind of funny but also sad when um I think about the possible reason why there are so many and I would assume and I did not ask her but um I'm assuming it's because having so many dishes in silverware means that they don't have to wash them as often however it also means that they have to wash 10 times the amount of dishes when they do wash them and it creates a bigger mess less space so it's kind of shooting themselves in the foot but that being said you don't always think clearly when you're in the midst of depression and um some of those choices may not make sense but that's just how they're getting by so hopefully she can pair some of this down um which brings me to the pros and cons of having the homeowner there um oh but first of all before I go into that I have to show you what her dishwasher was being used for because this is storage for all of her cleaning items um which I found hilarious and again this is not the first time I have seen a working dishwasher not being used um and I'm actually not sure why on that especially in this case because it was like a brand new dishwasher and I asked her daughter if it worked and she's like I it should but I don't know that she's ever used it so I I tried it um just ran it for a couple minutes to make sure it wasn't going to leak or anything and it seem to run fine so I use the dishwasher because you can get a lot more done if you're just letting that go in the background while you're cleaning other stuff but there were enough dishes here that I had to still wash quite a few of them by hand and do you see how I'm wiping the grease out of this um before I actually wash it I have to tell you something that I found kind of funny but I have a sister-in-law who told me that her husband would pour bacon grease down the drain but then knowing that it could clog the drain he would pour Dawn dish soap down the drain right after it thinking oh that'll clear it so I I don't know maybe maybe it does but I'm still thinking it's it's probably better to scrape that out put it in the trash rather than putting it down the drain um because that can cause some serious problems with your plumbing so just don't do it anyway back to the pros and cons of having the homeowner there um or not so the pros of having them there is that you can ask them about where to put certain things or how they want certain things done or can I get rid of this um you can give them suggestions uh I think having them they're cleaning along beside you it's more likely that they'll keep it up uh but but at the same time when they're not there and they give you free reain I can get so much more done um because I'm not having to stop and ask those things and I also don't have to blur them out of my video if they're not in it so um sometimes as much as I like to have them be learning and helping uh while I'm doing this sometimes it's nice just to go in clean the place up hopefully help them with some of that overwhelm and then um like in this case she did tell me that actually having the kitchen clean was super helpful because then she can focus on some of the other tasks that have fallen behind around her house because the kitchen was definitely the most overwhelming thing to her so having that done really frees up some of that mental energy that she can focus elsewhere so I'm getting some of these other dishes soaking especially some of those crusted on things that you saw um and while those are soaking I'm going to um go around and just pick up some of the like food items and other random things that were in these bags around and get them to where they need to go so I can assess um especially the pantry to see how much food I'm going to have to uh rearrange in there and I'm actually splitting this kitchen video into two different videos um because if I put them all together it would have been way too long the uh Pantry cleaning took almost an entire day in itself and it's a really satisfying uh before and after so much fun to organize that pantry um but in this video today I'm going to be doing a lot of drawers um pulling out everything from different shelves and cupboards and yeah super super fun stuff coming up but it was too much to include that and the pantry and the oven cleaning so Pantry oven cleaning and then I think another drawer um organization will be in next week's video for who else finds it very therapeutic to wash dishes by hand there is just something so relaxing about it and then watching dishes get washed is also relaxing like I could watch this all day whether it's me or somebody else which reminds me you guys can now get this shirt that says I'd rather be watching people cleaning that I'm wearing in this and I have my merch shop up and going so I will link that in the video description and it's also on my homepage so go check it out I forgot to bring my own paper towels in and I couldn't find any paper towels there so this was my solution to getting that thick layer of grease off the top so that I didn't put that down the drain look so I cut this portion out of here but when I was scraping out that bowl I just showed you I started thinking a little too much about what it was and the texture and I started dry heaving so you could hear me dry heaving in the background and I'm like yeah I won't put that in there because I know some people are very sensitive to that sound and I didn't want to also make you dry heave along with me only because it happens for a little while I want to try it my razor blades are some of my very favorite cleaning tools and you can find links to anything that I'm using in this video in the description of my video and if you use those links that go to Amazon um it doesn't cost you any extra but it is a very simple way that you can support my channel and support these free cleanings um is by using those links even if you don't order the exact product that you clicked on anything you order after you click that link I get a small commission from so if you want to order anything from there whether it be that product or something else it would be so kind of you if you would just use one of those links but the very simplest way that you can help support my channel and help me to be able to continue doing these free cleanings um because I swear at least weekly I'm like I'm done with the YouTube thing I can't do this anymore but I want to be able to help people for free and the only way I can do that is to have my channel grow so if you would take just a second to go check and make sure you're subscribed but then also make sure that you have all notifications turned on and that's important because when you get notified of a new video and you watch it right away the algorithm promotes those videos more so if you would please do that for me and for all of your other favorite free cleaning channels so that we can continue to help people for free that would be an amazing way you can support us thanks so much guys okay we're going to find out why this is stuck oh D there's some Woods back there okay who else out there uses their drawer for holding pots and pans or Lids or um other baking type items because I was well into adulthood before I found out this was actually a warming tray but most people use it for storage it's kind of funny wow [Music] check this out and I'm about to make some people super happy by pulling out the stove and cleaning behind it because I get asked a lot if I pulled out the stove if I pulled out the refrigerator did I clean behind this or that and sometimes I forget sometimes I just don't have time so I just do what I can in the time that I [Music] [Music] have I wasn't going to pull out a mop to just mop this area under the stove so I'm just spot cleaning it but I will Mop at the very end um and also using a razor on vinyl planking which is what this is um but especially on lenium Floors you do need to be very careful just to not gouge it um so people ask me a lot what they can and can't use a razor blade Scraper on I use it on a lot of stuff that may be iffy but I'm always very careful and kind of use it in an inconspicuous spot first okay are you ready to see the amount of grease that is in this oven drawer I don't think you're ready you are not prepared yeah pretty impressive right yeah and just in case you missed it I did uh spray this down with Dawn power wash before I started scrubbing the sides of the oven just so it could be um working on that grease and that's why it came up a lot easier than it would have it would have been a little bit sticky had I not done that so love that non power wash okay so these next few minutes I'm just going to be putting away well not putting away but setting aside some of the clean dishes um and then pulling out stuff from drawers and washing that I'm just getting as much stuff going through the dishwasher and washed my hand as possible um to eventually put away in a better organized manner but while I'm doing that um I wanted to talk about something I'm going to basically out myself because you know the video I put out I think it was two weeks ago about providing practical help for a friend or family member who's struggling and then in that video I also talked about victim mentality and if you missed that video I'll link it right here on the screen but um anyway after all that talk about not being a victim and that you can choose to do something about your circumstances well I caught myself being a victim this week and so here's here's what happened first of all I I put out I think three videos since then I I did one like midweek and anyway and they did not go over well at all I mean I was losing subscribers um and I was just thinking what what have I done wrong I mean YouTube hates me you know just anyway having a little pity party for myself basically and in the meantime you know that was at the same time that Mac was about to hit 500,000 and so here I'm like watching his numbers just flying up and mine are dropping I'm like this is so not fair that's just what I was thinking to myself I mean I you know I I am happy for him don't get me wrong but the human nature side of me was just thinking it's not fair yeah I mean he can speak so much more fluently than I can he can explain things better than I ever could and you know I just go down that rabbit hole I'm like this just isn't fair if I only had those kinds of skills then I would be more successful so um anyway I just wanted to be honest about that because I have those feelings too and I just um I had to stop myself and be like you know what I'm being the victim right now so what can I do with this how can I turn this around and make this a positive thing make it something that I learned from and not something that is going to um keep me comparing against something that a talent that I don't have so I'm never going to be able to explain things as well as Mack does I'm never going to have his same charismatic personality um when I say something sarcastic and people get offended but Mac could say the same thing and people laugh about it I could be upset about that I have been upset about that um but as of today I choose not to be like I can only fairly compare myself to myself because I am no one else and that's just good advice for any anybody um I mean when I think about how far I've come and actually when I think about um high school first of all I doubt there are very many people who would even know that I went to the same high school as them because I was so painfully shy I would even hang out in the bathroom stall during lunch because I just could not bring myself to talk to people um I mean I had had friends outside of school but we didn't have the same lunch together and when that happened I just I couldn't talk to anybody so I would hide out in the bathroom stall instead so when I think about that I have come a hell of a long way so I can be proud of that and stop beating myself up for where I think I should be in life and just be proud of what I have accomplished um and I just wanted to share one quick quote with you and then I'm will get back to the cleaning I promise but um one of my very very favorite quotes is from Maya Angelou and she says I have learned that people will forget what you said people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel and I think that's true of anyone anybody can have that talent to um help somebody else feel better about themselves and they was one particular person when I was in high school who made me oh I'm going to get all emotional um had to stop recording for a minute to pull myself together but um and I don't know why I'm thinking of this right now maybe it's because I've got um a senior graduating next week and one more kid in high school in the midst of oh the tough years of high school I do not miss those years but anyway as tough as high school was for me I'm thankful for those days and for the things that I learned there but there was one person named Angie crer and I doubt she will ever know how much this meant to me but she was a cheerleader super popular I didn't even know that she knew my name but just one day she came up just to see how I was doing called me by name and that meant the world to me so you have the ability to make somebody feel special and I think that's something that anybody can do so holy cow I've gone off the rails here and I am not talking about cleaning at all so I'm going to stop recording gather myself and we're going to get back to the purpose of this video and I just I don't know I I feel like I needed to say that I needed to get that out there so for whoever that was for there you go you're loved you're seen we all struggle with something okay so if you were paying attention while I was rambling on um I vacuumed and wiped out this drawer and the silverware drawer and washed all of the uh utensils and now I'm trying to figure out the best way to put them back together and um or back in the drawer so that they're a little bit more organized and I never know how I'm going to do this I just kind of test things out and this actually happened to work out really well I mean it was still probably Fuller than it should be but hopefully again now that she can see how much she has of everything and it's kind of all together she can um get rid of some of this because it sure makes life a lot easier when you have less of stuff so um is that a bad way to say that less of stuff Al that just doesn't sound right but anyways you know what I mean um but yeah I I just completely lost my train of thought this happens a lot I usually cut this stuff out when I'm editing but I'm just going to keep it going um okay so here's just a little before and after of that drawer and now I'm moving over to the silverware I wish I did have a better compartment for the knives that are in there cuz I know maybe I'm just making this up but I swear there's something about like not putting sharp knives in a drawer just like this so they're all rubbing up against each other because it dulls them I don't know I think I've heard that somewhere but anyway this was the best option I had at the time so that's what I did with them again not my space she can choose to do something else with them if she wants but it at least is all together in the same place I forgot to get a before shot of this drawer so you only get the after shot sorry okay and now I'm moving on to these cupboards and we're going to pull out everything from this one and one on the other side of the oven um I don't always do this in kitchens um sometimes I don't know what I'm going to to be doing until I actually get there and figure out what might be the most helpful to the homeowner and in this case where she had so much of everything I wanted to pull it all out get it reorganized um so that it fit a little better and we could fit more stuff in there get some stuff off the counters all right we're going to see if this works on the stains wow that did pretty good usually I like to store the lids with the pots and pans but since we had limited room I just put them back where they were in the first place and that's where she's used to getting them from anyway so it works I think I reorganized this about a thousand different ways before I felt like I could fit everything so uh hopefully she declutters this along with all the other stuff I've already organized because this is just really too much for this cupboard uh and it's hard to access everything in the back so um I think she could probably get rid of 75% of this and still be just fine okay here's a little before and after of that covered and now to the other side this also I reorganized about a thousand different ways and she had kind of um a mish mash of stuff just very random I mean other than the those colorful plates there a lot of the other um bowls and things I found down there weren't like full sets of anything so I found it hard to get them um to Nest together very well but again I just did the best I could oh and at this point I was running out of room on the counter so it's like this is pretty clean down here I'm just going to wipe it out really quick didn't need to do a lot of scrubbing on this [Music] side oh and after I finally had this sort of how I wanted it which took forever I ended up finding a whole bunch more uh Tupperware and bowls and things like that in the pantry when I went to clean that the next day so I had to figure out do I want to redo all this or just leave that stuff in the pantry for her to figure out what to do with it because I didn't know how to fit it all in there which is probably the reason why she had it in Pantry in the first place because she ran out of room in here so again um when I go back I'll be curious to know if she was able to get rid of stuff and um yeah I'll ask her about that give you an update [Music] I was really really hoping I could fit more of the stuff that was sitting on the counter down here but I had a hard time trying to figure out how to do that but I did end up getting a couple things off the counter which made me really happy because I really really like a clear countertop makes me happy okay so here comes a before and after of that covered beautiful and now this is just what was going on in the background um all of that organizing I just did in those cupboards this is just an overview of all that was going on um and by the way I did ask her if she had any like neurod Divergent traits like ADHD because I know that um and Mac will talk about this a lot but I know that they actually like to have stuff out on their countertops and so I wanted to be respectful of that and keep that in mind but she said she didn't she really just gave me full rain to do whatever I wanted anyway that wraps up part one of this kitchen and um I'm just showing you the dirty oven and I sprayed it with some easy off before I left so that that could sit overnight and then I came back the next day to scrub it so that will be in next week's video along with the pantry uh organization and a little bit other organization so thanks so much for watching and thanks for letting me have my um ramble moment and hopefully I don't regret it putting that in here so um thanks you guys for all your support you're wonderful have a great week bye guys

Channel: A Beautiful Mess | Extreme Cleaning

Views: 167,114

Keywords: CyberLink, PowerDirector

Id: iA44U67beW8

Length: 34min 19sec (2059 seconds)

Published: Sun May 19 2024