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Under the Sink

(71 Posts)
annodomini Mon 18-Oct-21 12:08:02

I', contemplating a complete clear-out of the under-sink cupboard. It's not a task to be undertaken lightly, but it has become almost impossible to cram anything else in there. Has anyone found some surprises in theirs? Good or awful?

Lilliesmum79 Mon 18-Oct-21 12:16:00

Help I've got mice in kitchen they got into dog and cat food bags under kitchen sink. Been cleaning since 5.30am ?

Lilliesmum79 Mon 18-Oct-21 12:17:11

How can i get rid of wee *ts

Zoejory Mon 18-Oct-21 12:21:01

I found 3 mice in my mother's kitchen cupboard. Great hilarity had by all. We rounded them up and took them to the Sandhills. Managed to get an humane trap and collected a further 3. I think they've gone now.

Grannynannywanny Mon 18-Oct-21 12:27:46

I discovered mouse droppings years ago in the under sink cupboard. They can get in through a very tiny gap and on investigation I noticed a gap around one of the pipes. I can’t remember what it’s called but I bought a product in local DIY store. An aerosol can of expanding foam. You spray it into any gaps and the foam sets solid. I’ve not had a problem since.

Lilliesmum79 it sounds like they’ve had a banquet with your dog food. The smell probably drew them in around the pipework.

Redhead56 Mon 18-Oct-21 13:24:13

I was recently looking for pan scrubs I came across three unopened bottles of unstoppables three dry shampoo for dogs. Also believe or not three hammers and three identical saws! Under the sink I kid you not I must have a thing about the number three. All my purchases so I can’t blame my dh.

Calendargirl Mon 18-Oct-21 13:40:34

I found three mice in my mother’s kitchen cupboard. Great hilarity had by all

Hilarity is not what I’d be feeling if I saw mice in any kitchen cupboard, aargh!

Hetty58 Mon 18-Oct-21 13:47:48

annodomini, I offered to feed a neighbour's cat while they were on holiday. They have an immaculate home - with everything put away 'in it's place' - unlike mine.

I looked in the cupboard under the sink, expecting to find some washing up liquid. They keep all their cereal there! Horrified (what if the pipes leak?) I found the liquid - in a wall cupboard.

shysal Mon 18-Oct-21 13:51:44

When clearing my cupboards a couple of years ago I found 13 bottles of Fairy liquid under the sink! I had been buying one most weeks and pushing it to the back. It was a long time before I needed to buy more!
I also found lots of hardly-used different cleaning products.

kircubbin2000 Mon 18-Oct-21 16:05:34

I can't look in there or the 2 lower drawers. My mother is dead 20 years and I don't know what she has in there.grin

Marydoll Mon 18-Oct-21 16:10:40

I had a visit from Scottish gas this morning. He wanted to check the stopcock, as the boiler was apparently earthed on it. I was absolutely mortified at what I had crammed in there.

I also was expecting a washing macine enginer today and cleared out under the sink in the utility room. If was spotless before he arrived. I have learned my lesson. wink

grannyrebel7 Mon 18-Oct-21 16:11:56

I was going to do mine today funnily enough annodomini but just can't face it!

Callistemon Mon 18-Oct-21 16:14:34

I found a lot of floor cleaning stuff at the back of ours.

Special cleaner for wooden floors, cleaner sold by the people who put the floor in the conservatory, bottles of special stuff.
Probably all used once and forgotten. And two bottles of stainless steel cleaner.

Ps I do clean the floors but just with whatever is nearest, usually Cif or Flash.

Blossoming Mon 18-Oct-21 16:17:25

Bleach, drain cleaner, a bucket, some sponges, a washing up bowl. Very boring really.

Callistemon Mon 18-Oct-21 16:32:50

A hot water bottle right at the back!
Well, I'd forgotten about that.

Teacheranne Mon 18-Oct-21 16:44:02

The under sink cupboard and the one under the stairs are the last bastions of messiness that have escaped lockdown cleaning! The amount of cleaning bottles is reducing slowly as I now have a cleaner so have stopped buying new magic sprays but it is still a mess! Lurking somewhere is a pressure cooker which I’ve never mastered but have used it as a large pan many years ago - it is destined for the tip in my next tidy up! I’m sure I’ll find other random items stashed away like shoe polish in a rainbow of colours for the shoes I no longer clean!

I think it will be very satisfying to open the door and see a minimalistic, tidy space!

M0nica Mon 18-Oct-21 16:45:30

All I have in the cupboard under the sink is baking tins. The cupboard doesn't have a shelf because all the plumbing for sink and dishwasher gets in the way.

Liz46 Mon 18-Oct-21 16:58:04

You have all shamed me into cleaning ours out today. I don't need to buy any cleaning materials for a long time - far too much.

kittylester Mon 18-Oct-21 16:59:07

Just done mine - 8 bottles of bleach. blush

PinkCosmos Mon 18-Oct-21 17:06:53

I don't have them under the sink but I do seem to have accumulated a huge amount of plastic containers originally from our local Chinese takeaways. I must have over 100.

I really do need to put most of them in the recycling but it seems a shame as they come in handy. But, how many do I really need !!

Franbern Mon 18-Oct-21 18:25:25

So pleased that I am not the only one who purchases things like bleach, washing up liquid, cleaning things, and then they get shoved to the back of cupboards and new purchases are placed in front!!
A few years back, when I was having the cupboard and drawer fronts in my long galley kitchen taken away for spraying, I used the week they were not there to get down to clearing and cleaning all those cupboards.
In one, I found that I had eight bottle os lemon juice, tidied everything up and lined them up easy for me to see and use. A couple of weeks later one of my daughters visited and went to that cupboard and came into me very puzzled to ask why I had all those bottles of lemon juice.

When I moved a couple of years ago, I discovered that it would be many months before I would need to purchase any more bleach as I had so many of them stacked away.

In the flat I have a large cupboard in the hall, the shelves of which take all my cleaning materials, and there is room for broom, vacuum, mop, etc. etc. Much easier to see exactly what is in there now.

JackyB Mon 18-Oct-21 21:31:04

I go through my kitchen cupboards in rotation and so the cupboard under the sink has its turn every 2-3 months. Actually, we had a tap that leaked for a while and we have a gadget under there that bleeps like mad if any water leaks. Every time it went off, the whole cupboard had to be emptied and DH had to crawl under to tighten nuts and washers while I turned on various taps and held on to things while he turned underneath.

Since then I have kept all cleaning stuff in a plastic box with a couple of spares at the back. The box is quickly removed.

It's a large space because it's a corner cupboard.

Witzend Mon 18-Oct-21 21:41:26

Yes, I have a crammed corner cupboard - one of those you have to excavate to find anything. I once found 3 old packs of oven-cleaning stuff. My oven was still in a right old state.,

I think I can modestly say that I could probably go in the Guinness Book of Records as the woman with the most cleaning products, who is least likely to use 90% of them on anything like a regular basis.

The good old Brasso wadding will be excavated out in the not too distant, though, for the annual ritual of pre-Christmas brass and copper cleaning.

nexus63 Mon 18-Oct-21 21:48:36

i had to do an online shop last week as i can't go out for about 12 weeks, i buy all my cleaning items from poundland, i was shocked to find all the various kitchen/bathroom cleaners, bleach, various sprays, sponges and brillo pads, there is 10 bottles of washing up liquid, i live on my own and use paper plates most of the time......lol looking at the things i have i will not need anything for months.

Callistemon Mon 18-Oct-21 22:25:10

I go through my kitchen cupboards in rotation and so the cupboard under the sink has its turn every 2-3 months

I feel faint JackyB, must go for a lie down! ?