6 Tips for Keeping Your Kitchen Clean

Start with a clean kitchen

If at all possible, don’t start cooking until your kitchen is relatively clean. If you start cooking and your kitchen is already a disaster, you’ll just get depressed and throw up your hands in despair after cooking a meal.

If you start with a clean slate, you’ll be more motivated to keep it clean.

Clean while you wait

If you find yourself with some free time in the kitchen, use it wisely! For example, if you’re waiting for a pot of water to come to a boil, instead of standing around, do a bit of cleaning. Start unloading the dishwasher. Put away cooking utensils that you’re done using. Wipe down the counters. You’ll be amazed at how much you can get done during the in-between times of cooking.

Clean up spills ASAP

This is another one that we all know we should do, but neglect when we are in a hurry. The reality is, if you get to a spill as soon as possible, it will be so much easier to clean up. Dried-on gunk has to be soaked or scraped first, when it could have been cleaned up with a simple wipe.

Have a compost/trash bowl

Instead of throwing your food scraps onto the counter, it’s much more efficient to place them in a dedicated compost bowl. This way you don’t have to wipe up the food juice, and you can quickly dump the scraps all at once. You can even peel carrots, potatoes, cucumbers, etc. directly into the bowl to save time.

A place for everything

Have a place for everything

Instead of having things scattered here and there about your kitchen, it’s much better to have similar things all in one spot. For example, I have a large plate on which I keep all of my non-refrigerated fruit. I also like to keep all of my cooking utensils on one end of my kitchen. That gives me a long expanse of counter with nothing on it. Glorious!

Have set days and times for doing things

I have found that forgetfulness is one of my main reasons for not getting certain chores done. When you have set days for doing certain things, it’s much easier to actually remember to do them!

For example, my stove used to get so grimy because I never remembered to wipe it down. Now that I have a set day for doing it, it’s much more likely to get done. I don’t always get to it on exactly the right day, but just knowing that it needs to be done once a week really helps.

You can also have certain times of the day for specific chores. For example, I like to unload the dishwasher after breakfast. That way, it’s ready to be filled throughout the day. And I like to wash dishes right after supper whenever possible. Then I can wake up to a clean kitchen!

So there you have it: tips for keeping your kitchen clean. I hope these inspired you to make the effort to keep your kitchen neat and tidy.

If you have any tips of your own, make sure to leave them in the comments!

Source – The Pioneer Woman