I just love walking in the door after a long day’s work to a clean kitchen. Imagine it. The counter tops are clutter free. There are no dirty dishes anywhere. You can hang up your coat and get busy preparing the evening meal with a beautifully clear work-space. And, after dinner, it is so easy to clean up because you have been rinsing the cookware, utensils and dinner dishes – putting them into the dishwasher – as you go. Perfect!
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So, why has it been so seldom that I have enjoyed that scenario? Most of the time, keeping the kitchen really clean has been a daunting task. For instance, I would go to the grocery store, only to bring bags of groceries home to cluttered counters. By the time I got the groceries out of the car and into the house, it was almost time to cook. I would do my best to put them away but there was always something that has no where to be! So the cluttered counter gained a little more clutter with some of my groceries having no place to put them. And there were still unwashed dishes in the sink and a full dishwasher. Who can work in that? Well, I did but I was really tired of it.
That is when I made the best discovery that IS working for me. It is all about planning. I have changed my dinner making process. Now, 30 minutes BEFORE the time that I would actually start cooking, I clean my kitchen. Yes, I added “clean the kitchen” to the FRONT of the operation. It looks something like this:
Timeline For Keeping The Kitchen Clean Every Day*
*Whatever time you serve dinner, just add a 30 minute kitchen prep [cleanup] time before you START to cook!
3:00 pm – clear and clean kitchen counters, put away clean dishes from dishwasher. If there are any, load dirty dishes into the dishwasher.
3:30 pm – prepare dinner [cooking and setting the table] and rinse pans and utensils as you go. Put them into the dishwasher, as well.
4:30 pm – dinner is on the table. Eat dinner.
5:00 pm – clear table and put the dinner dishes in the dishwasher. Run the dishwasher.
It is up to you when this load of dishes will be emptied and put away. I usually put a few things away, as the evening goes on, each time I that I am in the kitchen. By bedtime, the clean dishes are all put away.
Simple way to keep your kitchen clean all the time #tips #organizing #cleaning Share on X
Does this happen to you? My dishwasher does NOT DRY the dishes. Oh, it isn’t broken. It is one of those energy-savers that runs forever and pools of water are still left on top of the glassware when it is finished. Ugh! I use a drying mat on the counter to let those wet glasses dry before putting them in the cupboard. But it is frustrating!
Have you found a way to keep your kitchen clean all the time? Share your tips with us!
Enjoy!
Kathy A
The only way my kitchen would stay clean is if we ate out all of the time and never entered it and we didn’t have 2 cats….You could take my clothes drier but don’t ever try to take my Kitchen Aid dishwasher. My SO unloads the silverware bin, I do the rest. I wash a lot of big pans in the sink. The row of dinner plates and half row of soup bowls are fast to put away. Ditto for cereal/dessert bowls, all in a row, too. My glasses/coffee cup cupboard is directly over the dishwasher–easy reach! When the floor gets grody, I spray some Awesome on it and wipe everything up with 1-2 paper towels, dragging them with my foot along the toespace! Works for me!
Sinea
That is so funny! Yes, eating out solves a lot of the problem!!! Too bad you can’t teach the cats to clean for you.
When I have a big load of pans, I often do them by hand, too.