The kitchen is one of those rooms in your home that sees a great deal of use. It can spiral out of control in a jiffy, but its daily use isn't usually the thing that really holds it back from staying clean. Here are three common road blocks that, once removed, will help you stay in the groove and keep your kitchen clean and happy.
The easiest ways to identify these hangups is to take a look at your kitchen when it's at its worst. Yes it can be scary and you'll probably want to avert your eyes and run for cover, but when our kitchen seems like it can't hold one more dirty dish is the best time to see things for what they are.
Even though there will always be messes, remedying the following things can help your kitchen run at a much smoother pace.
• 1. Do You Have Cleaning Supplies Close By?
I really believe that all cleaning supplies should live in their respective rooms. Thinking you'll drag the counter spray cleaner back from the bathroom? A joke. Or rather, it won't be at hand right at the moment you need it. Also, make sure you have towels ready for any job, at all times. You may need to invest in more, but towels can be pot holders, trivets, cleaning tools and more!
• Is Your Trash Can (or Recycling Center) Too Small?
For years my husband and I would have the trash can and then a bag on the floor next to the trash can with more things in it that just weren't going to fit. A 13-gallon can is the industry standard size, but many of us use smaller cans. And if you can't compost, the trash gets very full this time of year with heavy trimmings from squash, potatoes, and other fall vegetables. Clutter can easily gather on counters and in common areas, too, when your recycling bins are too small or too far away from the kitchen.
• Do You Need an Extra (or Larger) Drying Rack?
It's easy for even clean kitchens to pile up. Do you put off washing dishes because the drying rack is still full? Do you have a spot to put dishes as you clean them?
Where do road blocks exist in your kitchen? Share your hot spots in the comments below!
Related: Homemade Green Cleaning Solutions for the Kitchen
(Image: Flickr member emotionaltoothpaste licensed for use by Creative Commons)
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I sometimes will use the empty racks in my dishwasher to allow dishes to dry. I don't use it often because it's just my husband and I and we don't have many dishes! But, this definitely works for those in between times.
I put clean pots and pans on the stovetop to dry when I don't have room.
I kinda disagree. We have kept our kitchen in a much better state since shrinking the drying rack.
With a massive rack, our tendency was for the person who didn't cook would do the dishes alone and then leave stuff to dry overnight. We got a smaller rack which doesn't hold an entire meal's worth of pans and dishes, so now we habitually do dishes together, one washing, one drying. More social, and the job actually gets finished, so nice to come down to first thing in the morning :)
With the bin, personally I prefer to empty a small bin often, as it gets less gross. A big dirty smelly bin I find icky, and am liable to delay going near it.
I have basically 4 garbage spots: the compost bin on the counter, the large foot operated garbage can away from my kitchen where I dump large stuff, the compactor where I put all glass and cans and a tiny foot operated garbage can for the small stuff in the cooking area.
We are living in a rental house with no dishwasher at the moment (sniff). It is so easy to get behind on dishes but at the same time it doesn't always make sense to get out the soap and sponge every time I use a plate and fork. So we have a rule that we ALWAYS rinse our dishes after use, but they can be stacked on one side of our double sink. Once that sink is full to counter level (not overflowing), it's time to do dishes. It works pretty well.
My block is definitely washing up, so our greatest luxury when we remodeled the kitchen was installing the biggest kitchen sink we could find (great for soaking dirty dishes, out of sight), and 2 dishwashers.
I would rather have four smaller garbage bins in the same place to align with my city's garbage program, vs having to take every bit of recycling outside.
Pearmelon, 2 dishwashers is genius.
My kitchen remodel will have 2 dishwashers, with the plan that we won't usually put dishes away. Or rather, away is in the clean dishwasher.
Pearmelon - how do you mark each as "clean" or "dirty"?
@Lazy-lurker: I don't really have a system, just when one machine gets full, I run it and start filling the other. Normally, one is full of cutlery and dishes, the other has pots, pans and pan supports so we don't have to wash anything by hand (no energy after slaving over the meal).
Roadblock to a clean kitchen? My retired husband who eats all day long! And no dish washer! At least our kitchen is well-used.
My mother used to clean the kitchen after supper and then announce, "The Kitchen Is Closed!" and that meant you had better not even take a glass out of a cabinet for a drink of water. We always walked into a clean kitchen in the morning. Now that my kids are big enough to reach everything and serve themselves, I "close" the kitchen, too. It's a good boundary. :)
@Lazy-lurker: We have multiple dishwashers in the kitchen at my office and we use magnets that have "clean" written on one half and dirty on the other. You just turn the clean side up when the dishes are being washed and the dirty side up when it's okay to put dirty dishes in. Absolutely essential in an office where people are using dishes all day long and are expected to load their own dishes. But it would work well for a family too.
These really are the 3 main obstacles for anyone who wants to clean efficiently.
I would love to share my point of view - motivation is another very important thing. It proves to be a big roadblock for most people. Clean efficiently by being determined and focused on the task in hand. This is an approach I copied from Go Cleaners. Find them at: http://gocleanerslondon.co.uk/</a href>.