5 Tips to Get (and Keep) Your Kitchen Clean

Keeping your kitchen clean feels like an uphill battle, especially if you have roommates, both big and small, regularly using the room. Try these tips to get and keep your kitchen spotless and take a few of those “To Dos” off your daily list. 

#1: Regularly sort and purge 

The best way to keep things clean? Have less of them. Over the years, with gifts and impulse purchases, our kitchen drawers can get cluttered, which leads to messes spilling over onto countertops and elsewhere. 

Go through your kitchen by one cabinet and drawer at a time, pulling out every item, wiping it out, and determining which utensils should stay and which should go to goodwill. The less you have to organize, the easier it will be to keep surfaces clear. 

#2: Start cooking in a clean kitchen 

Before you pick up even a spoon to start making dinner, do a quick cleanup of the kitchen so you start with a clean slate. If you had to do any dishes, keep the dishwater in the sink for use after dinner to save the waste and cost of extra water. 

Mentally, starting with a clean slate will have you feeling zen through the entire cooking experience rather than frazzled. 

#3: Clean as you cook

You’ve got a clean slate, but you can keep it that way by cleaning as you move along in the cooking process. If you have a minute or two to wait for the microwave to finish or water to boil, wash a few dishes you no longer need to prepare your meal. 

With the right approach, you can end up with just a few lone dishes leftover by the time dinner is on the table, hot and ready. It makes for simple cleanup and more time to enjoy your evening rather than cleaning!

#4: Keep a compost bowl and recycling bin 

When you prepare food, tossing your food scraps into the sink or onto the counter can be tempting, but it leaves you with a bigger mess to clean up later. Instead, keep your compost or trash in one spot with a bowl on the counter, tossing it into the trash or green bin when you’re all done cooking. 

A smaller recycling bin in your kitchen can help encourage your family to toss their recyclables instead of leaving them on the counter. Use can crushers for recycling for more bin space and less clutter. Can crushers for recycling can make a big difference in the amount of space you save in your trash can. 

 #5: Build a chore board

Whether you’re the only one that cleans or juggles the duties with other members of your household, a chore board lays out a weekly and monthly schedule in an easy-to-read format. You’ll ensure every maintenance is performed regularly and never forgotten, from daily sweeping to seasonal deep cleans. 

Use these tips to set your kitchen up for success so that cleanup and daily maintenance takes minutes of your day, not hours!