Many of you are focused on deep cleaning right now, but there are still all the everyday jobs to keep up with. Here are some ideas about how to do your daily jobs quickly (starting with easy steps to clean your kitchen) so you can get on to the big stuff. Some people do things differently and in a different order. This is just a suggestion to help you get started. Feel free to modify it.
Clean Your Kitchen In Seven Easy Steps
Are you tired of looking at a messy kitchen and don’t know where to start? Cleaning your kitchen doesn’t have to be a daunting task. With these seven easy steps, you can quickly get your kitchen clean and sparkling in no time.
Start by picking up any items that don’t belong in the kitchen, like mail, newspapers, and other odds and ends and quickly putting them away. If there is a lot of this kind of stuff on the counters, gather it and place it in a box to deal with when the kitchen is clean. Don’t waste time sorting through it until after the kitchen is clean.
- Gather all dirty dishes and load them into the dishwasher. If the dishwasher is already full, start it immediately to get it done as soon as possible.
Fill the sink with hot soapy water and put the dishes that must be washed by hand in it to soak. This will help loosen any dirt or grime, making them easier to clean later. - Wipe off countertops and tables with hot soapy water. (This way, if you have unexpected company your table and counters are clean. They will think you have been cleaning all morning.)
If you have a spot with stuck on food, lay a wet washcloth on the spot for a few minutes while you work on something else. This will help soften the stain, making it easier to clean off. - Sweep the kitchen floor and shake out any throw rugs if needed. This will ensure that your kitchen looks clean and tidy.
- Wash the dishes that have been soaking. As you go, place them on the drainboard to dry. Once you finish, put all of the dishes away in the cabinets where they belong. If they have not completely dried, grab a dish towel and quickly dry each of them as you put them away. Don’t be obsessive about the drying. Quickly wipe each one dry and move on.
- Wipe down the faucets and dry with a towel. Drying with a towel prevents water spots and makes the fixtures look shiny and clean. (Be sure to wipe any sticky appliances, too. Don’t forget to wipe the door handles, especially on the back where you grab to open them.)
- Put out a clean dishcloth and towel.
- Take out the trash.
If you have a lot of kitchen items on the counter that you rarely or never use, find a place to store them that is not on the counter. If you occasionally use something, see if you can find a place in a cabinet to store it. If you never use it, get rid of it.
By following these seven easy steps, you can quickly get your kitchen clean and sparkling. Don’t let a messy kitchen stress you out. Try these steps today and enjoy a clean and tidy kitchen every day!
-Jill
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Jill, I like this. As a woman with fibromyalgia, I just cannot do it all. But I have learned to have two focus areas, the kitchen and living room. if they are fairly clean, I can close bedroom doors and let it go. If someone stops in, I send them to use one of the two bedrooms that I feel is the cleanest.
Woops! that should read “bathroom that is cleanest”.
i feel the same way rachel… as long as the kitchen and the bathrooms are the cleanest and living room too… if the bedrooms are messy, close the door…
thanks again for the great advice jill … i appreciate it :D
rose
Thank you for your motivation. Your articles continuously re-inspire me to enjoy taking care of my home where my family spends a lot of time, just like my Grandmother used to do. Enjoying your blog was also part of the inspiration in starting my own. Thanks you for your sharing.
I have sons who are of an age where they can be expected to do a reasonable job of tidying the kitchen. This list is complete without being overwhelming and provides an easy process for them to follow. I am going to print off your post and place it on the fridge!
My thoughts exactly. An easy checklist for my 17 yo that doesn’t seem to know what “clean” is
I think one of the things that stops us in our tracks when everything’s a mess is that we don’t know where to START to clean it up. Rather than think “There’s too much that needs to be done, I can’t do it all!!”, just jump in and do one thing… like maybe wash the dishes. Something like that may just start the ball rolling, and maybe you’ll want to clear off the counters… which may lead to wiping the table and appliances… which may lead to sweeping the floor, since everything else is beginning to look so nice now… and… well, you get the idea! Even if all you get done is washing the dishes, hey! That’s one important thing done, and don’t you feel better!
One lesson I have learned over many years (entire life) of living with fibro and 33 years of CF is do not try to keep up with what Joan down the street does.
It just isn’t going to happen.
She is healthy has energy to clean her house every day and cook those wonderful meals that take so much out of you.
I have a friend with fibro and she says that her kitchen is always spotless before she goes to bed.
For the longest time I tried to do this and failed. Then I felt guilty and a failure. I finally had my husband sit down with me and tell me to let the dishes go until morning. If the house burned down the neat kitchen would be just as gone as a messy one.
So I keep the house clean and after supper do the minimum in the kitchen.
By the time I have done what I can during the day I am wiped and pushing myself further makes for a bad 2 days.
I have more energy when I get up so can do the kitchen then.
For the past year this has been my plan and at night I sit and talk to my husband while sitting on the couch or at the table.
So much nicer than crying over what I can’t do and concentrating on what I can.
I have a wooden sign hanging just inside the door for all to see.
“My house is clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to be happy.”
For me it is beds. I feel really bad if the bed isn’t made each day.
Some days that is all that is done.
I keep the kitchen neat and mostly tidy but cringe some days if drop in company shows up.
When I get a job done I congratulate myself.
hey I got the bed made.
what do you know the dishwasher is emptied and filled again.
got the floors swept or vacumed the rug.
got rid of all the cat hair balls off the stairs.
each job done gives me a sense of accomplishment and I try not to concentrate on the laundry piling up, or the craft room still left with all my projects scattered around.
This has taken me years to do and it isn’t easy.
When I first got married I would get down on my hands and knees to scrub all the floors every day. more so when my son was born. My house was spotless. But I go CF while pregnant for him so my house was clean but I never talked to my husband because I was passing out on the couch due to fatigue.
I have given up the spotless house for a life.
My house is still dirty enough to be happy and most of the time it is clean enough to be healthy.
I like seeing the tips here is one of mine.
for exit and enterance floors. put one of those rubber mats under your regular mat. It keeps wet puddles from getting to the floor and marking them. Just make it the same size as the mat and nobody knows but your floors will not be marked with water and salt stains from winter traffic.
Fortunatly for me I have a cleaning lady every 3 weeks. I have fibro too and can’t much at all.
I loved what you wrote. So true!!
I have bad knees, lots of pain, and I can’t do it all in one swipe, either. But because I live in a tropical zone and the bugs can be BAD, I am trying to train myself to get those dishes into the dishwasher in the evening. I can wipe down surfaces in the morning, but the dishes in the sink are a magnet for bugs of unsavory character. Some days are more successful than others
We just do what YOU have done: we prioritize what is important (I almost never make my bed because given half a chance I’m going to take a nap!) and do it in manageable increments.
God bless you!
I love this little checklist sometimes I feel overwhelmed and I am sticking this inside my cabinet where I keep the cleansers.
Jill, I made the counter top disinfectant from the cookbook and it works really well at cleaning. I was having fun using it and trying it on different surfaces and it works great. Love it.
I really like what GRANDMA said about “clean enough to be healthy……. I am literally waiting for paint at the top of the stairs to dry and three little ones are downstairs with an afternoon movie. This morning was clean, clean, clean, home schooling them, off to the dentist and home again for a quick science lesson and then painting! I am just plain tired! I am only 38!
When you said clean enough to be healthy, our little girl has heart disease and I am always worried about our home being heathly and clean. You know, thanks for reminding me that it is just fine.
My only tip would be while I clean my kitchen I add a few drops of dishwashing liquid to a bowl of water and boil it in the mircowave for about 6-7 mins while that is doing it’s thing I fill the coffee pot with a cup of vinegar and the cap it off with water and let it run it’s cycle and when it is finished I sprinkle my sinks with baking soda and clean them. Can’t forget those drains! So I pour the coffe pot contents and the microwave full of hot water (it is HOT!) down the drain over a half a box of baking soda to clean the drains. I go back to my microwave and wipe clean! DONE
Microwave, coffee pot, clean sink and drains in less than 7 min once a month. And no muscle or harmful chemicals needed!
Yippee!
Melinda you are a genius!
Jill, I love the new blog—-colors, photos. It is warm and welcoming and makes me anxious to open. Kind of like our homes—a place of warmth and beauty. Not exquisite, but simply inviting us to experience Love and Joy, a place that soothes the soul.
Thank you Carol what a nice comment.
I have an open plan kitchen /living area and agree, clear counter tops are a must in the kitchen, but more than that a SHINY empty kitchen sink is a must. I always pack away the dishes after washing and then after cleaning sink, buff it with one of those microfibre clothes. It is such a nice feeling when you walk into the kitchen, especially in the morning. Also a lovely sense of accomplishment at night, clear tops, shiny sink and fresh tea towels.
Your text reads: “providing mini-aprons for the girls to use while they help mom clean the kitchen”.
I wonder:
What should the little boys use when they help dad clean the kitchen?
Good point- They can wear aprons too.
My husband and 2 adult sons use a barbecue apron when they cook or wash dishes. 🤔
Hi-In answer to “what should a little boy wear when helping in the kitchen?” I have seen chefs wear white aprons with large pockets. I also wondered if somebody has a pattern for a chef’s hat which a boy could wear.
I enjoy reading all the tips. Right now we are in the middle of remodeling our house. We only have our kitchen sink in a base cabinet and our stove in our kitchen. It has been a chore to even keep it clean. No where to put things. I am using our portable dishwasher for the storage of our dishes and we just wash the dirty ones. I cannot wait for it to be finished so I have counters to wash off. I’ve not had a kitchen since Aug. and it’s now April. :( I didn’t even do any holiday meals with family here because of it. I will be printing off your list though-it’s wonderful. Thank you.
I can’t believe how many people have fibro! I had to retire close to two years ago. I don’t know how I did it for all those years. I am so glad to be able to stay at home now and do things at my own pace. I feel very blessed!
To keep your faucetts clean and shiny you can use a wee bit of baby oil. The water and stuff wont stick to them half as bad. Especially good to prevent the crud from sticking around the base of them.
Ooooh, Linda! I love this idea! When I clean a vacant apartment, the owners always want me to use a stainless steel polish on the sink to make it shiny and from what I can tell, the product is just some kind of oily substance. I HATE scraping the crud from around my faucet at home so this sounds like a wonderful tip to me! I’ll be doing this today for sure!
My mission for myself in November was to clean up the kitchen before I went to bed. So, while I hate to do it, I make myself get started about 1/2 hour before bedtime, turning off the tv and then making my lunch and finishing up the dishes including wiping off the counters and the stove. It has been wonderful getting up every morning to a clean kitchen. I think I have only missed one day since November in doing this and it has finally become a habit. I usually run the dishwasher (or have my husband turn it off after he puts his cereal bowl in there) first thing in the morning and he will empty it or I can do it when dinner is cooking. Then, after dinner, the whole thing starts again. I’ve also been making my bed everyday since December (my December mission). What a difference these two things make. They don’t take much time but make the house look so much better. Now, if I could just do better with the laundry and putting my clothes away. Guess that will be an April mission.
OOPS – my husband turns ON the dishwasher not turns it off.
One more thing. I’m working full time still so every little thing I can do automatically is something else I don’t have to think about. Just getting myself up, off to work, and running the household takes its toll now that I am 66 with chronic health issues. So, I decided to build new habits that make a difference.
We watch a DVD most every night. Usually 1/2 way through, one of us needs a potty break. I take that time to clean the kitchen and run the dishwasher. Knowing the movie is waiting, makes me work faster. If a dish needs to soak a bit then I finish it after the movie. This works rather well for us.
Just a tip that I used when my kids were little, and there was a dirty floor to clean up after supper that featured rice on the menu. Clean up what you can of the dishes, etc., then turn off the lights and wait until morning to sweep the floor. By then, any grains of rice that made it onto the floor have dried up and will sweep up like uncooked rice. Sweeping after supper usually involved sticky grains of rice. I told this to my neighbour (who had 8 kids) in an off hand conversation, and a few weeks later she called me and told me that my method was genius! Keep your sense of humour and do the best you can each day. In the long run, the odd job that doesn’t get done is not the end of the world.