Clean While Cooking
If you are not actively mixing, stirring, flipping, or cooking, chances are you will have some downtime while cooking. Use this time to tidy up your kitchen, a place where you probably spend a decent amount of time but probably not the cleanest room in your home. If you have roommates, they will be grateful to you. If you live alone, you will thank yourself for not having to clean up one giant mess. If you are a parent, get your child to do this and have a glass of wine.
You might be thinking, well, I don’t have much time while I’m cooking. But I’m not talking about removing the mop bucket and solution cleaner, I’m talking about simple cleaning. This includes washing the dishes and pans immediately after using them (obviously let the pans cool down first), but it also means:
- Wipe the counters
- Sweeping the floor around the kitchen station
- Spot cleaning of microwave oven, oven surfaces, cabinets, walls (especially the wall / backsplash behind the hob), etc.
- Organization / cleaning of the refrigerator
- Cleaning stacks of paper
- Remove clean dishes
- Window cleaning
- Cleaning the kitchen sink / faucet
Seriously: When was the last time you washed the outside of your cabinets / refrigerator? A window over the sink? Do it tonight. Again, I’m not saying that you will have time to do all of this while you wait for your pasta to boil. Pick one or two and it still matters.
Another tip: keep the cleaning products in separate rooms so you have one less reason (the products are too far away) not to clean. For example, while most of my sprays and wipes are in the kitchen, I also keep the mini broom and scoop I bought from the Dollar Store, Clorox napkins, and a paper towel in my bedroom.
That way, if I’m in my bedroom and notice it’s dusty or something on the floor, I have no excuse not to clean up – everything I need is here! I don’t even need to take 10 extra steps to my kitchen cabinet. Likewise, I try to keep Clorox wipes in the bathroom for touch-up between deeper cleanings. (I love the Clorox napkins. And the Magic Erasers.)
I’m not the cleanest person in the world – my roommates can attest to this – but I try to do the little things when I can. That way, I don’t have a pile of dishes to do after I finish eating and want to grab a bite to eat, and my kitchen gets a little clean throughout the work week. What about you – what are your tiny cleaning tricks?