by Donna Fallesen

Created on: November 17, 2008

Cleaning anything can be tiring, but one of the most used rooms of the house can easily slip into a mess and get overwhelming. Leave it for too long, and you'll find yourself scrubbing up old food crumbs and grease piles for days just to get it back into tip top condition! Believe me, It happened all too often until I realized the tips and tricks that keeps the kitchen warm and more clean then I had seen it in years!

The first rule in a house cleaning situation, or any mess in general, is not to get overwhelmed. Simply work the cleaning into something you are undertaking at the moment. What do you do in the kitchen? Fry, bake, microwave maybe? Right there is grease, crumbs on your pans, some food splatters that will require some heavy duty sponges to scrape off if you leave them until the next day or even a few hours. Just take the time to clean them out as you go. Chances are your food will be too hot to eat right off, so let it cool and rinse out that pot!

I personally find that if you have cleaning supplies, new cleaning supplies, life is much easier and cleaning is even fun (imagine that!). There is nothing more wholesome as the aroma of a fruity dish soap added to whatever you are baking at the moment. It brings the kitchen to life! Then go ahead and spray/wipe up the counters with that cleaner you have been meaning to try out and you have yourself a kitchen that smells good and that has been wiped of nasty germs.

Say you want to cut down on your dishes during a meal, all you have to do is reuse that mixing spoon or that knife or one of those bowls. It will cut your cleaning in half and you will be saving some time trying to find that other cooking utensil. That alone is a good trick in cleaning. Always organize your cupboards so that you do not have to go scrounging around and end up filling the kitchen counters with pots you moved out of the way. Move all of your most used items close to the front and those special occasion pots and pan to the back. It will save you struggle, and of course, the loud metal clanking.

Cooking in the kitchen, you will normally run into boxes and cans, a few glass bottles here and there that you have emptied over the week. Do not leave them sitting around, send them right into their proper recycling bins which you can easily place close by. That will help you with your organization on garbage day, and you won't have to go running around like a mad person trying to find each bottle, can, or box you left around the kitchen.

The only think you have to remember is the old Kindergarten rule always applies in the kitchen. Clean up after yourself!

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