View previous posts in this series here.
and no this is not *my* kitchen!
Room by Room: The Kitchen.
Tips and Tricks that I've found helpful in curbing the chaos in the kitchen.
Dishes;
-Keep a clean slate (counter). I keep a sinkful of soapy water handy while I am cooking and wash my cooking dishes as I go so that the counter is clean and ready for dinner dishes after the meal (I rinse in very hot water, only dry tupperware and pots and let everything else stand in the dish rack until the next go round).
-Just do em'. The sooner the better. The longer I leave em', the less motivation I have to get them done. I park myself at the kitchen sink right after meals and the kids bring everything to me. They are in charge of putting stuff away in the fridge, scraping plates into the compost, disposing of garbage, wiping the table and sweeping the floor while I put dry dishes away, stack the dirty dishes and quickly wash them. Prairie Guy helps by drying and putting away after supper. I usually do dishes at least four times a day, (breakfast, lunch, while cooking and supper); but it only takes me about 10 min's each time.
Counters, Appliances and Cupboards;
I talked in this post about breaking weekly kitchen cleaning tasks down into 10 minute daily chores.
Garbage and Recycling
I have a pantry type cupboard in my kitchen that I use for storing my re-cycling so I don't need to haul each individual item out into the mud room. I keep a garbage bag in there for non-recyclable/burnable/compostable items that need to go to the dump, a small box for payable recyclables, and a bin for all other recyclable materials. Once a week (Tuesday) I pull everything out and have the kids carry it to the mud room and sort it.
As for the other garbage, I have a large garbage can for burnables that stays beneath the sink, plus an ice cream pail for compost. These get dealt with on a need to basis (daily or every second day). When I go to hang laundry the girls are responsible for taking the garbage out, PP I is in charge of the burning garbage and PP II for the compost. I also keep a large coffee can under the sink for used cooking oil, fat and grease, when that is 3/4 full PP I takes it and dumps it in the burning barrel.
Cutting Back on Doubling Up.
Do you ever think how many times you haul out the cutting board or use and need to wash the food processor/grater/fill-in-the-blank for every bag of onions, block of cheese, bell pepper etc, you chop or grate in a month? Not to mention the pans and utensils you use to saute stuff? I've become a post-shopping-bulk-processor and I find it is a great time/energy saver in the long run.
I buy bulk cheese, grate it in one shot when I get home (or the next day), package it in medium size ziploc containers, leave it sitting in the fridge for 24 hours and then freeze all but one package. (Somehow refrigerating it first keeps it from block freezing). I peel and chop MY whole bag of onions or peppers, saute them and freeze them in small ziploc containers. I buy 3 whole chickens at a time, pre-boil them, freeze the broth, shred the chicken and freeze it for future meal prep. You can also pre-brown your hamburger meat the same way so it is all pre-cooked and waiting to get tossed in your next casserole or taco salad. This saves on preparation time and clean up time.
Illicit Help from Little Hands.
I spray down all the cupboards, but I only wipe the upper ones, the prairie chicklets do everything below counter level. They also can wipe down the front and sides of the fridge and oven. The girls (8 and 6) are also my official floor sweepers after meals and floor washers once a week (the day they wash the floors (Friday)I vacuum, so they wash in lieu of sweeping). I find the most effective cleaning gets done when we are working side by side, and I am talking them through stuff as they go, as I work. If I try to get them to do chores while I am doing something else it takes FOREVER and isn't always up to snuff. It's more fun to work in company anyway.
Just for Fun
Last tip for today, and one I love, silly as it is. Electric toothbrushes have become my best friend in the cleaning department. I keep one in both my upstairs and downstairs cleaning caddies and use them to clean all the seams and edges on appliances and around the sink. I know the toothbrush is an old trick, but the electric toothbrush is SO much more fun and effective. Have fun with it!
They should school the young women to be affectionate to their husbands and to their children, to be sober-minded, pure in their lives, 5 industrious in their homes, kind, submissive to their husbands, so that the Christian teaching may not be exposed to reproach. Titus 2:4-5 Weymouth New Testament
4 comments:
Awesome electronic toothbrush tip! Will have to try that soon. I also love how you all work together. Seems mine always seem to do better when we work together in each room also! Can't wait till my oldest dd is big enough to mop! LOL for now I will have to keep at it..even though I am not very good at it I will have to admit. I have 1900sq ft of hardwoods to mop. Any suggestion? When I mop it always streaks the floor, guess that is why I can't stand to do it it never seems clean! Thanks for the tips! You know it makes me think I can't wait until we are in heaven and I don't have to clean my mansion. I can't imagine even trying. Great post!
Joy
Joy, we have almost always had 100% hardwood or ceramic tile in our homes, so I feel your pain. I also have wanted to pull my hair out over the years about the different finishes and the streaky or residue films after washing hardwood and dark tile. Here is what I have found;
Sometimes the water itself leaves a film (if you have hard water with iron deposits in it), then I would use rain water or bought water.
Sometimes the cleaner you use leaves a film, I highly recommend Shaklee's organic basic H solution, you can buy an entire bottle for 11.00 or so and it is a multipurpose cleaner that can be used for ANYTHING, (windows, floors, wood, counters, leather, you name it... seriously, it beats windex, beats pledge, beats everything in every department, I LOVE this stuff). 2 drops makes a whole bottle of windex, I use about 1/4 teaspoon for floor washing solution or bigger jobs. It leaves NO streak, NO residue, it's GREAT, and completely organic and chemical free which will help with the allergies in your house.
The last thing that contributes to the streaks after washing is your actual mop. I bought an industrial swiffer and use re-cycled flannel (from baby blankets, you can buy these a dime a dozen at second hand stores) as my actual swiffer cloths, and then they just get washed along with my other dish cloths and stuff.
For washing the hardwood I then use a heavily ribbed 100% cotton cleaning rag over my swiffer and just go in the direction of the grain. (Wet the rag in a very simple hot water solution without much cleaner, wring it out and then punch the corners into the swiffer holes kind of like what you would see a janitor using in a school hallway.
I have not had any problem with streaking since getting rid of chemical cleaners and switching over to this type of mopping, also it is a one time cost set up and then you have re-usable/washable swiffer and mopping cloths.
You can find this kind of janitorial swiffer at a janitorial or industrial cleaning supply store. Hope that helps! I used to CRAZY about my floors, it would frustrate me to no end.
Prairie Chick:
I am soooooo glad I am not the only one CRAZY about my floors! I can become obsessive compulsive about then..(I don't sweep just vaccum and well the vaccum stays out all day because I use it probably 10-20 times) I just can't stand to see dirt on the floor. Now by this I do not mean my house is spotless! I tried mopping by hand last week and well lets just say that ain't happenin! I am not what I used to be..maybe if I would mop by hand I could get back to the size I used to be! HAHA Thanks so much for the tips. Oh and I forgot to tell you..I was induced all three times with mine..I could never go in on my own either..I know how you feel there. I remember telling my husband how I would love to be able to so"Honey its time" LOL but oh well! Do you know what you are having?
Joy
Ah Joy, you missed the operative words "used to be" :D I *used* to be a floor fanatic, I would swiffer and damp mop two to three times a day. Thank God I have learned to relax in this area. For one, my floors are currently really cruddy (uncovered hardwood waiting to be refinished and old lino that is so not my style), and then the fact that this is after all a FARM.... plus the final trump, I just don't care to obsess about that anymore, I've gone from classy to homey...
well, let's just say that once a week the floors get washed and I don't obsess about them anymore between times. Freedom!
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