9 Simple Habits That Quietly Keep My Kitchen Clean Every Day

While I advocate for certain rules in my household, I’m not one to tell people that my way is the best way for them to do things. I think we all have different priorities for how we spend our time and what matters the most to us.

For me, I’ve found that an orderly home environment puts me at ease and makes me feel happier. Happy enough, in fact, that I’m willing to devote more than a typical amount of time to ensuring the spaces around me are pleasant.

If you know someone like me, it’s easy to think they’re some kind of hyperproductive neat freak, making giant efforts to maintain such a pristine environment. In truth, the best way to keep your home spotless is to never let it get too far gone.

You need to be vigilant about the habits that lead to clutter piling up, and instead, you need to learn to do things immediately when it’s the easiest to do.

In this post I’ll share with you some of my favorite habits for keeping the kitchen clean and tidy. I’ve adapted almost all of these from my wife, who I consider to be the queen of home care.

Wipe up little spills when they happen

Many of my tips will echo this general piece of advice that you should always clean things up right away instead of letting things pile up. It’s almost always easier to clean something right when it happens. For example, it only takes a few seconds to wipe up a little spill as soon as you notice it, but that same spill will harden if you let it sit and might even stain what’s beneath it.

Do a quick tidy up every time you have a moment of down time

I try to live by the rule that if I’m in the kitchen and waiting for something in the kitchen to get done, I find a little task to take care of. This is a great way to quickly clean up a mess you made from cooking or put away items that were left out from a previous meal. These little 30-60 second tidying up sessions add up to a lot over the course of a single day.

Clean as you cook

After preparing a meal for my family of eight, I can honestly say that there’s nothing I want to do less than clean up the big mess that I made from cooking. For this reason, it’s one of my strongest recommendation to clean as you cook. For example, I always fill the sink with hot soapy water and wash the dishes as I’m going along. This way almost all that’s left to clean at the end of the meal is the couple of pots or pans that are still cooling down.

Have a place for everything

One of the most common ways for a kitchen to get messy looking is for clutter to pile up on the counters. For example, papers are a huge source of clutter in many homes, and for some reason they always seem to end up on the kitchen counter.

One of my favorite ways to solve this problem is to ensure that everything has a place to go, and that when you’re cleaning up you know exactly where to put everything. This way, when things pile up, you can get rid of the clutter quickly by putting things back in their place.

Empty the dishwasher first thing in the morning

One of my pet peeves is when I want to put a dirty dish in the dishwasher but the dishwasher is still full of clean dishes. It’s at this moment that I’m most tempted to leave the dish in the sink instead. Also, if my hands are already full of food, emptying the dishwasher means I have to wash my hands first.

For this reason, I recommend emptying your dishwasher first thing in the morning so that it’s all ready to go. This way you’ll be more likely to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher immediately and keep your sink clean instead of letting the dishes pile up.

Get your kids involved

One of my favorite things about parenthood is that I get to shape my children into the kind of people I want them to be. For me this means instilling a love of hard work and a desire to care for the spaces that they live in. I have found that the sooner I can get them involved with the chores in our house, the better.

Even kids as young as two or three can help put away silverware or stack dishes into piles. With my kids around, I sometimes have the option of either doing the dishes myself or having them do it. Whenever possible I err on the side of having them do it themselves, as they need practice doing these things in order to become proficient.

Have a clutter free policy

The other day I noticed that a number of spiders had entered my garage and placed their webs in the corner. I immediately reached for some bug spray and wiped them out before they gained a foothold. This kind of preemptive action reminds me of the way my wife keeps our kitchen free of any clutter.

As an example, we have a rule in our home that nothing is allowed to stay on the counter that doesn’t belong there. When people put things on the counter just because they’re convenient, you encourage others to do the same and before you know it the counter is filled with junk. Don’t let that happen to you.

Wipe down the sink even if it looks clean

One of the simplest practices for keeping your kitchen looking spotless is getting into the habit of wiping down surfaces regularly. When you tidy up or put things away, wipe down the counter, table, and sink as the final step. I’ve noticed that this only takes a few seconds, but it helps the kitchen look more put together and prevents the build up of little crumbs and dried food from messes that aren’t immediately noticeable.

Summary

A cluttered kitchen can quickly become a source of frustration and overwhelm, making it hard to enjoy the space in your home that so much life takes place. Fortunately, with the right habits anyone can keep their kitchen looking like it belongs on the cover of a magazine. The key is to develop a system that works for you and stick to it like it’s second nature. The result will be a more beautiful home and a calmer state of mind.