4 Simple Secrets For Keeping Your Kitchen Under Control – Kitchen Cleaning Tips

Are you staring at another sink/counter full of dishes and wondering how on earth we got here again?! 

In this article, I will share my top 4 kitchen cleaning tips so that you spend less of your precious time with your hands in a sink of dirty water!

Food, dishes, more food, dishes, “Mom, can I have a snack?”, dishes….repeat. Is this the never-ending cycle of your kitchen too?

If you are like the majority of Americans surveyed below, dishes are tied for the most disliked chore.

graph showing least popular chores with laundry, dishes and bathroom indicated as the most disliked

today.yougov.com

That being said, a messy kitchen can be a sign of good things like family connection, well-fed kids, and delicious food. 

So instead of dreading the aftermath of these wonderful things, check out these 4 kitchen cleaning tips and tricks to help you keep your kitchen feeling and looking like “the heart of your home!” 

  1. Always start the day with an empty dishwasher.
  2. Only touch each dish once.
  3. Serve food in lid-friendly dishes.
  4. Clean one appliance daily.

Kitchen Cleaning Tip #1: Always Start The Day With An Empty Dishwasher/Dish Rack

There HAS to be a place for the breakfast dishes to go. Even just a few plates piled into the sink or on the counter after breakfast will create a domino effect throughout the day. 

empty open dishwasher

As much as we like sitting down to the soothing hum of the dishwasher at the end of the day – emptying the dishwasher before going to bed sets us up for the ability to be on top of the mess all day. 

They say habits take 21 days to really sink in (ok, more recent research says 18 to 254 days). Let’s start with 30. Try emptying the dishwasher before bed everyday for 30 days. Trust me when I say you will be motivated for the next 224 when you see the difference it makes!

My passion is to equip you with resources that help you and your kids thrive!

So I’ve put together a free guide for you called “30-Days To A Dish-Free Counter”. In this guide, you’ll find a Clean Appliance Planner (for Tip #4!) and a New Habit Tracker. You can print them or use them digitally to track your progress toward these game-changing habits!

You can download it for free by clicking on the big green button below!

Click here to download Danae's: 30 Days To A Dish-Free Counter

 

Kitchen Cleaning Tip #2: Only Touch Each Dish Once

dirty plate with fork and spoon

Because we have a nice empty dishwasher (or dish rack) to start our day, our goal is to touch each dish the least number of times possible. 

So if we are carrying a dish to the kitchen (ie. breakfast bowl, coffee cup), these items should be placed directly into the dishwasher, rather than being placed in the sink or on the counter, and then retouched when we begin loading. 

This will obviously be harder to do after a full meal has been served. This is why it is important to teach kids to clear their dishes from the table, and depending on their age, to wash it or place in the dishwasher.

Sticking to this ‘one-touch’ rule for as many dishes as possible will make a huge difference in dishes piling up.

Clean Kitchen Tip #3: Serve food in lid-friendly containers. 

chicken fajita toppings in glass lid-friendly dishesI recently invested in some glass containers with lids – and what a difference this has made! I regularly use these to serve up our dinner sides, condiments etc.

After we are done eating, if any leftovers remain, I pop the lid on and stick it directly in the fridge (with no extra dishes!) This makes fajita/taco night such an easier clean-up! 

 

Kitchen Cleaning Tip #4: Wipe-down one kitchen appliance per day

While cleaning every kitchen appliance can seem like a huge job that we tend to put off – getting into the habit of giving one (and only one!) a wipe down is hugely rewarding. I like to work counter-clockwise around my kitchen. You can easily follow a schedule like the following depending on the layout of your kitchen:

kitchen with clean stainless steel appliancesMonday – dishwasher

Tuesday – oven, stove hood

Wednesday – fridge

Thursday – Microwave

Friday – toaster

Saturday – coffee maker/kettle

If you want to know my favourite time-saving tool that I use to make my stainless steel appliances sparkle in minutes using only water, click here to learn more.

Just like making your bed can make your whole room look cleaner, your sparkling appliances will make your whole kitchen feel cleaner and brighter! 

In Closing

I hope these 4 kitchen cleaning tips were helpful to you! A dish-free counter definitely makes me feel more at peace and rest in my kitchen…and we spend a LOT of time there!

Don’t forget to download my free “30-Days To A Dish-Free Counter”. Once you are on a consistent schedule for cleaning your appliances and starting your day with a clean slate – you’ll be off to the races!

You can download the planner and tracker by clicking the big green button below! 👇

Click here to download Danae's: 30 Days To A Dish-Free Counter

Additional Resource to Check Out:

📝 Monthly Meal Planning That’s ACTUALLY Easy! 

In this post, I share how I plan our family’s meals out one month in advance. There is even a free template that you can customize for your own family’s taste preferences! It comes together exceptionally easily – so head on over if you want to take the stress away from knowing “What’s for dinner?!” before 4pm.

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Thanks to these awesome photographers for sharing their talents:

  1. Photo by Castorly Stock from Pexels
  2. Photo by sliice on Unsplash
  3. Photo by Sidekix Media on Unsplash
  4. Photo by Szabo Viktor on Unsplash

How To Clean The Bathroom In Minutes Without Chemical Clutter

I have a secret. Cleaning the bathroom doesn’t have to suck. 

I know…it’s a bold statement. But hear me out. 

I had really great intentions of making “Washroom Wednesday” a thing. I figured that by establishing a regular bathroom cleaning schedule, I’d be more likely to actually accomplish it each week. I was sadly mistaken. Wednesdays were far too busy around here and it usually didn’t make it on the priority list. And who is going to clean the bathroom on a THURSDAY when it’s clearly NOT “Washroom Wednesday”?! Not this girl! 

personal daily schedule book for bathroom cleaning checklist with a cup of coffee

Why following a bathroom cleaning weekly schedule doesn’t work for me:

Problem #1: It doesn’t STAY clean. 

child wearing rain boots in the mud

This one can be so discouraging. You finally carve out a slice of time to tackle your bathroom cleaning checklist and after getting it to a state of sparkle, inevitably it’s the day that the kids became friends with mud. Or decide to paint. Or eat cheesies. And all of it ends right back on the bathroom sink, counter, mirror, floor, and trailed across the floor. Waiting until the next scheduled cleaning date means 6 more days of paint and cheese dust. Not ideal. 

Problem #2: So. Many. Tools. 

For such a small space, it requires a ridiculous number of cleaners, sprays, rags, scrub brushes, paper towels and wipes! Hauling out arm-fulls of plastic spray bottles, paper towels and wipes while holding back the ‘mini future cleaners’ trying desperately to help, makes the whole task daunting. Which means I’m more likely to procrastinate it. And since it’s “bathroom day” on the schedule, I’ve got to get all those bottles to the next bathroom and do it all again!

Problem #3: Haz-mat suit required

Do you have a ‘bathroom cleaning’ outfit? It fits into the same category as “paint clothes” right? Quite honestly, I often avoided bathroom cleaning because I wasn’t in my grubby cleaning clothes and I didn’t want to risk splashing a bleach-containing cleaner onto my good jeans. Between getting the air circulating enough for the fumes and dressing for the occasion, it once again got bumped to the bottom of my list. 

“Ok, but you said it DOESN’T have to suck….all you’ve told me is that it sucks, which I already knew”. 

Alright, let me tell you the secret that turned my bathroom cleaning world on its head. 

Microfiber

The first time I used high-quality microfiber cloths in my bathroom, something clicked in my brain that my problem wasn’t in finding and following the right bathroom cleaning checklist or  schedule; it actually came down to the tools I was using. The bathroom cleaning tool I started using is just incredible. Here’s why:

It’s self-purifying.

This is why it’s SO easy to maintain a clean bathroom now. Within the microfibers of my mitt, there is micro-silver. Did you know that silver has antimicrobial properties and is used to treat burns and wounds, and even to coat catheters to avoid infection? What a great way to keep that bacteria at bay! As soon as it’s wet, the silver in the mitt goes to work to create a hostile environment for the bacteria, leaving them unable to multiply. So my bathroom routine can actually be a daily wipe down of the smaller splashes that appear because I simply need to wet my mitt, wipe it down, rinse it, and hang it to dry. As it dries, it is self-purifying for tomorrow’s many messes.

One tool to rule them ALL.

We spend so much wasted time finding all the cleaning tools, switching between the tools for each section, putting the tools away…and then getting them back out when you realize you forgot the mirror, which now has toothbrushes sitting directly in the line of fire of the window spray…and beginning again at Step 1 by clearing the counter. Since my bathroom mitt doesn’t transfer nastiness from surface to surface, this is the simple bathroom cleaning checklist I’m now using and completing in 3 minutes flat:

It’s safe.

If my kids get into my ‘cleaning cupboard’ and play with my cleaners, they are literally wearing a microfiber cloth on their hand pretending it is a puppet. The surfaces are 99.9% bacteria free yet all I have left behind is water.

I LOVE that when my kids bath, there is no chemical residue floating in the water. Or contaminating their toothbrushes left on the countertops. No more dizziness from inhaling fumes, headaches from added fragrances, or skin/eye irritation after cleaning. It’s just water!

Bathroom cleaning has gone from my most procrastinated, most dreaded and least favorite chore to one I feel on top of and not overwhelmed by. That’s a win in my books! All because of a simple little switch to a microfiber cloth!

If you want to learn more about my favourite microfiber cloths including my favourite bathroom cleaning cloth, click the button to learn more!

Yes, I want to learn more!

 

 

 

 

One Thing To Try Before You Hire a Cleaning Lady

If you have ever dreamed of hiring a maid, this post is for you. 

What is it about cleaning ladies that leaves us drooling?! It’s effortless. It’s speedy. It sparkles. 

But if you are like me…it’s a far-fetched dream because it comes at a cost. A cost that my wallet (and my stomach) can’t quite handle. 

I was in this boat for a long time. I would sit on the couch, mentally rehashing my list of things to clean and begin dreaming the Molly Maid dream. 

After looking around and coming to terms with the fact that my house wasn’t going to clean itself, I’d spend the next unsaid number of hours tackling my cleaning list with arms full of cleaners, paper towels, sprays, wipes, buckets, rags and a mop.

What made things even more difficult was adding children to the mix. When the newborn twins came along, let’s just say, cleaning wasn’t exactly the first priority. As they learned to walk, I was now outnumbered with their 4 hands grasping at the cleaning bottles while I desperately tried cleaning with one, and holding back the very curious forces with the other. Then came baby #3. Game over. I needed a new game plan.

The only way this would work is to either clean my house after 8pm (great intentions…but Netflix usually won), OR find a cleaning product safe enough for the kids to play with. BINGO.

I found it. And I loved it. 

My favourite microfiber cloth!

Here’s how it works. 

Wet it with JUST WATER.

The microfiber in this cloth is SO tiny. Like as in, split-one-hair-into-200-strands-tiny. As you move it along any surface, it gets into the microscopic pores and pulls up ALL the dirt, bacteria, fungus, grime and grease and holds it in the cloth. So rather than spraying a potentially toxic chemical onto the surface to kill it, you can actually just pull it up, by the roots so to speak, and get rid of it all together.
Side story…I forgot the grease collector in my bacon griller on one of our Breakfast for Dinner Sundays. Oops. I wiped up a counter pool of bacon grease with my microfiber cloth using just water and not even a hint of residue was left on the counter. Un.Real.

Find another clean side. Keep wiping.

My favourite microfiber cloth is the size of 4 large adult hands. If you fold it in quarters, you can fully deep clean 8 areas of your house, without even revisiting the sink. I absolutely love it because I’m not hunting down my next cleaning product for each different area. I literally walk around my house with one cloth and clean everywhere. It doesn’t get easier than that.

Rinse and rub under hot running water. Hang to dry.

Did you know that silver doesn’t allow bacteria to reproduce? It literally messes up the DNA, bursts the cell membrane and destroys the bacteria – SO COOL! Why does this matter? It has to do with the nasty stink that comes from our cloths and towels. You know the smell.
Turns out, when you put silver in cloths, they don’t stink. And it’s true. I have used, rinsed, hung-to-dry and re-used my self-purifying microfiber and they actually don’t stink. The bacteria doesn’t stand a chance. Sure makes me wonder what I was wiping around my kitchen back in the stinky-cloth days!

And the best part…

As my kids are crawling across our floors, eating crackers on our counter-tops, putting toys in their mouths, and kissing the windows – I know that not a drop of chemical residue is getting into their tiny bodies.
What. A. Feeling.
No more inhaling cleaning fumes.
No more fear of accidental swallowing by the little ones.
No more skin and eye irritation from cleaning products.
It’s just water. 

Before you call up your local cleaning service – give this thing a try.  Check out how clean my windows are now – seriously just using water + 1 microfiber cloth to clean, and 1 to dry!

dirty window showing greasy fingerprints, dirt and streaks before being cleaned by microfiber clothclean window that was cleaned using only microfiber Norwex envirocloth, window cloth and water

The crazy thing is I actually don’t mind cleaning now. It feels manageable. It’s easy. And in complete honesty – it’s made me double-take my home a few times. All without the price tag of hiring someone to do it. 

If you want to know which microfiber cloths I use (and totally love), click the Learn More button below!

Yes, I want to learn more!

 

 

How I Changed My Cleaning Routine From BLAH to BLAM!

The Problem.

Let’s just say, what I was doing, wasn’t working. 

I never felt “on-top” of housework. In fact, it always felt like I was drowning under the weight of it all. 

Take my bathrooms, for example. Bathroom cleaning often fell to the bottom of my to-do list. It involved so many steps, and so many different types of cleaners that all needed to be in one place, and then moved to the next bathroom – all while 3 little ones followed me from Bathroom A to Bathroom B. 

When I would finally get to it (on the one magical day where all 3 happened to nap at the same time), it was a CHORE. 

For a few months I tried motivating myself with a “Washroom Wednesday” routine! The idea was that every Wednesday I would make tackling the bathroom a priority and thus stay on top of it! 

The problem was, Wednesdays were often our busiest days. Wednesday would come and go without a “washroom-wash” and on Thursday I would wake up and say, “Well…it’s not Wednesday! Guess I’ll wait ’til next week to tackle those suckers!” 

And then there were those once-a-year chores. Probably not ones that should wait an entire year.

Dirty stainless steel fridge, dirty glass top stove and dirty outside window

My stainless steel appliances fell into this category. Greasy fingerprints and kitchen splashes/drips were the permanent decor on these! Finally, my mother-in-law was coming to stay with us for a few months so I’d thought I’d freshen things up around the kitchen. After multiple vinegar washes and a tedious olive oil polishing, my arms hurt in places I didn’t know existed. It took me hours. And it took all of 7 minutes the next morning for the fingerprints to return – but it was even worse because now they were smearing around with oil! I firmly decided I would not tackle that again for another 365 days.

I could go on about my floors needing to be mopped, my windows needing to be scrubbed on the inside AND outside, my screens collecting spider webs, the dust collecting under furniture and all around my laundry room. And I have this suspicion that if you are reading this…you are right there with me in the trenches.

Please. please. please. Let me tell you how everything changed.

How I Cut My Cleaning Time In Half

A good friend introduced me to these incredible microfiber cloths by Norwex that only required water. No cleaners, no buckets, no harmful chemicals.

I’ll be totally honest. I really resisted buying one because I HAD cloths. My laundry baskets were overflowing with them! 

What I didn’t realize was that these weren’t replacing cloths. They were replacing ALL of the cleaners I’d spray around my house. Like as in every single bottle collecting under my kitchen and bathroom sinks.

Woman carrying chemical cleaning supplies in arms

So that $18 Windex bottle at Costco. And the $15 Mr. Clean bottle. And never EVER buying them again? The frugal side of me started LOVING this. 

I ordered my first 3: The Envirocloth, The Window Cloth and a Bathroom Scrub Mitt.

Norwex envirocloth, window cloth and bathroom scrub mitt

When they arrived, I wiped my entire house. I threw my dry Window Cloth over my shoulder, wet my Envirocloth and wiped every wall, chair, window, mirror, appliance, counter, table, shelf. You name it. I wiped it. Again – just with a cloth and water. I dried the shiny things with the Window Cloth and my mind was blown. It was next level clean.

This was honestly the first time I felt like cleaning my house was finally easy

Not having to run around looking for paper towels, window spray, all-purpose cleaner, an old rag for each surface, the tub cleaner, the toilet bowl cleaner, etc gave me the freedom to clean my bathroom in about 3 minutes FLAT!

I clean my stainless steel appliances weekly now, and it takes me 3 minutes from start to finish.

Clean stainless steel, clean glass top stove, clean window

I can handle this kind of cleaning! It doesn’t feel like a chore. When I know it’s achievable in a matter of minutes, I can literally do it on the fly. I don’t need to stick to a cleaning schedule because it’s just so easy to get it all done.

Oh, and did I mention…they are self-purifying 😲 because there is silver within them (which I can 100% verify when I accidentally left one in my oven while ‘proofing’ my hamburger buns and saw the silver dripping out!) Check out the video above to see them in action against raw chicken and butter!

Finding yourself in the “It’s Not Working!” phase?

Here’s my challenge for you. Imagine yourself in Costco, grabbing that big $23 bottle of Disinfecting Wipes and the $24 pack of paper towels, and instead just opt for this Envirocloth and Window Cloth combo this time. 

It’s really a “love-at-first” use situation… You’ll never need to go down that aisle again. Not to mention the chemicals you’ll be kicking to the curb to keep your family safe!