Cleaning tips- take 1

This is due to many requests from various and asundry friends who wanted some hints on keeping a tidy home.

First, the main secret to a tidy home is upkeep. I never spend more than 45 minutes a day cleaning, usually less. And that is usually not spent all at once either. A few minutes here and there keep everything basically clean. I learned as a teenager that it was much easier, and tons less time, to keep my space tidy than to let it go and then have to spend hours cleaning it. My standards have relaxed with children, but I still like a home that is receptive to the Spirit, and also because clutter and dirt stress me out and then I can't be happy. And if I'm not happy, nobody's happy. :)

So today's blog is about the kitchen. My cleaning strategy is to do a major chore once a day. On Thursdays I clean the kitchen. This is what that entails for me. I wipe out the microwave (although this is one of those things I wipe as it needs it so most Thursdays I'm just checking it, in case Alan used it and I didn't notice.)
I wipe the shelves in the fridge. Once every 4-6 months I also wipe out the cripsers. I also throw away and clean out left-overs and vegies that might have gone yucky.
I wipe all the windowsills. The girls help me with this.
I check the oven and if it needs it I clean it. I don't have the kind of oven that cleans itself. I'm still waiting...(This rarely happens because if I notice a spill in the oven while I'm baking I mix a little baking soda and water and carefully spoon it over the spill. The baking soda reacts with the heat to lift the spill off the oven floor and when it's cool it's easier to clean off.)
I clean all the burners and under the burners. (Of course if you do this as you make the spill or mess it's so much faster and easier on Thursdays.)
I sweep and mop all the floors that are moppable, including bathrooms.
I use cleanser to scour the sink and polish the faucet.
I water my plants. The end.

The secret things I do to always make it look like I just cleaned the kitchen:
The most important key is to wipe the counters, table, and high chair after every meal. Not only does it keep the germs down, but this one thing will save tons of time in the long run because you avoid stuck-on food. This also includes wiping the floor under the high chair. In fact, your floor will be way way easier to mop if you keep the food from congealing and absorbing into the floor. Mopping on Thursday only takes me 10 minutes because there aren't any food spills I have to scrape off.

The other secret to a clean kitchen is to keep up on the dishes. I hate washing dishes! If I ignore them for more than two meals suddenly I don't want to do them ever because the task seems so overwhelming. Once upon a time when I was first married without a dishwasher, my father-in-law magically created a beautiful coat rack out of a piece of wood and when it was done he and my mother-in-law brought it down to surprise Alan. I suggested we hide in the kitchen where I realized that the sink and counter were full of unwashed dishes. This was hugely embarrassing; especially since I had never seen so much as a glass unwashed at their house. That just about cured the problem. Then I saw or read, can't remember now, some report on the amount of germs and bacteria that build up due to unwashed dishes and that cured me the rest of the way. Do the dishes at least once a day. Then unexpected company, or a forgetful mind, won't make you feel like a pig. :)

To sum up: Clean up as you go. It saves hours and hours of time. There you go. I hope that helps some. Love you all!