#12 Clean your kitchen as you cook {52 bites}

Yesterday it was 2pm before I left the kitchen. Why? Why am I always there? Do any other moms feel like this? Yes, we cook all our food from scratch. Yes, we have lots of (wonderful!) people over for dinner. Yes, we’re taking in lots of produce from our garden and other generous gardeners. Yes, we’ve been picking berries and freezing apples. Yes, I have two Littles who are growing like weeds.

In other words, I feel like I live in the kitchen.

And honestly, I’m kind of tired of living there. As soon as I get one meal cleaned up, there are two little tummies hungry again. And sadly, the result is that I’m turning into the mom who doesn’t want to cook anymore — is it really that bad to BBQ hot dogs every night?

Do you ever feel this way?

So today, here are two ideas to turn around this trend: 

1.  Fly Lady. Perhaps you know about Fly Lady already, but she’s my new friend and she’s teaching me how to clean. Her cornerstone principle: Shine your sink. Yes, it seems simple, even silly, but her philosophy is that if you start with a shining sink, every single day, you’ll be more inspired to keep your kitchen clean and therefore your kitchen remains a place you enjoy and want to be.

So I gave it a try. Now first off, I have to admit, I said to myself: “How do I shine my sink?” and then was embarrassed by the fact that I didn’t know how. But no worries. Fly Lady tells us exactly how, step by step, right here.

2. Clean as you cook. Aimée Wimbush-Bourque, editor of SimpleBites.net, says that the very first lesson in cooking school is how to clean as you go. This is the key to staying sane and creating a pleasurable experience in the kitchen. She suggests these tips for keeping clean as you go:

• Start with a clean kitchen. (Insert FlyLady here) She explains that it’s hard to be motivated when your workspace is already chaos (yes!), so start out clean and you’ll feel better about the task.
• Be ready for waste. Be sure all your disposal receptacles are ready and available. Compost, recycling, and garbage. Have them all emptied and ready. As soon as a package is empty, egg is cracked, or stems are removed, toss it into the appropriate place.
• Arrange your workspace. She suggests filling one side of your sink with hot soapy water for easy rinsing hands and tossing dirty dishes to soak. Have a few dry towels out and ready to dry and wipe messes. Fill a cup with warm water and put a few spoons inside. Then you can stir sauces and replace the spoons, reducing dirty dishes and preventing those sticky spots on the counter where dirty spoons would rest.
• Cook–and clean as you go! It takes practice to build a habit, but try cleaning up each step as you go. Toss garbage, wipe spills, sweep crumbs. Wash and dry ALL dishes as you finish and put them all away. Fly Lady insists that dishes be dried and put away, not left in the dish dryer all day looking messy (guilty as charged!).

I have a loooooong way to go in terms of keeping a spotless kitchen and always cleaning as I go. But I must say I am feeling encouraged–and inspired–by Aimee and the Fly Lady’s advice. And snce my sweet Littles will continue to get hungry, and cooking will continue to be on my daily to-do list, I might as well do it joyfully and enthusiastically, amen? Amen. I’m off to shine my sink.

Happy weekend! Thanks for reading.