When my kitchen is a mess, I cannot cook or prepare a meal until the mess is cleaned up. There is something about a messy kitchen that drives me nuts. (Yeah, I know . . . I’m probably nuts already, but I get worse when my kitchen is a disaster.) To help me stay on top of the food, dishes, and stuff placed on my countertops, I follow a different cleaning routine after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In each part of this three part series, I will share one of my three different routines for keeping my kitchen clean. I’ll begin with my breakfast routine.
Breakfast Routine:
- Clear off the table. After being excused from the table, my two older children carry their dishes to the counter by the sink. Paul and I usually clear off the rest of the table.
- Wipe down the table.
- Put away any leftover foods.
- Rinse each item and place it in the left-hand side of the sink.
- Clean all the countertops.
At the conclusion of this routine, I have a clean table, countertops, and right-hand side of the sink. Spending time cleaning up saves me time and energy. My time is saved at lunchtime from having to cleanup from breakfast. I can just start lunch preparations without working around a mess. I also save energy since I don’t need to scrub off dried on food. For me this system helps me to spend my time wisely.
Though I have a routine in place, there are days when this routine does not get finished. Some of those days are when I’m running late, the baby needs assistance eating, a spill needs to be cleaned up, or I just choose to leave the dishes until lunchtime. On those days, I attempt to get the dirty dishes rinsed. This one task saves me the most time.
Remember this breakfast routine works for ME, but it may or may not work for you. These are just my tips for helping me stay organized. Next week, I’ll share my lunch routine.