Photo by Mabel Amber via Pixabay
You can walk into some folk’s homes and feel the chaos, while in other homes, all you see is clean. There must be a secret to keeping a house picked up without the aid of a housekeeper, right? Right! People whose homes always appear tidy have habits that keep them that way. Here are some of those habits that you can adopt in the kitchen to keep it clean.
Clean While Cooking
Instead of leaving pots or chopping boards to soak, wipe them with a soapy sponge and give them a quick rinse or pop them in the dishwasher. Pans left to soak after a meal become onerous and tempt you to leave them until morning. Cleaning them right away means the food particles wash off more quickly too.
Find a Great Broom or Dust Mop
If you hate the tool, you’ll hate using it. Instead, try out a couple brooms or even microfiber dust mops to see which one you like best. Run it over the kitchen floor at the end of the day, and you’ll wake up to a clean kitchen.
Tuck Away Small Appliances
Toasters, mixers, the slow cooker or Insta-pot all clutter up room on your kitchen counter and gather dust and food debris. Keep them out of sight on a pantry shelf and just pull them out when in use. They stay cleaner and ready to use, and your countertop sparkles.
Hide the Mess
Open shelving adds a beautiful dimension to a kitchen, but when the shelved items don’t naturally stack, they look messy. Hide things away in deep drawers or cupboards that don’t match or rest awkwardly. Use your shelves to display pieces you love, or that stack artfully.
Do These Daily
Wipe the refrigerator doors daily to keep fingerprints at bay, and while you’re at it, take a moment to get the shelves too. Then, ditto with the microwave. Keeping fingerprints and food spills wiped up every day helps avoid the significant cleaning days so many people dread.
Stop the Spills
Well, you can’t always stop spills, but you can stop most spatters. Keep a cover handy for the microwave so that those little “pops” don’t become big messes. If little ones consistently spill milk from a gallon jug, pour some into a smaller container for them to use.
Keeping your home picked up when you have it on the market is essential for a lower-stress selling experience. If you need other ideas about preparing your home for sale, ask your professional real estate agent.
About the Author
