Smart Home Cleaning Tips: The Kitchen
From the smallest studio apartment to the biggest, fanciest mansion, every home has a few things in common. One of these is that it gets dirty over time. There are lots of cleaning techniques you can use to keep the mess at bay. While every sort of cleaning is helpful, some moves are smarter and more effective than others. Let’s take a stroll through the different rooms of your house and talk about the smart way to clean them. You’ll pick up both cleaning fundamentals and powerful shortcuts to achieve a thorough clean faster and more efficiently.
Keeping The Dishes At Bay
Many of us share the bad habit of letting dirty dishes pile up in the sink or on our counters. Here’s a simple way to break the habit and get a better perspective on dishwashing. For a week, start a kitchen timer when you begin washing the dishes. Once the job is done, remember to take a look at the timer. Isn’t it surprising how quickly you can accomplish this task? By making yourself aware of the small amount of time dishwashing really takes, you’ll be less inclined to let those dishes slide in the future.
Cleaning A Burned Pot
Cookware that gets scorched is an annoying cleaning challenge. You don’t need to wear yourself out with scrubbing to make your pots and pans look new again, though! Simply apply a healthy amount of baking soda to the burned area. Then, fill the pot one-third to one-half full of boiling water. Let the water return to room temperature. Attack the scorched areas with a sponge and you’ll see them clean up quick. Once you’ve cleaned the scorches off, dump the baking soda solution out and rinse with hot, soapy water.
Loading Your Dishwasher
A staple of home arguments — or at least cheesy comedy routines about home arguments — loading the dishwasher is a task everyone likes to do differently. While there’s no perfect way to load items into your dishwasher, there is one rule of thumb that speeds the task up. Work from back to front and you’ll be ready to start the dishwasher sooner.
Cleaning the Sink
Letting your sink (and particularly the faucet) get dirty isn’t just unsightly; it can be unhygienic. Use an all-purpose cleaner to scrub away food particles and grime. The next time you feel like letting the sink slide on your cleaning routine, remember that you often grab hold of that faucet with raw chicken on your hands. Clean it often!
Sponge Care
Your sponges will last longer and clean better if you take care of them. You can clean sponges in your dishwasher or microwave. For microwave cleaning, soak the sponge thoroughly and cook it for two minutes. Give it time to cool off after this; it’ll be very hot! Remember never to put a sponge in the microwave if it contains metal.
A sponge holder is a nice way to keep your sink neat — until it starts getting grimy itself. You can clean away unpleasant buildup with a toothbrush. The best solution for cleaning off mold is to dip your brush in bleach or white vinegar. (Pick one or the other! Using both can cause a dangerous chemical reaction.) After the sponge caddy is free of buildup, wash it in hot, soapy water or put it into your dishwasher.
Clean Surfaces Frequently
Kitchen counters catch random drips and splatters regularly. Use an all-purpose cleaner to quickly wipe them down immediately after use. This keeps messes from drying out and getting hard to remove.
Stovetop Cleaning
It’s inevitable that some of the gunk that hits your stovetop is going to end up baked on. A gentle powdered cleanser is best for getting it off. Apply the product with a non-scratch scrubbing sponge and work on it gently. You want to let the cleanser do the cleaning, not your arm muscles. If your stovetop is made of stainless steel, scrub it with the grain of the metal rather in circles; this reduces the chances of leaving scratches behind.
Keeping Appliances Clean
Any kitchen appliances that live on your counters (toasters, blenders, coffeemakers, etc.) tend to attract food residue and cooking buildup. A quick wipe-down with an all-purpose cleaner will keep this under control. When it’s time to give appliances a more thorough clean, remove all the parts you can and wash the appropriate ones as you would dishes — in the sink or dishwasher. You’ll find small-scale cleaning tools like an old toothbrush or a cotton swab handy for removing debris from hard-to-reach appliance crevices.
Regular Refrigerator Management
Cleaning the fridge can be a hassle if you only do it once in a blue moon. Here’s a great way to lighten the workload. Every time you take out the kitchen garbage, stop by the fridge and check for any food that’s ready to go out. You may also want to update your meal plans if you have foods that are approaching unusability.
Refrigerator Cleaning
To make short work of sticky spills inside your refrigerator, apply a sponge or dishrag that’s been run through hot water. Simply leave it on the spill until it cools. Test the mess; has it become easy to wipe away? If not, you can apply hot water again.
Biting The Garbage Bullet
There’s no clever trick to taking out the trash; you just have to remember to do it when it’s ready. Remember, the garbage only gets nastier to deal with if you let it fester for another day. For more information on cleaning tips click here.
