Get your kitchen sparkling

After breakfast, lunch, and supper, your kitchen can look like a disaster area in need of federal attention.
We all know that id we leave our dishes and counter tops until the next morning; we need an ice pick to scrape off dried food.
After a long day, few of us want to spend an hour scrubbing a room that is just going to need another scrubbing in less than eight hours. Use this method to keep your kitchen running smoothly without making you feel rundown.

• Grab all of your needed supplies together (listed below). Don’t underestimate the value of this step. Trying to find cleaners, dishcloths, sponges, etc. not only eats up time, but increases the risk of distractions that let you forget what you were working on in the first place. Gather all supplies together before you begin.
• Run a sink of hot, soapy water. If you have a double sink with garbage disposal on one side, make sure to use the disposal-free side.
• Keeping the disposal side free will allow you to scrape left-overs down the drain quickly while you work.
• Scrape off all the dishes into the trash. While the dishes are soaking, go through the kitchen clearing out trash from your floor, counter tops, cupboards, etc.
• Don’t worry about things that are out of place, or don’t belong in the kitchen. Worry only about trash.
• Move on to gathering all the items that do not belong in the kitchen. Put all these items into a basket (see supplies).
• If you have a helper (willing or unwilling) send them off to put away these items. Do not stop working on the kitchen to take these misplaced items to their ‘homes’.
• Put away all of the items that belong in the kitchen but are not in their places.
• Don’t allow yourself to get distracted by rearranging cabinets; drawers, etc. simply place the items that are out back where they belong.
• If possible, grab a couple of other people and form a wash, rinse, dry and put away assembly line. This is a great way to catch up with family members.
• Wash down your counter tops, appliances, and sink.
• Rinse out sponges and rags. If needed, put them in the dirty clothes. We are not heavy duty cleaning here. I literally mean, wash down the visible surfaces.