Kitchen Cleaning 101

Dearest Family,

Yet again, I find myself frustrated by the lack of knowledge on your part of how to properly clean a kitchen.  There is more to the process than putting a few dishes in the dishwasher and walking away.  So, for my sanity and your assistance, I offer you these key points in Kitchen Cleaning 101:

First Things First: Before you can start washing dishes or putting them in the dishwasher, the extra food has to be removed.  Yes, this is a little like cleaning before cleaning, but it is an important step.  If you skip it, you run the risk of clogging up my dishwasher and this will not make anyone happy.  In order to pre-clean the dishes I prefer you take one of those white rubber spatulas and scrape the scraps into the trash, then stack the dishes neatly.  Don't spread the dishes out all over my counter (see picture below) with the food, napkins and other junk all over them.  Place knives and other sharp or dangerous items far back on the counter, preferably behind the sink.

The Dishwasher:  After filling the dishwasher, if there are more dirty dishes than will fit, you have two choices.  Either will make me happy.

1. Scrape and stack the extra dishes and set them out of the way to be loaded with the next washing. (But you're not done.  Skip to the next section!)

2. Put the stopper in the sink, turn on the hot water, add a little dish soap and wash them.  Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but this is actually possible! You can still hand wash dishes even though we own a dishwasher. 

Now, option #2 is also necessary for certain dishes even if the dishwasher has room.  It really doesn't matter if you only have one or two dishes that need to be hand washed, you will not be wasting water.  Just keep reading.

Hand Washing:  Please see Step #2 above on how to properly make warm soapy water.  Please make it as hot as your little hands can handle.  It kills more germs that way. 

Wash glasses and cups first, then plates and greasy items last.  Add more hot water or soap if necessary.  Wash knives last and don't let them sit in the bottom of the sink water or you may cut your hand.  (Believe me, I know this from experience.)

A note on soaking; it is not necessary to soak things overnight!  If you place the item that needs soaking in the water then wipe down counters and the table (those instructions are coming) then the offending item should be ready to be washed. Even if it's a day old.  It may require a little elbow grease or a scouring pad.  Additional soaking is not really going to make a difference at this point.

Counters and Kitchen Table:  This is where that water is going to come in handy! Take that dishrag (No, I don't want you using that nasty sponge full of bacteria.)  Put it in that warm soapy water, wring out the excess water and then wipe down the counters and table.  You may have to repeat these steps several times to get the counter and table clean. 

This step is very important because you will have a clean table to do your crafts on and I will have a clean kitchen to cook in, thus keeping your meal from being extra late.  It's a win win situation. 

See, wasn't that easy?  And the best part is you didn't have to see mom's head do the Exorcist head spin trick like when I just came downstairs and saw permanent craft paint all over my table.