We’ve all got kitchens, of course. How many of us could raise our hands in good faith if we were asked if we had a CLEAN kitchen, however? It’s all too easy to let the cleaning tasks slide when we get busy with life. It’s not like Martha Stewart’s going to jump through the window and pin a gold star on our collar, right? While it’s true, there aren’t any awards for keeping a tidy kitchen, it’s still worth making an effort. If you take advantage of smart time-saving principles, it doesn’t even require as much elbow grease as you think!

Always Start With The Sink

Just as the stove is the nerve center of your kitchen while you’re cooking, the sink is the nexus all of your cleaning operations revolve around. That’s why the first question you should ask yourself is always “have I cleaned the sink yet?” A clean sink can have a huge positive impact on even the messiest kitchen. Better still, a clean sink invites you to tackle another cleaning job right away!

Clutter Is The Enemy

Decluttering your kitchen can turn into a huge one-time project, but it’s one of the most important steps to take towards enjoying a higher standard of kitchen cleanliness. A kitchen with nice, clear counters always feels cleaner. (Even if it’s not!) It’s also obviously easier to clean kitchen surfaces when you don’t have to move twenty-seven knickknacks to get at them! If stripping down your kitchen to the bare necessities is a truly huge job, feel free to break it into parts. Tackle one wall (or one counter) every day until you’ve eliminated the unnecessary clutter.

Assemble All Your Cleaning Products – Then Separate

When you’re going to go all-out on cleaning your whole kitchen, it’s a good idea to bring together all of the cleaning products you need at the start of the job. (Consider storing them right in the kitchen for easier access!) The simple sight of your assembled ranks of cleansers will remind you of which jobs need attention – and which products need replacing! Don’t forget the sacred safety rule of kitchen cleaning, though: Never mix bleach and ammonia products. That produces deadly chlorine gas, and that leads to messing up your kitchen with corpses.

Baking Soda Jobs

If your collection of cleansers doesn’t include baking soda, it’s just not complete. Baking soda can be an incredibly powerful cleaning tool when used correctly. Sprinkling baking soda onto wet surfaces creates an effective cleaning paste that can lift stains, shine metal, and eliminate odors. A very thick paste works wonders for oven cleaning while a lighter mix is ideal for steel sinks. Use baking soda and hot water to restore the removable racks and shelves in your fridge to sparkling cleanliness! Finally, pop a few spoonfuls into the bottom of your garbage bin to keep trash odor under control.

Ammonia Jobs

You’re probably pretty clear on what kitchen cleaning tasks call for bleach, but what about ammonia? As long as you keep the two well separated, you can work wonders with this humble cleanser. Ammonia is ideal for removing tough grease stains, and it makes an excellent “big gun” in your cleaning arsenal. To restore gas stove burners to looking spotless, chuck them in a large Ziploc bag with a quarter-cup of ammonia. Put the bags outside overnight; the ammonia fumes will loosen up every speck of caked-on gunk. Rinse the burners off with soap and water and pop them back on! (Another safety tip: Always wear gloves when you’re using ammonia, and avoid getting it anywhere near your eyes.)

Lemon Cleaning Tricks

Don’t feel like breaking out the harsh chemicals? You can go very far cleaning your kitchen with all-natural ingredients. Invest heavily in lemons the next time they’re on sale at your grocery store. A half of a lemon with salt added to it makes an amazing disposable scouring pad. It works wonders on metal and hard surfaces! Boiling lemons in water in your microwave will loosen up any tough debris and make it easy to wipe away. To dispose of your used-up lemons once you’re finished, chop them up into small pieces and feed them to your sink disposal. This will eliminate any unpleasant odors. (Excess lemons can be stashed in your freezer so that you can freshen up your disposal every week or so.)

These are just a few thoughts to help jump-start your next kitchen-cleaning crusade. Don’t hesitate to invest a little elbow grease in the process! Once your kitchen is truly clean, you’ll find it gets a lot easier to keep it that way. Just remember how pleasant it is to have a sparkling kitchen and you’ll have no trouble avoiding the alternative.

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