Let's Dish

As many as you know, my mom LOVES doing laundry, and she is determined that Adah will share in her love of laundry. Which is secretly my hope because I'm the one doing most of laundry, and it would be really great for a little help in that area. ;)

There is not one house hold chore that I would say that I LOVE doing. I enjoy a clean house, and wish I had the motivation to say that every room is clean and tidy. But I will be honest in saying, I would much rather have a fun day than spending a day cleaning the house.

Everyone has their "place" that they like to stay clean. For me, there is one area of the house that I really take pride in, and put a lot of time into, and that is my kitchen. I LOVE the feeling of dishes being put away, clean counters, clutter put away, and floors clean. I did this yesterday, and even as tired as it made me feel I felt very accomplished. I have it set up that Adahs little table is in there and she can eat or color, or play in her play room that is right off the kitchen, and I can check on her as much as I want without loosing much time.

I have a "routine" as to how to maintain the kitchen, as well as daily, and weekly chores that I like to do. I start with the dishes. Now, you know how I said my mom loves laundry? Well this is as close to love as I will get to any chore. I have a system to doing dishes. I start with always having an empty dishwasher, or if there are dishes in there they are waiting for a full dishwasher for me to run the cycle. I have gotten really good (and fast) at putting away clean dishes. That way, I really don't ever have dirty dishes waiting in the sink for a place in the dishwasher thus creating clutter. I use to HATE putting away clean dishes, but now, it's not a big deal.

The routine I am going to touch on is dishes. I know so many women have such a hard time keeping up with dishes, as did I, so I hope this can help... First of all, when I "do" dishes I am really just cleaning them to go into the dishwasher to be sanitized. When I lived at home, us kids did dishes after dinner often, and I would always sneak barely rinsed dishes in the dishwasher to "save time." I can only imagine what my mom would find the next morning. When Jon and I got married, I became more efficient in my dish washing because our first place didn't have a dishwasher. I would spend so much time hand washing dishes, that it was a good habit that followed me even when we moved to a place that had a dishwasher.

Breakfast, and lunch don't really produce enough of a load to wash before dinner, but if I know what I am making is going to need a lot of space in the dishwasher, I run it in the afternoon, and empty it before I start cooking. That way I can load as I go. That is so helpful to me so that after dinner, I'm not looking at an endless amount of dish washing. Which ultimately means more family time which is always a plus!

In my kitchen, I have sections of counter space, and I like to use this to my advantage. I start with the smallest section and get all the clutter and dishes put away, and then I sanitize and wipe that area down. Then I go for the next section and do the same. Before I get to the last section, I clean the sink (by this time most of the dishes are put away) and the faucet. Then the last section which also has my coffee pot that I wipe down in the process.

So when I go through my routine, I pretty much have a clean kitchen, aside from the floor. I like to leave the floor for nap time for obvious reasons.

What is your place in your home you like to keep clean?