How to Keep Your Kitchen Clean

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The kitchen can be one of the more difficult rooms in your home to keep clean.  A high traffic area prone to spills, grime, and grease, regular maintenance is a must. Keeping appliances and surfaces clean doesn’t mean you have to use harsh chemicals. Baking soda and vinegar provide many green living, natural options. Here are five strategies for how to keep your kitchen clean that you can start using today.

Prevent hard water stains

To help prevent hard water stains, make it a habit to dry up water immediately and wipe down your faucet after every use. If some hard water stains do develop, Home Guides recommends creating a solution of vinegar, water, and a splash of lemon juice to treat the stains.

Wash dishes while you cook

It’s tempting to toss all your dirty dishes in the sink while you’re baking or cooking a meal. If you have a dishwasher, make sure it’s empty before you start cooking so you can load dirty items as soon as you’re done using them. If you don’t have a dishwasher, wash and put away each utensil, pan, and bowl as you go so you don’t end your cooking session with an overflowing sink and no energy to cleanup afterwards.

Peel fruits and vegetables into a paper or plastic bag

Peeling fruits and vegetables into a plastic bag rather than the sink or cutting board makes cleanup a breeze. Real Simple has more great tips for using plastic bags as clever cleaning tools. Green living bonus–if you use a paper bag instead of plastic, you can take your scraps directly to your yard waste bin or compost pile.

Clean the oven with natural products

You don’t have to use harsh chemicals to achieve superior results when cleaning your oven. Stephanie from Hello Natural has a great recipe for a DIY non-toxic oven cleaner. During fall and winter when your oven sees more traffic, implementing a bi-weekly cleaning schedule will cut down on grease and grime buildup.

Clean the dishwasher once a month

A dishwasher is responsible for cleaning dishes–so why does it need to be cleaned? Believe it or not, using a combination of vinegar and baking soda to clean your dishwasher once a month will help keep your appliance in good working order and cleaning dishes at its highest capacity. Check out The Kitchn’s great tutorial to get started.

 

 

Looking for more cleaning and organizing tips? Try these:

                           

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Clarissa Fidler is a 20-something trying to find her place in this world. She grew up in Seattle, attended college in Utah, and recently moved back to the Pacific Northwest after spending the last few years in Chicago obtaining her master’s degree in journalism. Clarissa spends her days working as a higher education professional helping graduate students pursue their passions. In her free time you’ll find her reading the New York Times, cuddling with her cat Harper, catching up on her favorite blogs, enjoying the outdoors, or checking out a new restaurant.  If you’d like to read more by Clarissa, check out her blog West Hawthorne Place.