Cleaning Up

[Squeat Mungry]

That is one thing I've noticed about living alone: nobody's making messes but yours truly, and no complaints if yours truly doesn't clean it up. 

That said, however, the house rules are: (1) Everything -- everything! --  is in the dishwasher by the time I hit the sack in the evening. (2)  The trash is to be out (and empty wine bottles put out for recycling), the dishwasher is to be empty, and everything is to be put away by the time I leave for work in the morning.  This vastly reduces the 'ick!' factor of getting up early in the morning and having to face a sinkful that hasn't improved overnight, and it also allows me to hit the market as needful after work and come home to a kitchen which is clean and ready for the fun of cooking dinner.

(edited for clarity)

←

Yeah, I live alone, too. But my rules are a little bit different:

1. There shall be clear paths no less than 14" wide connecting all rooms to the hallway.

2. The dishes in the sink shall be piled no higher than 8" above the edge of the sink and shall be no more than three days old.

3. There shall be no more than three empty pizza boxes stacked in the kitchen, and no more than 10 chinese take-out boxes in the fridge.

4. At least 5 square inches of countertop must be visible.

Okay, it's not quite that bad, but I really do need to hire a cleaning person. I just HATE cleaning so much that so much of it just never gets done!

Squeat

[ronnie_suburban]

I cut my teeth in tiny kitchens and I became a disciple of the 'clean as you go' school, out of necessity at the very least. My wife, however, is from the other school. Even when making her specialty (toast), the entire kitchen gets a coating...one counter to slice the bread, another to toast it, a third to butter it and a fourth surface where I usually find the used butter knife.

=R=

[Lexica]

I clean as I go to the extent that time allows - something that simmers unattended for a while allows much more cleaning than stir-fry, f'rinstance. Whatever hasn't been cleaned by the time dinner is ready to serve (which is, at a minimum, the pot it's being prepared in and the utensil used to serve it) my husband does.

Er, does when I remember to remind him, that is.

He seems to have the same trait that bloviatrix described, preferring infrequent cleaning binges to daily maintenance. It's an uphill struggle.

[bleachboy]

I'm with andiesenji, in that I clean-as-I-go to the extent that I keep my favorite pots (the Falk Culinair) clean so that I can use them multiple times in one cooking session. Once all dishes near completion, however, stuff usually just gets piled into the sink until the next morning.

I need to learn this lesson, though: A roasting pan takes one minute to clean the same night you roasted, ten times as long the next day. Alas.

[fifi]

I also live alone. My usual routine is to clean as I go. Even when I was in the house I did that. Now that I am in an apartment with a small kitchen, it is more critical. I really can't do any real cooking in a messy kitchen. Messiness dicombobulates my mind. I do really well at clean as you go if I am into a cooking "project".

However... I have recently fallen into a really bad habit. The last few weeks I have been working at home more than usual. I am finding that I go into the kitchen to rewarm some beans or make a sandwich for lunch, make a quick grilled cheese sandwich, whatever. I leave little messes that soon add up to a kitchen that has met Armageddon! Even if I have emptied the dishwasher so that the odd dirty plate or bowl can go in there, they still tend to stack up. And I am getting worse about emptying the dishwasher. Therapy... I need therapy!

[snowangel]

This thread is reminding me of why I have kids. I cook, Diana and Peter clean. They cook, I clean.

Paul takes care of Heidi. Heidi, with all that's going on with her, is great for keeping things clean. She's a virtual counter-cleaner. If it's out, she'll grab at it, and if it's too bit for her tiny little hands (she has really poor fine motor control), it's on the floor, either broken or leaving a sticky mess. Outside of a crock with wooden spoons, spatulas, etc., and the coffee maker, there is nothing on my counters. Ever. Not that I have much counterspace!

I, too, like Cusina, have moved from one of those big "great room" type kitchens to a small kitchen. Absolutely love it. Not big enough to accumulate crap.

[Chris Hennes]

I'm incredibly impressed by the number of people in this topic who manage to adhere to a "clean-as-you-go" policy. It is a rare day indeed when I manage to even partially clean as I go. For the most part, dishes get done while I'm making my coffee and procrastinating before work in the morning.

[Anna N]

The longer I live and the more I cook the more "clean as you go" becomes my mantra. Not that I have never done as you do and left it til morning but it's always put a damper on my new day so it rarely happens now. I too have a very small kitchen so it is also pretty much a necessity to keep some degree of order in there. What I would love is one of those mysterous shelves that seem to appear in many TV cooking shows, just under the work surface, where all used implements are made to disappear!

[Lapin d'Argent]

I agree with you Anna -- especially where you can just make the disasters disappear!

I am very fortunate to have a wonderful Sous Chef...whenever there's an inconvenient pile in the sink, or I need my favorite knives or whatever cleaned for reuse, I just call out "Sous Chef!" and DH comes in and cleans up whatever has accumulated. And when dinner is done, he finishes the cleanup and puts the food away. That's the deal: I figure out what we're going to eat, and cook it, and he cleans up. Often, he shops as well, but I probably do about a third of the shopping, and almost 100% of the meal planning.

The dishwasher usually gets run overnight, and since I work from home, I'll put all the dry pots and pans and clean dishes away at some point during the day, and we'll be ready to rock and roll.

After 20 years, we've got this down pretty well. Now that I've introduced him to Bar Keeper's Friend, he actually cleans up much better than I would. Although sometimes I still do need to scrub down the stove top a little bit. But hey, I'm not complaining.

[heidih]

I can not go to sleep if there is a mess so I try to clean as I go as much as possible. Very small place so sometimes bowls and other dishes are drying on the couch or the bed so as not to clutter my work space. Of course sometimes I forget the clever new spots and can not find something I need...

[Hest88]

I've also always had relatively small kitchens, so cleaning as I go has always been a necessity. Plus, I'm rather klutzy and messy, so NOT cleaning as I go will invariably mean scraps and dribbles will get into the clean food, and various bowls and dishes will be in my way while trying to prepare other dishes. Plus, I also reuse certain cookware more than once, so some get cleaned more than once in the course of preparation.

[maggiethecat]

I'm glad to see the reemergence of this great old topic. Since I posted eons ago I've become even more che sera sera about kitchen cleaning. We're artisinal dishwashers (the machine's been dead for five years)and it just depends. We're only two, so there aren't lots of plates and flatware -- if we're doing something else they can wait for manana. All I insist upon, in my middle-aged kitchen slutitude, is a scrubbed counter before I seek my couch.

[Emily_R]

Gotta say I'm in the school of my-husband-cleans-as-I-go. Sometimes he is cleaning up after me so quickly that he'll wash things I wasn't even done with yet!

[Edward J]

At home it's a bit different. It's a big kitchen with lots of counterspace. This means every available inch of surface is cluttered. Sometimes I do the cooking, sometimes my wife, sometimes the kids will fool around.

As much as I instruct, whine and complain, NO ONE but me will:

-Wash a pot or pan, they invariably get filled with water and left for me to deal with--even a teflon pan used for fried eggs.

-Put dirty dishes in the d/washer, they just can't comprehend how dirty dishes get clean

-Keep counters uncluttered, i.e empty cereal boxes, empty milk jugs, empty jam jars, etc.

I hate the kitchen and if I could, I'd shrink it down and only have maybe 4 or 5 feet of counter space.

Now, at work it's different...

-Work surfaces are never cluttered, if someone leaves a purse or keys on my counter, they are removed within 3 seconds. Tempers are raised about this, but I remain firm.

-Dishes never pile up for more than 2 or 3 rack's worth

-Always clean as I go. There is only me, myself, and I to cook.

[johannafin]

I'm glad to see the reemergence of this great old topic. Since I posted eons ago I've become even more che sera sera about kitchen cleaning. We're artisinal dishwashers (the machine's been dead for five years)and it just depends. We're only two, so there aren't lots of plates and flatware -- if we're doing something else they can wait for manana. All I insist upon, in my middle-aged kitchen slutitude, is a scrubbed counter before I seek my couch.

I love it! Artisinal dishwashers, sounds so much better than washing the dishes by hand. I've been an artisinal dishwasher for 40 years, never having lived in home with a dishwasher for more than 2 months.

For the record I also am a clean as you go person. Yet there still seems to be plenty of dishes at the end of a meal.

Johanna

[ScottyBoy]

Even though it always looks like a bomb went off in my room, the kitchen is always spotless (kitchen cleaning OCD).

Wondering what everyone works with and uses to clean their kitchens.

I'm a citrus spay cleaner, bleach and Bar Keepers Friend kind of guy.

Commercial kitchen floor mats and a dedicated hand sink round it out.

[nibor]

Hot soapy water for the counters and floor. Bar Keepers Friend for the ceramic sink and an occasional pan, Windex for the glass-fronted cupboards, baking soda to soak away burned stuff on the stainless steel cooktop. Bleach only occasionally on the grout around the sink if it starts to look moldy - remembering to keep it dry works better.

[ScottyBoy]

Does anyone know where the name Bar Keepers Friend comes from? Never seen a bartender have to scrub anything with such an abrasive cleaner.

[dcarch]

Re: Bar Keeper's; bars used to have brass sinks, plumbing, counters, etc.

I don't use any chemicals for cleaning. I clean with mild soap, then once in a while I use a 55 Watt germicidal UV light to kill all microbes, like they do in germ-free environments.

dcarch

[ScottyBoy]

Whooaoao, next level stuff!

[flourgirl]

I love Bar Keepers Friend. Can't clean my cookware without it.

For the counters I use Windex or Simple Green mixed with water. For quick clean-ups I use sanitizing wipes. I prefer the Kirkland brand found in Costco because they are thicker and the packaging makes it easier to get a wipe when they fail to come out on their own.

[Okanagancook]

We are on septic field so use a biodegradable solution for general counter top and stove cleaning. A dilute solution of dish detergent for washing up. Also have a spray bottle of 10 percent bleach for my cutting boards.

[Lisa Shock]

Bon Ami (doesn't scratch), dish soap, bleach. For counters, mild solution of bleach and water. I have UV wand that I use when I remember that I have it. For windows: rubbing alcohol.

[flourgirl]

Everything cleans better with microfiber cloths. I use them for windows, counters, dusting, mopping the floor and drying pots. But their best use is for cleaning my dogs ears. My dog has chronic ear infections and irritations. The cleaning agents the vet gave me were causing additional irritations. The microfiber cloths remove the dirt without the need for liquids.

[LindaK]

Can someone explain the UV wand--do they really work? Any preferred models? A quick search shows them ranging from $25 to $200.