Kitchen Clean Up Motivation

In the hustle and bustle of daily life, it’s easy to let household chores pile up, especially after a long day. One common struggle many people face is finding the motivation to tackle the dishes after dinner. The chaotic aftermath of meal prep can often feel overwhelming, leaving us tempted to postpone the cleanup until later, or worse, to the next day.

However, there’s a simple yet effective strategy to help overcome this hurdle and make the task feel more manageable. By setting a timer and breaking down the cleanup process into smaller, more achievable steps, you can transform a daunting chore into a quick and efficient routine. This approach not only ensures your kitchen stays organised, but also leaves you with a sense of accomplishment and a tidy space to unwind in.

Let’s delve into how setting a timer can be a game-changer in motivating yourself to tackle post-dinner cleanup, along with tips to streamline the process and maximise your efficiency!

After dinner, dealing with the chaos in the kitchen can be the last straw, and very hard to get up for, when you’d rather be tucked up on the couch in front of the fire.

Before you ignore the mess and wake up to it in the morning, set the oven timer for 10 minutes and see how efficient you can be. Try doing things in this order and see if it helps:

1. Fill any baking dishes or nasty-looking pots and pans with warm soapy water and leave them to soak.

2. Put any leftovers in containers and pop them in the fridge for tomorrow’s lunch.

3. Rinse the plates and put them in the dishwasher. Don’t overstack the dishwasher and do group like items together to make it easier to unpack. If you have glasses with lipstick on them, it is a good idea to wipe that off before you put it in the dishwasher.

3. Wipe the benches and the table. Either use a little baking soda on a damp sponge, or a bit of kitchen spray to kill any germs lurking (remember the tap and drawer and fridge door handles). If the stove needs a little attention, either method works well there too.

4. Revisit the soaking dishes. If they are really nasty (and therefore probably not non-stick) a bit of scrunched up tin foil can remove the worst of it, to avoid clogging up your dish brush. Finish with the dish brush and warm soapy water.

5. Finally, whip a broom around the floor and under the table.

If the timer hasn’t gone off yet, give yourself a pat on the back and make a cuppa. If you don’t quite finish in 10 minutes, you probably have the momentum you need to finish the job.

You can use the same technique when it comes to cleaning out cupboards or tidying bedrooms that have got into a muddle. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by the scale of the job, do five or ten minutes at a time and make a plan of how to use those minutes more efficiently.

It is amazing what you can achieve and how good you feel afterwards.