When your house is a mess and you're feeling the stress, what
you need is a friend in your. Ear
In today's episode, I'm going to be your cleaning coach as you
work in your kitchen, and this is a good one to listen to if
you have a sink full or more of dirty dishes.
In case you're new to the show, I'm Ronnie and clean with me is
the podcast where I walk you through cleaning your house step
by step. OK, today as I guide you through
washing the dishes, wiping down surfaces, and sweeping or
vacuuming your kitchen floor, I'll also be revealing some of
my favorite kitchen organization hacks.
Let's get right into the episode.
Now, I know some of you are watching on Spotify.
If so, please keep this in video mode.
If I've been minimized down to the bottom, click on it.
Even though I want you to get up and clean.
OK, if you're still sitting on the couch or lying in bed, it's
time to gear up for your cleaning session.
Maybe you need to wash your face and run a brush through your
hair. Or if you're already looking
presentable, you could start a load of laundry or take out your
kitchen trash. But for Spotify listeners, that
video mode helps me out financially, so please have me
enlarged on the screen even though my hair is in a ponytail
and I didn't really do much to fix up today.
Have you ever gotten triggered because you went to cook dinner
and that one measuring cup or gadget was missing?
And if you can't relate, it might be that you're the only
one who washes dishes or prepares food at your house.
But for those of us with teenagers and maybe a husband
that cooks and does dishes, it's sometimes a struggle when they
have a different idea of where things go.
That's where labels and containers can help.
OK, you want to make it obvious where things go and I haven't
done this yet, but I'm planning to look for some containers at
Dollar Tree and organize my gadgets.
For example, one would be for measuring cups.
And yes, I use different measuring cups for dry and wet
ingredients. What's so weird is I could have
sworn I read that there's a slight variation between the two
types of measuring cups as far as the amounts that they hold.
I mean, obviously I knew it was similar, but then when I looked
it up today, I read that the difference between the dry and
the wet measuring cups lies in their design and intended use,
but they hold the exact same volume apparently.
I'll talk about that more in a minute.
Hopefully you are gearing up for your cleaning session, doing
whatever you need to do. It's important to take out the
trash before starting a kitchen cleaning session and then
relining it. OK, but your next step is going
to be gathering dishes from around the house.
Maybe there are coffee mugs or water glasses on your night
stands, or your husband has an ice cream bowl there.
Maybe someone forgot to clear their plate and fork from the
dining room table. Or maybe somebody forgot to
clear their plate and fork from the dining room table.
If you have teenagers who are allowed to eat in their
bedrooms, be sure to check their rooms too.
I don't think my daughter eats in her room.
I have two kids still living at home, but lately my youngest son
does he while he's doing his video games.
He has a little desk, but he's super good about keeping his
room clean and taking his own dirty dishes to the sink.
But I sometimes preemptively grab an empty cereal bowl off of
his desk while he's in a game. The next thing I want you to do
once you gather everything up, which should only take a few
seconds, is clear off your kitchen countertops.
Now, you might be tempted to start on dishes first.
Sometimes, you know, we feel overwhelmed by the dishes and
we're like, I've got at least get the dishes done.
But eliminating clutter is going to make the the task of cleaning
your kitchen seem less daunting. So let's put it put those cereal
boxes away. Let's throw away any trash off
the countertops, and let's quickly relocate any items that
don't belong in the kitchen at all.
In most kitchens, there's what another cleaning influencer, Fly
Lady calls hot spots. Hot spots are just clutter
magnets, and they're different for everybody.
In our kitchen, the hot spots are the island and the pantry
floor. People plop anything and
everything on the kitchen island or just leave things there
during food prep. I don't know why they leave
paper plates and wrappings and things like that, but in the
pantry there's also empty water bottle packaging or maybe the
occasional empty dog food bag that needs to be thrown away.
And items can quickly build up in these places if you don't
consistently clear the clutter. And I realize your hotspots may
be different. Once you have your countertops
cleared off, which shouldn't take long and makes a huge
difference visually, it's time to pre rinse any difficult items
and get them soaking. I'm talking about things with
baked on or dried on food. Alternatively, you could spray
them with a product like Don power wash.
OK, once you get everything pretreated you're going to start
unloading the drying rack. You don't have to be cleaning
exactly along. I'm just kind of listing things,
but you know, emptying your dishwasher and drying rack and
then maybe you're going to start your first sink load, which is
typically cups, glasses, silverware, plates and bowls.
If you're like me, you also, you know, you put those smaller
items in the dishwasher and also position some knives and cooking
spoons on the top rack. OK, whatever doesn't fit in my
dishwasher, a hand wash. But I realize that some of you
are hand washing everything. Everyone's situation is
different and will vary from day-to-day or meal to meal.
I talked about in a previous episode that when we only have a
few things to wash, we just hand wash them often times.
OK, just be working on dishes, whatever that means for you
today anyway. I I just read today that the dry
measuring cups that are used for ingredients like flour or sugar
and nuts are typically designed to be filled to the top and
leveled off for accuracy. I knew that, but for some reason
I thought there was like a tiny difference in, you know, the
amount that they held. Whereas the measuring cups which
are used for, you know, liquid ingredients like water, milk and
oil often have a spout for easy pouring and are marked with
measurement lines. You can kind of hold them up and
make sure you get the accurate liquid measurement Anyway.
I've known for a while that the individual cups labeled 1 cup,
1/2 cup and so on, A lot of times they're plastic are for
that, unless you're bougie and you have metal ones or
something. But I've known for a while those
are for dry ingredients. But for some reason I thought it
would be slightly inaccurate to put liquid in those even though
I do it sometimes. But I just read that both types
of cups hold the exact same volume, they're just designed
differently to ensure accurate measurement be working on dishes
while I talk. Now that I read that, I'm
thinking it's probably fine that I'm sometimes using those
individual plastic cups to measure both the rice and the
water when I make rice on the stove.
Maybe I was just confused because with the Instant Pot, it
comes with a water cup that's not a standard cup, and then
they have their own recipes that talk about their cup.
Maybe it's a Mandela effect. No, I'm just kidding.
I don't. I don't believe in that.
But this does seem like one of those situations for me anyway.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not the type of person who measures
everything when I cook, but I am careful about rice and water
ratios. And you know, of course, any
baked goods I make. I feel like baking is a science.
Cooking's more of an art. My husband's Hispanic though, so
when he makes rice he uses that method where he fills the water
up to a certain knuckle after putting the rice in first and it
comes out great. Anyway, my temporary hack for
quickly throwing together a recipe when the measuring cup
you're looking for is buried in that drying rack that your
husband stacked sky high. Or or just someone put it away
wrong. My little hack is just to grab a
Mason jar that has the oz listed on the side.
That works great for measuring liquids and now I'm realizing I
could measure flour in there if I have to.
I know that when you're baking bread you are supposed to scoop,
not or. No, you're supposed to pour, not
scoop. Because if you use the measuring
cup to scoop it, it could be packed and you could put more in
there. Anyway, Hopefully by now you've
put away the clean dishes and maybe even washed a few dirty
ones. Either keep plugging away on
those dishes if you have a lot of dishes to do, or if you're
ahead of the game, start spraying and wiping down kitchen
surfaces from the top down. You might even have time to
clean the inside of your microwave, which is today's
bonus task should you choose to accept it.
The way these cleaning sessions work is, if you're overwhelmed,
you kind of do the bare minimum, but then on a day where you're
more caught up, you do a deeper clean.
Just keep working in the kitchen.
While I talk about today's product recommendation, it's not
a sponsor or anything like that. I just wanted to say that I
really like using the Scrub Mommies and the Scrub Daddies,
especially the Scrub Mommy and I, I recently read that they're
more hygienic than a traditional sponge because they're odor
resistant and they dry faster. And that's probably why they
don't, you know, stink. And like other sponges, they can
be stamped sanitized in the dishwasher or microwave or
anyway, the red side foam of the Scrub Mommy is designed to
resist stains and rinse clean, preventing bacterial buildup
that's found in the standard absorbent sponges.
You know, like your little Scotch brite or whatever.
That's what I used to use. I mainly like to pre rinse with
a long handled brush and then I do the actual washing with a
scrub Mommy, which is like the scrub Daddy, but it has a soft
side. It's more of an all in one tool
because it has that you kind of need that soft side for getting
the grease off of your dishes. Like, you know, like with a
sponge or with a rag. But if the scrub mommy wears out
before I buy another one, I of course do dishes the old
fashioned way with a dish rag. And like I always say, this show
is more about keeping you on task than telling you which
products to use. But a lot of you have expressed
that you want me to include product recommendations in the
episode. Once your dishes are done, it's
time to start spraying your countertops and other surfaces.
If you're wiping down your cabinets today, maybe you'll
spray those first. Some of you have a baby or
toddler and have a highchair to clean.
I always forget to mention that. But anyway, if you've already
given your countertop, stovetop and tables top a swipe, maybe
after breakfast or lunch and there's not a new mess, you can
get started on sweeping or mopping the kitchen floor.
Otherwise, for the rest of you, finish cleaning those upper
surfaces from the top down before moving on to sweeping and
maybe mopping your kitchen floor.
And I use like a Shark vacuum, another product grip
recommendation there in the kitchen.
I already talked a little bit about labeling containers, which
is something I already planned to do to an I mean, I already do
to an extent in the pantry, but I'm planning to do it in some
inside some of my cupboards, like the one I call my Ronnie
Tools cupboard, where I have just various gadgets that I kind
of hide from the rest of the family.
They're just for me. Anyway, you want to use storage
containers and then label them. And there are cute stickers you
can get at Walmart. You can order them online.
But by putting things in containers and labeling them, it
helps the rest of the family put them away correctly and think
outside the box here, meaning putting more things into boxes
or baskets than you usually would.
The things that you would normally just place in your
cupboard or pantry so that you can label where things go.
For example, you might use a plastic container and put a
sticker on it with the words blender and food processor
parts. OK, that might be something that
I hide in the Ronnie Tools cupboard or something.
I mean, organization is unique to you because we all use
different gadgets, but the point is that everyone is more likely
to remember where to put things when they are clearly labeled.
Another tip is using lazy Susan's.
If you don't know what those are, they're just circular trays
that spin around. OK.
You can use these in your fridge or your pantry to make
condiments or small seasonings and other items easily
accessible. And this prevents items from
getting lost in the back. So that's a good organization
trick trick so you're not having to pull a bunch of things out
when you're looking for something.
You could also invest in a pot and pan organizer.
I'm super interested in that. But for now, what I did a while
back was that I took a sturdy cardboard box that's like dark
brown and has a nice shiny finish.
So it doesn't just look like just a box.
And I put that inside of the cabinet under my kitchen island
to hold my lids. I think I got it with some
unique makeup that I ordered. So, you know, think outside the
box there to use random boxes that you get in the mail.
Basically, if you order something or you open a gift
that comes in a nice box or other container that you know
you're tempted to keep, go ahead and keep it.
It's not hoarding. You can use that somewhere in
your kitchen or elsewhere in your home.
For example, don't just throw your gravy packets on the pantry
self shelf. Have a container for those.
I've talked about this before, but I also have a container for
all of my small baking ingredients to keep them
together, and I pull that out when I'm baking.
I'm talking about baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract,
little bags of nuts, little bags of coconut, powdered sugar,
small stuff like that. Baking bread is another animal.
I keep my little yeast in the refrigerator.
But hopefully you're still working on those floors, OK?
Or you've at least started on the floors.
Nothing says a clean house like a sparkling clean kitchen floor,
so keep up the good work in there.
My other kitchen organization hack when it comes to pots and
pans is to put the old ones out in the garage with your camping
gear. Kind of the one in one out roll.
If you get a new one, remove something from circulation or
maybe set it aside to give to a young person when they're
starting out in a new apartment. OK, it's always a good idea to
pull some things out of circulation that are only used
on rare occasion occasions. OK, I have a hard to reach
cabinet above the fridge where I keep the containers that I use
for potlucks. Like this insulated thing that I
put a casserole dish in. You know the Turkey platter.
I use it Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I think I even have a football shaped pan up there that I
bought years ago when we had another couple over to watch a
football game and I might use it again.
But I don't want that taking up space where my everyday pans go.
I don't want to be searching for things after a long day when I
go to cook. It's my pet peeve.
By the way, special thanks to my financial supporters who support
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Clean with me on Apple Podcast or Spotify, the paid
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top of, you know, their Apple or Spotify subscription or, or
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I appreciate anything you can do you know, even just the minimal
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And again, if you happen to be listening on Spotify, please
listen in video mode instead of having, you know, your your
little bar minimized down at the bottom or whatever.
Video mode does help me out immensely.
Just keep plugging away on that kitchen floor.
You're doing great. If you have little ones who are
napping and you just swept or vacuumed your kitchen, this
would be the perfect time to mop.
Or if they're awake, line up your kitchen table, chairs in
the living room or dining room, chairs in your living room or
family room and let them pretend it's a Choo Choo train with
dolls and stuffed animals as passengers.
That's how I kept my younger ones busy when they were little
and I needed to mop while they were awake.
It's a kind of a precious memory, my middle daughter
saying all aboard with her little silly accent she had back
then. All aboard the Choo Choo train.
All aboard. I would also quickly towel dry
the floor. You know, so a kid wouldn't run
in while it was still wet. But drying your kitchen floors
with a towel is a great way to get it clean around the edges.
And let's face it, some of you need to get down on your hands
and knees and clean the perimeter of your kitchen floor
with a damp towel and some cleaner.
If you're still sweeping or mopping, don't stop, OK?
This episode is coming to a close because we're out of time,
but you could always put on some music or listen to another
podcast that maybe isn't even related to cleaning or phone a
friend after this episode ends. If you made it this far, thank
you so much for listening. I appreciate each and everyone
of you. I hope you got a lot done.
As always, happy cleaning and I'll talk to you in the next
episode.