To clean all the dry burnt food out I had to take the whole top off. This was not hard, it is made to come off for cleaning. Once it was off I was able to see how bad it truly was.

Natural Cleaning (no harsh chemicals)

I do not keep a lot of chemical based cleaning products in my house and I am a great advocate for warm water and a little soup. With a little patience you will find the warm water and a little soup cleans very well. Patience is the key.

Often the ads are showing how quickly you can get your stains and scrum off with a little spray of this beautiful foaming, fragrant, cancer in a bottle. I believe they work wonders and work quickly. The chemical based cleaners will eat away at the scrum to loosen it for an easy wipe down. Warm water will take long as it softens without breaking down the scrum off your stove. It takes more time but often is just as easy to wipe down.

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

My go-to all purpose, all natural cleaner is my homemade lemon vinegar cleaner. Cleaning with natural products in our home is important. I want to embrace my home and family with healthy living by protecting them from harmful germs and bacteria as well as harsh chemical.

I did not use my lemon vinegar cleaner till the end of this cleaning although I’m sure it would have worked well if I had. The acid in the vinegar and lemon would have helped deteriorate the muck off my stove a little faster, not as fast as some other chemical cleans but probably a little fast then just water.

Learn how to make your own lemon vinegar cleaner here.

Products I Used To Deep Clean

• Warm water
• A little soup
• Bowl
• Rag
• Dish scraper
• Soft bristle brush
• Soft bristle toothbrush
• Lemon vinegar cleaner

I didn’t use much cleaning products and this made for a very simple cleaning.

Step By Step, How To Deep Clean

Step One: Water

Get any loose food off the surface. After that, take your warm soupy water and a rag and gently get everything wet. Do not dry, get it all water. Let water sit on the really dirty parts. If the water is not staying where you need it set the soaking wet rag on that spot and leave it there for 5 minutes. This will keep the water were the rag is.

Step Two: Scrape

Once everything is soft from the water soak it up and ring out your towel till most of the water is up. This way you don’t make a splashy mess. Take your scraper and gently scrape the needed areas. If it is too hard and not coming off, use more water for longer. 5-10 minutes more.

As you can see the underneath of this stove was so gross that I got another bowl to clean my scraper off into. There was a lot of build up.

Step Three: Brush

Once the majority of the crud is scraped off use your soft bristle brush to get more detailed closer cleaning. You may need to wipe down with your rag and fresh clean water a few times.

Use a toothbrush to get into or around some even smaller parts if needed.

Step Four: Wipe Down

Use your rag and fresh clean soupy water to do the final wipe down. At this time I might also use an all purpose cleaning to disinfect and get more of the unnoticeable germs away.

Step Five: Repeat

Repeat any steps that are needed as many times as need to get your realistic desired results.

Progress Over Perfection

The top is stained and scratched from my younger years of still learning how to care for my stove top. I clean it now with progress and not perfection in mind.

When cleaning anything you might have an unrealistic expectation to clean everything till it looks brand new. This is a dangerous way to think. My stove top is used daily. If I expect it to look new all the time I am going to be greatly disappointed and stressed that I’m not living to my expectations.

It is important to me to keep things clean. I feel more comfortable and less stressed in a clean environment. With four kids and cooking everything we eat from scratch, its possible to let the untidiness and used look of our house overwhelm me. But that is no way to live.

I want to embrace my home as it without being irresponsible with what I have. I want to keep my stove clean and usable with realistic exceptions of the outcome. When I can’t easily clean off stains I leave them. I embrace the used looked remember how delicious the pasta sauce or chicken tacos are that make the mess in the first place.

My motto is progress over perfection. If my home is cleaner in the evening they it was in the morning I have had great success. It may still need a lot of work, but progress has been made. If my stove is cleaner after I work on it then I have succeeded, even if I didn’t get it back to looking like new.

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What Does It Mean To “Season” A Cast Iron Pan?

Seasoning a cast iron pan is the process of heating oil into the pan to create a layer of protection making the pan non-stick and easy to clean.

Without a good seasoning on your pots and pans your food will stick to the pan and it will be very difficult to clean and cook with. You might also experience your cast iron rusting if it doesn’t have the protective layer of oil seasoning you pots and pans.

What Oil Should I Use To Season My Cast Iron?

You can technique use any oil but there are some that work better than other. Linseed/flax seed oil is the best for seasoning and cleaning cast iron pans. I use avocado oil to cook with so instead of buying multiple oils for different reasons I just use my avocado oil to season and it works just fine. Olive oil, grape seed oil are also good for season your cast iron pans.

Do not use butter or margarine, lard or meat fats. Those oils and fats are too saturated and don’t give the nice clean thin layer that we are looking for. Some might say that coconut oil is not a good oil to use because its a saturated fat but others say its a wonderful oil to season your cast iron with. I have used it and had not issues, coconut oil has worked great for me.

Why Does My Pan Get Rusty?

You might notice you cast iron pan has a little or a lot of rust on it, this is due to excess moisture. Your oil coating is supposed to repel any extra moisture on your pan but if you are not oiling and drying it properly you will not repel the water and you pan will rust. Make sure, after you cook with your pan to oil the inside and outside, handle and all and dry with heat on the stove top.

If you have rust on your cast iron pots and pans clean with the salt scrub and re-season in the oven.

How To Wash Cast Iron

Rinse With Hot Water

Wash like you would wash any other dish. Use hot water and soup if needed. Use a rag or sponge to get food off you pots and pan until its perfectly clean. The important part of cast iron is not how you wash it but how you dry you it.

Avoid scraping the surface with rough sponges or steel wool. This often chips the seasoned layers already on our cast iron.

Do not wash in dishwasher.

Can I Use Soap On Cast Iron?

Yes, you can use soap. Although we want to get the old dirty grease and food out we don’t want to remove the embedded oil seasoning. It is not recommended to use a lot of soap on cast iron because soap is a de-greaser and we want to keep our pots and pan well oiled.

How To Dry Cast Iron

Wipe Down With a Towel

Just like any other dish, wipe it down with a towel or paper towel to get till dry.

Oil Your Cast Iron

Pour a little bit of oil on you pan and wipe with a paper towel the whole pan, inside & outside, the handle and all with a little bit of oil. Repeat with new paper towel until it comes back clean.

Heat on Stove Top to Dry Completely

Place on the stove and heat it up just until it starts to smoke. Turn off the heat and let cool before putting it away.

How To Deep Clean Cast Iron

Clean You Pan Normally

Clean your pan by rinsing it in hot water and drying it. Then apply a salt scrub.

Salt Scrub

Pour in a couple tablespoons… maybe 1/4 cup of salt into the pan with a little bit of oil and scrub the salt all around with a rag or sponge. If you pan is real dirt the salt will turn black pretty quickly. Rinse the salt out, and repeat the salt scrub with fresh salt a few times till the salt looks clean or clean enough when scrubbing. Depending on how dirty you could repeat this process multiple times. Once clean its time to season your pan.

How To Season Cast Iron

Cover your pan from top to bottom, handle and all with a thin layer of oil and place upside down in the oven at 500 (or the highest your oven goes) for 1 hour. Turn off the heat and let the pan sit there a cool down in its own time in the oven.

For a really good seasoning you can repeat this process of oiling, and baking multiple times till you have it at your desired seasoned state. Or you can just cook with your pan to create a nice seasoning over time.

For me, I season my big pot twice in one day a few times a year simply because I don’t cook with it often. I use my pan regularly and it has a nice season on it to were it doesn’t require the salt scrub or seasoning in the oven but if I’m doing my big pot I will often oil up the pan and heat in the oven too.

Cleaning Cast Iron

Prep Time: 1 minute

Active Time: 10 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 minute

Print

Materials

• Cast Iron Pan or Pot
• Flax Seed Oil (or oil of your choice)
• Oven
• Salt
• Rag or Sponge

Instructions

1. Clean you cast iron with hot water.
2. Pour a few tablespoons of salt into your pan and scrub the pan down with a rag or sponge. Once the slat is all dark and dirty rinse and repeat till the slat comes out clean.
3. Rub a thin layer of flax seed oil all over your pan. Inside and outside even the handle.
4. Place your pan upside down in your oven and bake at 500 degrees (or as high as your oven goes) for 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let the cast iron cool down in the oven.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 a couple more times if desired for a better seasoning.

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Are Chemical Cleaners Bad?

YES!!! VERY BAD! …okay, maybe I’m overreacting… Let me just say right now, I have Bleach and Comet (Natural version here) and even Windex in my house right now that I use. Now, you are not going to keel over and die from them as your spray your window to clean it. With the chemical store-bought cleaners the danger is in long term exposure. 

Lets use bleach for example. Breathing in bleach fumes irritates your lungs. Sometimes while cleaning with bleach you might cough a little, feel a burning in your noes or throat… that is the chemicals burning your lungs. The feeling might goes away with a drink of water or some fresh air but that doesn’t mean there’s no damage. Healing is needed. Breathing in bleach everyday keeps the healing from happening. The more chemical burn your experience the longer its going to take to heal. Then you get a cold… and your lungs struggle. The coughing hurts, it turns in to bronchitis and then it goes crazy and you have lung cancer. It’s the constant damage, without healing that causing tissue and cell damage. To learn more read “Is Breathing in Bleach Bad?“

Yes, I keep these bad cancer causing chemical cleaners in my house. No, I do not use them daily, or even weekly. My daily and weekly cleaning needs are met with all natural cleaning products.

Benefits of Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner is Natural

Both lemon and vinegar are natural products that you can literally consume. Not just are they edible but good for you! Although, I do not recommend drinking this cleaner, that would be gross. There are also different types of vinegar, and some are better to consuming over others. The best vinegar to use when cleaning is called cleaning vinegars. You could also use distilled vinegar or white vinegar. Apple cider vinegar, or cooking vinegar is not recommended for cleaning.
When you clean with lemon and vinegar you are not breathing anything harmful into your body. Nor will this citrus vinegar cleaner irritate your skin with like other store-bought cleaners can.

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner is Cheap

Another added benefit is that making your own cleaning products is so much cheaper. Like by a lot. 

Lets do some math…
1/4 gallon, Lysol All-Purpose Cleaner, Sanitizing and Disinfecting Spray, Lemon Breeze Scent, 32oz – $2.58
2.5 gallons, Homemade Lemon Vinegar All-Purpose Cleaner – Lemons free from my tree, Cleaning Vinegar 64oz – $2.62

So right there the vinegar is about 1/2 the price of the cleaner. But don’t forget, we are going to dilute the vinegar with water. The directions on the Cleaning Vinegar bottle say 1/2 cup vinegar to a gallon of water. With that math you can get 8 gallons of cleaner for lesson than $5 (depending on if you need to buy lemons or not). The Lysol cleaning is $2.28 for a quarter of a gallon.

Myself I don’t dilute the vinegar that much. I do a 2:1 ratio of water and vinegar. This gets me about 2.5 gallons of homemade vinegar cleaner for the cost of 1/2 gallon (64oz) of vinegar. That’s 10 times the amount of the Lysol bottle. To buy 2.5 gallons (320oz) of Lysol that would cost about $40.

So yeah, its cheap.

Lemon Vinegar Cleaner is a Antibacterial

Lemons and vinegar are both acidic creating a hostile environment for bacteria making them inactive but not always killing the germs… There’s a lot of different thoughts on this. We are all taught and know that there are good germ and bad germs but its not always easy to know when to kill germs and when to embrace them. This cleaner is simply a cleaner, not a disinfectant, but it still has antibacterial properties. Disinfectants kills all germs both good and bad. Cleaners remove dirt, debris, grime and germs, making some germs inactive but does not kill them. Cleaners make it so germs don’t grow. 

If you want to make your vinegar cleaner a disinfectant you can add rubbing alcohol.

How to Make Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

Step 1: Juice Your Lemons

For the cleaner we only need the lemon rind (peel). So juice your lemons and make some lemonade! If you are interested in more things to do with your lemon juice, I have more idea’s here.

Step 2: Place Lemon Peels in Jar

After you have juice you lemons, take all the lemon rinds and put them in a quart or 1/2 gallon size jar.

Step 3: Fill Jar With Vinegar

Fill the jar up with vinegar to the top. You want all the lemons rinds to be fully covered.

Step 4: Wait 2 Weeks

Seal the jar with a lid and let the lemons and vinegar sit for two week before using.

Step 5: Dilute with Water in Spray Bottle

Once all the oils have released from the lemons the vinegar is ready to use. Pour Into a spray bottle 1/3 full. Fill it the rest of the way with water. Use a strainer when pouring just in case any little lemon pieces get in and clog the spray bottle. Now you are ready to clean!

FAQ

Can I use any vinegar to clean with?

There are lots of different types of vinegar and not all of them are ideal for cleaning. Cleaning Vinegar, or distilled white vinegar are you two best vinegar for cleaning. I personally wouldn’t use Apple Cider Vinegar, or Rice Vinegar, or any other cooking vinegar for cleaning with.

What types of lemons are best?

Any type of lemon works for cleaning. I have a Meyer lemon tree and although the rinds are thinner and the lemon less acidic then most it still cleans great. Meyer, Citron, Eureka they all work the same.

Can I use other Citrus in place of lemon?

Yes! You can use any type of citrus peels, orange peel, lime peels, and even grapefruit peel for you natural cleaners. 

Can I use essential Oils in place of citrus rinds?

Yes! You can use any citrus essential oils instead of socking the rinds in the vinegar. Use 10 to 15 drops of essential oils in your 1/2 cup vinegar and 2 cups water in a reusable glass spray bottle. Here are more essential oil cleaner recipes.

Do I need a glass all purpose cleaning spray bottle or can I use plastic?

No, you don’t have to use a glass spray bottle for your lemon vinegar cleaner but I do recommend it. The vinegar and acid from the lemon will brake down the plastics over time. If you use essential oils in your cleaner be sure to use a reusable glass spray bottle, or the power of the essential oil will absorb into the plastic.

Can I add soap to a vinegar cleaner? 

Yes, Castile soap is a great way to boast the cleaning power of your homemade lemon cleaner. Just add a tablespoon of Castile soap to your spray bottle and remember to mix/shake your own cleaning spray bottle before use.

What can I NOT clean vinegar with?

Vinegar is an all purpose cleaner but there are a few things to avoid cleaning with vinegar.

• Natural Stone. The acid in the vinegar can cause pitting in natural stones like Marble or Granite.
• Grout. Vinegar can cause deterioration of grout.
• Stainless Steal. Again, the vinegar can cause pitting the the steal.
• Waxed or unfinished wood should not have full strength vinegar but diluted is fine. The vinegar can cause discoloration if full strength.
• Cast Iron. Again, the vinegar can cause pitting.
• TV’s, Computers or other screen as the vinegar will take off the anti glare coating.
• Rubber. Rubber with lots of exposure to vinegar will start to deteriorate. A little here and there wont hurt it too badly.
• Hardwood Floors. Vinegar can dissolve the finish on the hardwood. For hardwood I suggest Murphy’s Oil Soup

What is safe to clean with vinegar?

• Glass, windows and mirrors. Mix a little rubbing alcohol for with the vinegar and you will get a quick dry, streak free cleaning.
• Toilet. For a deep clean you can put 2 cup of vinegar in your toilet and let sit for 2-3 hours. Clean with a toilet brush to help remove/prevent hard water lines and odor. Dust some baking soda on the floor around the toilet and let sit for 20 minutes or longer spray with your vinegar cleaner let it bubble and do its work then wipe up.
• Bath/Showers. Your vinegar helps prevent and remove watermarks as well as preventing mildew. Use your cleaner for weekly wiping down of your shower and bathtubs. For deeper cleaning use undiluted vinegar.
• Faucets. If you have hard water cleaning your faucets with vinegar is almost a must. The hard water build up can ruin your new faucets and daily or weekly cleaning with vinegar can prevent hard water build up to keep your
• Floor. Except hardwood floors or waxed floors. All other floors are safe for cleaning with vinegar.
• Dishwasher. Again, keep your dishwasher safe from hard water build up and crud with vinegar.
• Appliances. Microwave, stove tops, oven, refrigerator etc, vinegar is a great cleaner for these appliances. I also have such a peace of mind cleaning around my food with a safe, natural cleaner.
• Laundry. Deodorize your clothes, sheets, rags by washing your laundry with vinegar. Just be sure to not mix bleach and vinegar in the same load.
• Coffeemakers. Run equal parts of vinegar and water through your coffee maker for a good cleaning.
• Wood. If you want to clean natural wood with vinegar add an equal part of olive oil to your vinegar.
• Carpets and Upholstery. Spot clean you carpets with with vinegar. The profession carpet cleaner we use at our church told me to use vinegar for coffee spill and hot water and dish soup for sugar based spills (soda, lemonade).

Homemade Lemon Vinegar All-Purpose Cleaner

Print

Materials

• Lemon Rind/Peels
• Cleaning Vinegar

Tools

• Glass Jar with Lid
• Spray Bottle

Instructions

1. Juice your lemons and place the peel in a 2 quart or 1/2 gallon jar.
2. Fill the jar with cleaning vinegar covering the lemons.
3. Let sit for 2 weeks on the counter, top of the refrigerator, under the sink. Anywhere safe.
4. Combine a ratio of 1 part lemon vinegar to 3 parts water into a spray bottle and start cleaning!

All Purpose Cleaner

• 3:1 Water & Lemon Vinegar

Disinfectant Vinegar Cleaner

• 1:1 Ratio Water, Lemon Vinegar & Rubbing Alcohol

Wood Cleaner

• 1:1 Ratio Olive Oil & Lemon Vinegar

The post How To Make Lemon Vinegar All Purpose Cleaner appeared first on Embracing The Home.

There are many ways to clean and polish copper and to be honest I was skeptical of a few of them… Today I found 3 copper pots at a yard sale for $2! They looked pretty bad and I wasn’t sure if the natural remedies and cleaning tricks where going to work on these copper pots. I want to avoid commercial copper cleaner and see if natural acids really does work to clean copper pans. After doing a little research I decided to try three different cleaning methods and see which one was the best way. These three methods are all made out of natural solutions. By using natural acids to clean copper the acids dissolve the oxidized copper exterior making it shine like new and safer to use. Here are the results and cleaning process so you can determine which is the best methods and best results.

1. Lemon and salt
2. Vinegar, flour and salt
3. Ketchup

Lemon and Salt

The first pot I used a combination of salt and lemon. This method is simple. Cut a lemon in half and dip it in table salt or sea salt. Then rub the lemon with salt all over the pot in circular motions, dipping into the salt as needed.

My daughter loved helping with this one and as you can see in the photo it started working right away! This made me very excited because I wasn’t sure how well the natural cleaning tricks would work.

To clean the copper pot off you can wipe it down with some warm water and dry with a clean cloth.

Vinegar, Flour and Salt

The next pot I mixed together a combination of white vinegar, 1/4 cup fine sea salt and 1/4 cup flour, just enough vinegar in it to make a paste in a small bowl. I spooned the paste onto the pot and scrubbed it down with my scrub pad. You can also use a soft sponge.  

The vinegar is the true cleaning agent in this method but the flour helps keep it from just flowing off the pot. I can place more paste on the more affected area and the stubborn stains and let sit for longer. The flour and salt paste keeps the vinegar on the surface of the copper pot for a satisfying result.

Ketchup

Now to try the Ketchup. I know by now the vinegar and lemon both work well. Both vinegar and lemon are both acidic foods and that seems to be the trick. Ketchup is also an acidic food, both from the tomatoes and the vinegar in the ketchup. So in theory this should work…

And it did! I was actually very surprised with the ketchup method but it works really well.

Copper Pots Results

Now let’s look at all three natural ingredients compared them to each other.

I’m super impressed! And a little disappointed that they all work so wonderfully. I thought I would be able to compare and tell you all which one work better and which one didn’t work. So let me see if I can find fault in one of these methods…

Lemon and Salt:

The lemon and salt worked great but I felt like I couldn’t scrub it the same as the other. I still used my scrub pad and got a little cleaner. As I scrubbed I felt like I couldn’t keep the lemon juice where I wanted it like I could do with the vinegar paste and ketchup.

Vinegar and Four:

I like this one the best. Although the results of all three turned out the same this was the easiest to scrub with. I could see the vinegar at work because of the flour and I could paste the worse areas with more and let it sit there for a while for an easier clean. I could not do that with the lemon and salt mixture.

Ketchup:

Ketchup worked just as well as the others! This one was super easy to just grab out of the fridge and clean with. Its a little sticky because of the sugar but it all washes off well with hot water. For simple cleaning/maintenance for my copper pots I will probably just use ketchup. It was quick, simple and worked great. Although, if I have another deep clean that needs to happen I will use the vinegar and flour.

In Summery – Before and After

These were all very effective ways with simple steps to cleaning the surface of copper pots. Cleaning copper items are a lot easier then I expected. The Lemon, Vinegar and Ketchup are all acidic and clean the copper equally well. So there are no needs to buy any special commercial copper cleaner or harsh chemicals to get your copper clean. You can use natural cleaner that you already have in your kitchen. 

Note: I do not advice using steel wool on your copper item. Copper is a soft metal and is easily scratched. Although you may make it shine again by de-oxidizing the copper you will most likely leave swirl marks and scratches on your copper pots, pans and cups. Use a soft sponge, soft cloth or microfiber cloth you clean copper with.  

You can try this with other copper items such as copper cups, copper pans, copper sink, really anything that is made with a copper surface.

Want a Natural All Purpose Cleaner?

Did you know that you can make your own lemon scented all purpose cleaner? Its really easy and effective. Simple take lemon peels and put them in a jar. Fill the jar with vinegar and let sit for a week or two before you use. Pour into a spray bottle and you have a natural, effective all purpose clean!

The post How To Clean Copper Pots appeared first on Embracing The Home.

Embracing Peace, Not Overwhelm

Keeping my kitchen cabinets organized is not always easy but so very rewarding. In my kitchen I have few cabinets and little counter space. With a space things can pile up really quickly. Cleaning up after every meal or cooking time in the kitchen is necessary which leads to tip number 1.

Tip number 1: The One Touch Rule

The One Touch Rule is once you’ve touch something you put all the way away the first time you touch it. Don’t create little piles to be put away at a later time. Wash that one dish right away to avoid fifty dishes to wash later on. Put the toys all the way away, the rags to the laundry basket not a pile on the floor…etc. These are real life tasks that I struggle with finishing. So I remind myself, “one touch” and finish the little task it keeps things from building up and causing stress and overwhelm.

Imagine you have a list of all the things you need to put away and every time you pick something up you put it in another spot closer to where it should go so that its “easier” to put it away later. You will never be able to actually check anything off the list because every time you pick something up you aren’t actually putting it away you are just reorganizing your mess but never cleaning it up.

Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes we do need to organize and sort through the mess. Like when my kids dump the Lego’s, cars, play food, and blocks all out in the living room floor. In that case sitting down with the kids and sorting through the toys is a great method of cleaning.

The One Touch Rule applies when I’m washing dishes and one of my daughters toy dishes appears in the sink. I wash it, dry it, and put it away in the toy box right away. Now I’m tempted to put the clean toy on the edge of the counter thinking I’ll put away later… but then I forget… I think I wont but I do. Now her toys are sill in my kitchen, I’m running late, I making dinner and I need to stay focused on the meal… So I toss it into the living room, still not putting it away… teaching my kids its okay to just throw toys in another room in order to say that you “cleaned up”. The one touch rule saves me from this cycle.

Tip Number 2: Keep The Sink Empty

This rule is huge for me. Not having a dishwasher I wash all our dishes by hand in the sink. I like washing dishes and I’ve never cared to have a dishwasher. The one thing I hate is when my kitchen sink is so full of dishes that I can’t wash the one pot or bowl or knife that I need. To get what I need I first have to empty the sink so I can wash the one bowl.

There are two things to keep this from happening. 1, wash dirty dishes right away with the one touch rule. 2, Place dirty dishes on counter not inside the sink. Washing dishes right away keeps them from piling up. Setting dirty dishes on the counter for later make it so the sink is always available a quick wash.

If you do have a dishwasher I suggest you never put dirty dishes in the sink or counter. Rinse and place them in the dishwasher right away, even if you are not turning it on till the end of the day. Don’t make a habit of creating piles in your kitchen to do later. This will just cause stress at the end of the day over all the thing you’ve saved for yourself to do. Finishing the little tasks throughout the day for simpler living and avoid the overwhelm and stress.

Tip Number 3: Relationships Over Cleanliness

When the kids are crying, the house is messy, food is burning on the stove, we moms sometimes get stuck. Unable to focus and we don’t know what to do next. Trying to focus in we get frustrated with all the distraction and interruption. Instead of focusing in, broaden your view.

Remember relationships are more important than the cleanliness of the home. Your relationship with your husband and kids is more important than a clean house. Broaden your view, look for ways to build up your relationships instead of focusing on the chores. Focus on relationships over tasks. If the kids are upset, love on them. When your husbands is coming home from work and the house is a mess and your hair is a mess. Brush your hair first. He wants to look at you, not the house.

When focused on building up your relationships within your family you can then decided on what tasks are most important. Cleaning the same thing over and over again can get discouraging. But when we have the right mindset and motivation we can love and serve others selflessly. The chores become acts of love, giving us joy and purpose in doing them.

Tip Number 4: Declutter Often

Every couple months I like to go through a drawer or cabinet and clean it out. Throw away any junk, reevaluate if any of the items in the back of the drawer or that mug in the back of the cabinet is actually worth keeping. I don’t get rid of everything but consider what works and what doesn’t for your house using wisdom. I encourage you go through the whole kitchen at once (unless necessary) but one or two drawers or cabinets a month. Making it a quick job of it, maybe 30 minutes of decluttering and deep cleaning that area of the kitchen. Rather than a days worth of going over every cabinet, nook and cranny of the kitchen in one full swoop.

Keeping the clutter down by going through my kitchen often keeps me from wasting my limit storage space. We have a cabinet that is deep with a narrow door so its hard to see and reach items in the back. For the longest time I stored tea cups and small items in this cabinet. This week, as I cleaning it out I realized I never use my pretty cups and plates. So I switch things up a bit. I moved my pie dishes into the small cabinet and the tea cups and pretty items to a more convenient shelf. The pie dishes take up the whole shelf leaving no room for little things to be hidden. It’s perfect! I only need the pie dishes when I make pie and I now I have the opportunity to use the pretty plates and tea cups when ever I want.

Tip Number 5: Romance The Ordinary

Keeping my cabinets clean and organized doesn’t just improve the function of my kitchen but adds beauty and peace, it adds romance. It brought me joy to move my tea cups to a cabinet they can be seen in and easily accessed. Eating a simple snack of almonds or a rice cake off of a pretty plate energizes and fills me up so much more than eating off a paper plate. It feel romantic to eat and serve your family in a beautiful way. The going above and beyond to make something beautiful for someone is a way of showing love.

Whenever I bring flowers in the the home or make eye catching meals my kids get excited! They enjoy beauty even at a young age. My son is always asking to pick flowers to have on the kitchen table. I have to remind him that we can’t have flowers and decoration around if the table is going to be messy. We first need to clean the sticky oatmeal or dinner dishes or arts and crafts off the table and then add the beautifying elements.

I love adding the romantic beautiful elements to my home but they are only effective with a clean house. So first we clean, we keep up on the clutter and do our do diligence. Have you ever notice all the pretty inspirational photos of kitchens on Pinterest are clean? Clean the kitchen and then add beauty. Creating inspiration for your family to see and enjoy.

In Summery

I hope you are encouraged and ready to embrace the kitchen with all its messes. I hope you are able to embracing cleaning consistently with love and service towards your family. Remember the “One Touch Rule” and simplify your cleaning with habits that benefit your whole home. Declutter often and save things that bring joy not stress. Embracing your family with beauty for them to be around, romance the ordinary. Keep your mind on what’s most important, your family. Build up your family with love as you create a clean and peaceful home for them.

Please share in the comments some encouragement that you have found helpful when it comes to keeping your kitchen/house clean. Sharing can be so powerful and you never know who you might be able to help with a encouraging comment.

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