Spring Cleaning - Kitchen

Ahhh,  Spring! A time of renewal and rebirth,warmer temperatures and fewer layers of clothes (hopefully).  It's also a time when most of us are anxious to scrub and clean our homes, tidy our yards and streamline the amount of time doing inside work so we can get out and enjoy those longer days!     

Personally, I can think of at least a thousand other things I would prefer to do than clean out a closet or scrub a toilet but it's got to get done!  With two adults working from home, two kids and their stuff plus a cat there is always something that needs to be cleaned, picked up or put away...this is just life.  

Over the years I have found some small things that help to make these daunting tasks a little more tolerable. I figured we start with the kitchen because this is our most used room in the house...

  

A sturdy caddy to carry all of your products: make sure it fits under your sink or some other handy spot to keep everything contained and easy to find.  

Cleaning cloths: I love a good linen cloth for drying and cleaning up.  They are amazing at holding water, leave no lint and have a better shelf life than most other cloths.  I recently found these gorgeous cloths by Jagneus Designs out of England.  They are made of natural materials, are bio-degradable, machine washable and come in the BEST colours!!  

via Jagneus Design

            via Woods of Harrowgate

 Caldrea

This is my weak spot!  I'm a sucker for a nice, environmentally friendly cleaning product and Caldrea is my favourite!  The scents are the best and they really do a great job at cleaning.  Also, they don't strip my hands completely dry (this is a big thing for me because my hands are in bad shape )...my next best product is Clorox Green Works.  Budget friendly and hard working, these products are a kitchen and bathroom staple!

latex gloves

These are my new favourite cleaning accessory!  Thin, latex gloves.  They're like the ones that doctors and dentists use.  My husband has a laugh at me when I slap these babies on - but they do the trick!  They protect these severely damaged hands and they aren't all big and bulky like the regular kitchen gloves.

lamp berger

I love my lamp berger!  It gets out the toughest cooking odour and just makes the house feel cleaner!  Especially great before guests arrive or during the winter when it's too cold to open all the windows to let the fresh air in.  I recommend one of these for every home!  

My cleaning caddy and supplies, composter and bags.  They're all here, in one place, under the sink!  Makes my life easier for sure...

recycling collecter available at Solutions

Simply the best kitchen solution for a house full of recyclers!  A slim line, door mounted container to collect all of our recyclables.  Once it's full we make a trip to the larger bins in the garage.  It keeps everything off the counter (counterspace is at a premium in our kitchen!) or just piling up in other areas.

These are a few of my favourites and they make the daily task of keeping the kitchen clean just a bit easier!  I'm not looking to have a spotless house (I'm more realistic than that!) just clean and as tidy as we can do on any given day.
Do you have any secrets to keeping your kitchen clean?  Favourite products?  I'd love to hear!! 
Next week, I'm tackling the dreaded front hall closet!!  Stay tuned...