Morning times are manic in any households but when you are dealing with the kitchen mess, it is a whole other ball game.
Keeping the kitchen tidy is hard but there are some things you can do to keep it somewhat organized- so it doesn’t take ages to clean up after everyone has had breakfast and ransacked the cupboards for lunch and snacks!
Here are some tips on keeping your kitchen tidy in the morning madness:
-
Start as you mean to go on.
The best way to keep a kitchen tidy is to keep it as minimal as possible, without too many trinkets and other bits on the countertops. They may look nice, but they are likely to only look nice when they are perfectly positioned and with gleaming countertops! Have a simple but organised kitchen and it makes the quick clean much easier.
-
Clean as you go.
While you are doing the lunch boxes or preparing some breakfast, use your cloth to wipe down as you go and don’t leave stuff on the counters. Ask your kids to put things away if they are using the butter or the jam. Empty the bins before they become a nuisance to get outside and put shelf liners into cupboards and drawers to reduce the number of times you need to clean them out.
-
Get everyone to help.
Everyone should be able to give a little hand to keep the kitchen tidy in the mornings and the kids should be encouraged to clean up after their breakfast and pack up their school lunches. While you may have to take charge of the food and making sure everyone has what they need, you should be able to let them pack dishes away, clean down their area and rinse things off too. Older kids can help empty the dishwasher and they can throw the bins out too.
![]()
-
Give them jobs to do.
If you are feeling really organised, you could do a weekly family schedule of what jobs your family are doing each day. For example, one child could be on filling the dishwasher and the other could oversee putting the breakfast stuff away while you wipe down counters. It also depends on your family routine as some families need to leave the house super early whereas others have more time, so do what suit you best and get all your family on board.
-
Be organised.
One way to have a kitchen cleaner in the morning is to make sure everyone tidies up after themselves in the evening. If your teenager makes a sandwich, they should tidy up afterwards and if your partner makes tea, they should pop everything away after. Cleaning the kitchen in the evening means you’ll be one step ahead in the mornings so spend the extra few minutes sorting it (with help) after dinner and you’ll be halfway there in the morning!
-
Hire a cleaner - seriously!
This may not be possible, and you may not even want to go down that road but if you want a tidier house or indeed, tidier kitchen, hiring a cleaner is a good idea! It works well for busy families and working parents who aren’t at home during the day and guarantees a tidier house.
