Knowing my house is settled for the night helps me sleep well . Waking up to a clean and mostly put together house can set set the tone for a great day.
Full confession: my baseboards aren’t clean. My house is never perfectly put together but the basics are covered. Just making sure I have a few things done at the end of each day makes a big difference. I do a quick 20 minute pickup throughout the house. I make sure to run the vacuum and spot mop if needed.
Since the heart of our home is our kitchen, that’s where the main part of my work is done. Delegating tasks to the other villagers means this mama doesn’t have to do everything. My kitchen closing checklist helps me make sure everything gets done and makes it easy for me to tell them which jobs are theirs.
PUTTING YOUR HOUSE TO BED
I’m naturally a list maker. Being able to cross something off my to-do list makes me happy. Rewriting the list each night does not make me happy. To avoid that, I made this kitchen closing checklist. I laminated it and keep it on my fridge. This makes it super easy to delegate and on nights that I’ve mentally checked out, I don’t even have to think about it. I go down the list, make sure it’s done and move on. Zero mental energy needed!
The whole process from start to finish might take 30 minutes. By taking this little bit of time to knock out these tasks, I get to wake up to a clean kitchen. It’s one of those do something your future self will think you for kind of things! Waking up to a clean kitchen starts my day on a positive note.
If you think this printable might be helpful, you can grab the download below. I gave you my list and a blank one for you to fill out.
MY KITCHEN CLOSING CHECKLIST
LOAD MY DIFFUSER
We have several diffusers in our home that we run continuously. They are a great alternative to toxic room sprays and plug ins. After cooking dinner, the food smells can linger. The diffusers eliminate those smells. My favorite oils for after dinner smells is anything with lemon. It smells so fresh! If you’d like to try oils you can get a free sample of Lavender, Lemon and Thieves here.
PACK UP AND PUT AWAY LEFTOVERS
Leftovers get repurposed into lunches around here. I’ll grab a Pyrex container and load it up right after dinner. This helps ensure that someone will actually eat them instead of them dying a slow death in the fridge.
COLLECT DISHES
When I’m cooking, dishes tend to migrate around my kitchen. So after dinner, we have to round them all up. I only put this on the list because my villagers tend to overlook dishes if I don’t specifically tell them to look for them. By having it on the list on the fridge, it’s like having them written in red marker on a white board. It’s less frustration this way. No surprise leftover dishes found after I think I’m done for the night. Make it easy!
LOAD DISHWASHER & RUN
This one’s self explanatory. I load everything that will fit to the point it will get clean. I’m sure every mama that loads a dishwasher knows exactly what I’m talking about. Grateful for whatever genius invented this appliance!
HAND WASH THE REST
Usually this is just pots and pans. I have a huge dutch oven I use almost every night and it won’t fit in the dishwasher. So, I take a few minutes and wash up this and anything else that won’t fit in the dishwasher. It’s my son’s job to put them away.
CLEAN OUT THE SINK
Waking up to a clean and sparkling sink is wonderful. It takes just a minute to scrub it out. I keep my soap mixture loaded into this brush and it eliminates the extra steps. Using this specific dish brush stretches my dish soap because I only have to put a little in the brush handle and fill the rest with water. It works great. I’d prefer something more zero waste but at least the brush head is replaceable and that helps cut down on waste.
CLEAN THE BACK OF THE SINK
It amazes me the amount of gunk that can build up on the back and in the space behind the sink. A quick scrub keeps this from getting nasty.
WIPE DOWN COUNTERS AND STOVE
I spray down all my counters and the stove with my Thieves household cleaner (let me know if you want a sample) and wipe them down. It gets them clean, kills germs and makes them smell great without all the toxins!
WIPE DOWN BOTH TABLES
Same thing as the counters. Usually this is my daughter’s job. A quick spray and wipe down with Thieves cleaner and we’re ready to move on.
CHECK THE TRASH
My guys (son and hubby) are really good about making sure the trash goes out on a regular basis. If it’s full or has something funky in it after dinner, I’ll have one of them take it out.
That’s it! A quick, easy kitchen closing checklist to put my mind at ease. Knowing I’m going to wake up to a clean house helps me get a good night’s rest.
What about you? Do you have some sort of list you run through every night? I’d love to hear more!
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