I’m not much of a spring cleaner. I hate binge spring cleaning, actually. The one thing I want to spring clean is my kitchen. It’s a busy place that deserves some special TLC from time to time. But I never really get to it. Except when I had to clean the world’s filthiest fridge with simple means and of course, after something exploded in my microwave. I’m glad I have found a super simple and effortless way to have the microwave clean itself.
Kitchen spring cleaning is a great opportunity to get the kitchen more organized. If I’m pulling out everything, anyway, I can declutter as I go. I love to keep my kitchen functional and well-arranged. It makes my life as a homemaker so much easier. Especially as I have a small kitchen with not many options to shuffle things around.
But what if you really, really hate spring-cleaning?? Is there anyway you could make this work for you?
Focus on the kitchen spring cleaning tasks that matter – to you!
Forget about all the shoulds and must-dos and to-dos! This is your house, your rules. If you think your windows need no spring cleaning so be it. I’m not here to judge. There are times you can’t even tell if it’s sunny through my windows. .. ahem… Spring approaching and people throw spring cleaning checklists at you like confetti! Which is great because everybody loves free printables and there are really cute ones out there. But one or more tasks that you hate will always sit there and look at you and tell you this spring cleaning stuff is going to be painful.
Be bold and pull out a sharpie. No guilt! These are suggestions, not commands. Make kitchen cleaning steps disappear and decide on YOUR tasks for spring cleaning YOUR kitchen. Or come up with your own list altogether.
Take a minute to think about what you want to get out of your kitchen spring cleaning. Do you want everything sparkly clean? Or do you want to focus on organizing your cabinets or decluttering the pantry? Or do you mainly want your oven to look like new? Learn how to decorate kitchen counter space? YOU name it!
It doesn’t matter if your list of ideas is long or short. Chances are your kitchen will be in better shape than before once you have tackled the kitchen spring cleaning. Imagine the benefits of your efforts, e.g. imagine yourself baking with your kids at your newly created baking station or making your morning coffee with a sparkly clean coffee maker.
Instructions to using a ready-made checklist for painless kitchen spring cleaning
- Choose a nice spring cleaning printable with a design you like, preferably one with extra space to add your own tasks
- Print it out
- Scratch out all the tasks you do not want to do in this years’ spring cleaning, preferably with a big fat sharpie
- Add missing tasks you want to tackle
Want some frugal and safe, all-natural cleaning hacks? Download the “10 Ways To Clean With Vinegar” Cheat Sheet from the free printables section.
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To give you some ideas here are possible cleaning tasks for spring cleaning the kitchen
- Unclog the kitchen drains safely
- Clean coffee maker
- Clean oven, oven door, between oven glasses
- homemade no-effort bread
- Unfreeze and clean freezer
- Empty and clean fridge, pull it out and vacuum backside if necessary. Put back food that is still good.
- Clean walls and ceiling
- Clean doors and doorknobs
- Declutter pantry and cabinets
- Clean behind/under appliances
- Wash curtains/rugs
- Clean lamps
- Paint something
- Organize something
- Declutter and fill up your stock
- Rearrange furniture/appliances
- Find new homes for things that are not used regularly
- Take care of filters/vents
- Create a baking station or coffee bar
Take your time and own your time
Who says spring cleaning the kitchen has to take place an entire weekend or entire spring?? Again, it should and must be you who decides! Look at your personal list of tasks. Decide what time of the day/week you can dedicate to working on your list. Do you want to binge clean a weekend or do you want to break down your list and work on it in chunks of time? Be realistic. Don’t overload your schedule. Prioritize things on your list and spread them over the next days/weeks/months according to your commitment of time.
Facilitate: divide kitchen into sections to work on
To make your kitchen spring cleaning plan a little more easy you can divide your kitchen or task into sections to work on separately. That way you can focus on one kind of task at a time if you want to spread the spring cleaning over several days. For example, move in your kitchen clockwise one section at a time or tackle the food in the fridge and freezer together. Or, if you want to re-organize your pantry focus on one shelf at a time. Get everything on that shelf out, clean shelf, declutter items and put them back. You can rearrange them (from one shelf to another) later.
Your kitchen spring cleaning assets
Now you know what you want to tackle and when. Get together your supplies next. Check if there is anything missing like cleaners or rags. Or mix up homemade kitchen cleaners. You can check out this free printable by Clean Mama with 8 Kitchen Cleaner Recipes. Stock up on whatever is missing. Additionally, get some cleaning directions for delicate tasks or those you have not done before, e.g. this popular post on how to clean between oven glasses by Ask Anna. If you want to clean your fridge like a lab pro read this post.
Declutter as you go – this is your best chance
Actually, decluttering is not a traditional kitchen spring cleaning task. I wonder why. Now we pull everything out we can declutter easily while cleaning. Why would you put something back that you know you will not use? You can now get rid of it altogether or find some other place to store those things. For example, I have moved all supplies like spare parts and tools that come with appliances to the basement. Also, I got rid of some printed manuals and got pdf versions instead stored in Evernote. Check for broken items, too. Last year I decided to discard two totally scratched frying pans and got one new instead. Still more space in the cupboard!
Find accountability
To make sure you take your kitchen cleaning plan even more seriously create some accountability. Get your family on board and let your kids work on some tasks, too. Tell your people about your plan. Share before/after pictures or let people know there will be coffee and cake in your “new” kitchen on day XY. Or tell your kids you will be making Homemade Pizza or homemade no-effort bread once the oven is squeaky clean.
And: Plan your reward, too! Maybe a few little treats, each for finishing one task/section, or one big one for crushing your list. Look forward to the results and imagine how nice your clean kitchen will look, smell, feel and how you enjoy cooking, baking and eating there again. Get beautiful new kitchen towels to lay out after you finished your spring cleaning project(s).
Now it’s up to you! Do you plan some spring cleaning action in your kitchen? If so, do you have a long detailed list or just a few items you want to tackle? My focus this year will be getting my oven back in shape. Ah, and then I might clean the windows to let the sunshine in. Happy kitchen spring cleaning!
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