5 Kitchen Chores You Simply Must Do During Spring Cleaning!

The kitchen needs attention during spring cleaning just like every other part of your home, and here are a few tasks you definitely do not want to leave off your list.

Spring cleaning is in the air and if you are like most of us, there are all kinds of tasks that you have let go all year long that you need to step up and get done now. But, before you get going, make yourself a list so that you can work in the most efficient way possible—and so you don’t conveniently “forget” to do any of those tasks you cannot let go this time around!

First, survey your kitchen. Everyone has tasks they do every day, like giving your stovetop a good once-over with the glass cleaner or sweeping up around the garbage can for any just-misses. Those are not the types of chores you want to put on your list, obviously. What you want to do is look a little deeper and see which of your “everyday” chores needs some stiffening. Here are a few areas that may need a little extra attention during your spring cleaning routine:

1. Clean the Garbage Can: We don’t think about it—we certainly don’t like to do it—but take a hard, close look at the actual can where you throw your garbage every day. Most likely there are flecks of food, splashes of liquid, and other types of unpleasant gunk inside and out of the trash can. Now, some people would just toss it and buy a new one, but why? A little spring-cleaning elbow grease will get that thing sparkling in no time! This is probably a take-it-outside chore for most of us, so a scrub brush and a garden hose will be quite handy if you have them. It’s also a good time to go ahead and clean whatever receptacle you use for holding green scraps heading for your compost bin—it is probably worse than the garbage can, but get it done!
2. Scrape the Crust Off of That Glass-Top Stove: We all tell ourselves we are going to keep doing it, but we never do, so make sure if you are one of those who lets that extra scraping step go month after month, you need to at least get it done during spring cleaning. Check your owner’s manual for the best way to clean the top of your stove—some will suggest scraping with a razor blade, while some may have other suggestions, but do it the right way and you will have sparkling results in no time. Who knows? Maybe this year will be the year that you keep it up all year long! And, of course, this would be a great time to go ahead and give that oven a scrub, if it has been awhile.
3. Wipe Under the Feet of Your Chairs: You would not think so, but the feet of your chairs can gather gunk all year long, sliding in and out from under your table. Dirt, grime, dust and flakes of food will cake on the bottom of the feet of your chairs and it can be pretty nasty. So, get going on them; you might be surprised. Will your dine-in kitchen table have dirt under the feet? Well, it depends on just how stationary your table is, but, hey, at the very least the legs can probably take a once-over, since you’re down there anyway, right? By the way, another place you might want to check while you are working on your chairs is around the wheels of any moving table or cart you have in your kitchen—they are probably worse than the chairs and table combined!
4. Get Mixed Tastes Out of the Food and Coffee Grinders: How often do you really do this adequately? There is no telling how many spices are mixing together each time you grind, or how old some of that coffee mixing in with your “fresh” grind is! So get out the old and have a grinder like new by grinding some white bread in each—because I KNOW you are not using ONE grinder for BOTH, right?
5. Keep the Pantry Moths Away: Terrible, nasty pantry moths are the bane of any cook’s pantry, so spring is a great time to make sure they stay away; you were cleaning your pantry out anyway, right? Bay leaves should do the trick! Take a few squares of cheesecloth and add a couple of dried bay leaves to each; tie closed with string or a twist tie. Put one packet of bay leaves on each pantry shelf or, if you prefer, tape to the bottom edge of each shelf, out-of-sight.

After taking care of these chores, you should be well on your way to a spring-clean kitchen! But, we know that you have lots of other must-do tasks that come only once a year; tell us about them in the comment section below!

Image: Wikimedia Commons

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