The Lazy Genius Podcast - #32: The Lazy Genius Cleans the Kitchen

Episode Date: September 25, 2017

The kitchen is the center of many homes, and when it's a wreck, we're not above contemplating arson. In this episode, you'll learn the Lazy Genius order to cleaning the kitchen. Yes, there's an order. There's also a free printable of the order for your fridge so you won't forget it, no matter how many brain cells your children have taken. Enjoy the episode! And if you do, consider passing it along to a friend. The world needs more Lazy Geniuses. This podcast is hosted by Kendra Adachi and executive produced by Kendra Adachi, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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My name is Kendra, and you're listening to the lazy genius podcast. Here, I'm going to help you be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. Today's episode, episode 32, The Lazy Genius cleans the kitchen. Aren't you so excited? Really, though, this is going to be so fun. Here is the pitch. We all clean the kitchen, and more than likely, we all hate it because it feels constant.

but there is a way to make it better. We've done it with laundry, with cleaning the house, with getting dressed. We can take a task that's borderline annoying and make it work for us, as lazy geniuses do. So today in the playbook, we're going to talk about why the kitchen is the most important room to keep clean. And then the secret sauce, the order of the tasks of cleaning. Okay, so let's just jump in. Why is the kitchen the most important room to keep clean? With the exception of the bathroom, it's probably the room we use the most, especially if you're always home.

Stay at home moms, you know especially how if the kitchen is a disaster, you might as well just burn down the house and start over. It makes everything feel cluttered and dirty. Thankfully, the reverse is also true. If the kitchen is clean, the rest of the house feels clean too. Or at least cleaner. My family and I live in one of those HDTV catch-free, like open concept homes where the kitchen and the dining room and the living room are more or less one space. If you live in a home where the kitchen is in any way open to other lived-in rooms,

prioritizing the kitchen is the laziest way to keep the rest of the house feeling clean. Okay, now heed this warning, my friend. don't fall into the trap of procrastinating, cleaning the kitchen because you'll cook in it again. Yes, this is true. You will cook in it again. But if you use that logic, you'll die under piles of Tupperware of Pop-Tart wrappers. It's not pretty. Remember the lazy part of being genius.

Yes, we love to be lazy. But being lazy in the situation where you're just, just putting it off and putting it off because you're going to do it again, that is not being genius. Okay? You've got to clean up after every meal if you can. It doesn't take as long as you think. And then it doesn't all pile up and make you crazy. Okay?

It's worth it, I mean, I live for years where I would let dishes and, like, all the food scraps collect all day because, you know, I'll just clean them at the end of the day. Sometimes I would even leave it, like, for the morning. No. All the sirens, all the red flags. all the red flags, don't do it. Don't leave your dishes. So the end of the day or even the morning is the worst. I'm just telling you, don't fall for that trick. Just do it as it happens and it will make your life so much easier. Okay, now let's get into the nitty gritty. Let's get into the order of

cleaning the kitchen. Yes, I'm a dork about this stuff. You might think I'm insane, but you get to reap the benefits of my insanity. So you're welcome. All right, we all have different sized kitchens we all cook different foods we feed different numbers of people but we all share a few things right we all have probably we all have a fridge a sink a stove a counter like a place we eat which could be a counter or your table um dishes food and floors we all have those things no matter what your kitchen cooking situation is you have all those things so this order of things it works no matter what size kitchen you have or how you eat or live because it tackles the things we already have all right now before we get into the list I've actually put this together in a little

printable for you so you can just always remember the order you don't need to like frantically write it down while you're on a run or in the carpal line just go to the lazy genius collective dot com slash lazy slash clean kitchen and you can get your printable if you want it okay now in order for this list to make the most sense there are two zones you use you need to have in your kitchen when you're cleaning up. A dishes zone and a fridge zone. Okay. The dishes zone is ideally next to your sink or your dishwasher if you have one. And it's where all the dirty dishes go to rest until it's their time to get clean. So go ahead and mentally choose your dishes zone and try not to put anything else there. Like nothing. No no food. I don't mean like long term.

I don't mean like a bowl of bananas. I mean like don't. like stick that jar of terriaki sauce in the dishes zone don't do it that's not where it goes okay so just try to think in terms of only dirty dishes go here you also need a fridge zone where you gather everything that is stored in the fridge ideally as close to the fridge as possible of course okay I'm like okay sure you can pick up your bottle of ketchup and put it back in the fridge when it's in your hand. Yes, I keep my ketchup in the fridge, you animal, of course I do. But then, like, you put the ketchup away, but then there's like that new jar of applesauce that you opened and you start playing fridge Tetris, right, in the door. Like the ketchup fits, but I have to put the applesauce in. And then,

like, where do the leftovers go? And that half-eaten apple, the toddler left on the fireplace, like you end up playing fridge tetras multiple times over a short span and start to feel a little bit crazy. So the fridge zone, it frees you up by only having to do that once. You only put stuff away in the fridge once. Okay. We'll get back to both zones. But as we get into the list, you need to know your dishes zone and your fridge zone. Okay. Now, let's get into the order of cleaning your kitchen like a lazy genius. Number one, clear the eating area, whether it's your table, a bar, the living room coffee table, clear off the eating surface. Okay, you move the dishes to the dishes zone.

You don't put them away yet. You move the fridge foods to the fridge zone. Don't put them away yet. And then the things you can put away, everything else. Okay? Throw away the trash. Put away stuff that's stored in the cabinets or the pantry. Because cabinet and pantry tetris, they aren't as tough as fridge tetris.

So just go ahead and put that stuff away. everything but dishes and fridge food gets put in its proper place okay so number one clear the eating area number two clear the stove area put leftovers in containers and then put the containers in the fridge zone then you move the pots and the pans to the dishes zone right okay and then anything else is left over throw it away or put it away number three clear the counters Same deal. Put the dishes in the dishes zone, food in the fridge zone, and everything else gets put away. After this point, you should have all of your surfaces cleaned, except the dish zone in the fridge zone. Okay? Number four, isn't this fun? I mean, you might think I'm insane. I promise you. I promise you. This works. It's crazy, but this works. Okay. Number four, you clear the fridge zone. It's all there. You play one game of fridge Tetris, and then you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you clear. You clear the fridge zone. It's all there. You play one game of fridge Tetris, and then you're

you're done, right? Put all the fridge stuff away. Number five, load the dishwasher if you have one. And here's a bonus for those of you who do. There's also an order to load in a dishwasher. You want to hear it? I want to hear it really fast. Okay, so there are two main like brain hacks when it comes to loading your dishwasher. First, you load items that only have one home and then you load the smallest items first. Okay, so like silverware is kind of an obvious first choice, but I also don't want to move everything around to find all the silverware just to load it. So I just load that as it comes. But everything else, I start with tiny plastic things that can only go on the top shelf, right? Then I load dinner plates, since they can only go on the bottom shelf, like salad plates, glasses,

ceramic bowls, like all of those can go on the top or the bottom. So loading them first actually does doesn't really make a whole lot of sense because you could put all the bowls in the bottom and then realize halfway through loading that the bottom shelf is filling up a lot faster than the top. The bowls will be better on the top, but you've already put them in the bottom. That's what makes cleaning so annoying, is the redoing of tasks. So start with items that only have one home and then do the smallest of those items first, and then fill in with the dishes that can go anywhere. And remember that the pot that might be so annoying to wash,

but it takes up as much space as eight plates and two bowls in the dishwasher. Like, would you really rather hand wash one thing or 12 things, right? The answer might be 12 things. I don't know. You do you. But don't assume the answer until you actually think about the question. Okay? So that's like a little dishwasher tip.

But number five, load the dishwasher if you have it. Depending on the size of your meal, you'll probably have some hand wash items left over or you might just fill the whole dishwasher with everything in the dishes zone. This, my friends, is the textbook moment. of doing a happy dance when everything fits in the dishwasher. It's fantastic. And then start the dishwasher. Hours actually has a four-hour delay, which is fantastic because we can still hear the TV at night. But I don't have to remember to turn on the dishwasher before bed. So if you have a timer, use it. It's so great. Okay. So number one, clear the eating area. Number two, clear the stove area. Number three, clear the counters.

Number four, clear the fridge zone, and number five, load and maybe start the dishwasher, if you have one. Aw isn't something we need to travel for. It's something waiting for us in everyday life, whether in a city street or a moment with a work of art. I'm Dr. Keltner, host of the Science of Happiness podcast. Join me for Cities of Aw, a special series on how our public spaces can spark awe, wonder, and enhance the quality of public life. You can find us wherever you listen to your podcasts. Number six, run a sink of soapy water and then wipe down the eating and the kitchen surfaces.

If you don't have dishes to wash, either just like get an inch of hot soapy water, you know, just put like the tiniest bit in the bottom of your sink or use a spray cleaner. But I do love having a little soapy water to easily clean the sinks too. so it's just nothing like hot soapy water to clean just about anything so if there's a surface wipe it down if you want to wipe down your stove or your cabinets like by all means go for it i don't do that unless i just want to or which is not very often or i'm um like roast out by the sudden dirt i find there you know like um sometimes like my my baby annie she will pull out stuff from all the cabinets we're in that fun phase guys so she'll pull everything out of the cabinets

and so at the end of the day I have to put it all back right and sometimes I get down on the level of my cabinets and I've got um reiss we have like shaker cabinets like recessed shaker cabinets with that tiny little like quarter inch lip um if you are in the market for cabinets don't buy cabinets with a little quarter inch lip because it is such a dirt catcher it's the worst so if sometimes i'll get down on the level of the cabinets I'm like oh my gosh that is disgusting but I already have my sink of soapy water and so I can just wipe it down I'm already in wiping mode So it's not that big of a deal to add it to the list. Okay? So you can do that if you want. It's not a big deal either way.

But that's what number six is. You run a sink of soapy water. Enough for dishes if you have them, just an inch if you're just wiping down on your surfaces. Okay. And then number seven, wash the dishes. Pretty basic. Now, if you don't have a dishwasher,

the dishwasher rule applies to you. Wash all the small things first. Because you can stack bigger things on top. top of smaller things. Like if you start with your pot and then you put it down on your drying rack, it covers up like most of your drying rack, right? Whereas you could lean that pot on like a couple of bowls that are leaning on each other. I think it's just better to start with smaller things first when you're washing dishes. I leave my dishes to dry on a towel and then I put them away the next morning when I unload the dishwasher. That's kind of my routine. But if you want to dry

and put them all away at once, go for it. That's your call. Okay. And the number eight, wipe down the sinks with the soapy water and then let out the water and then number nine that's pretty basic right and the number nine sweep the floor it is shocking shocking how much a clean floor and when i say clean i just mean swept i don't necessarily mean mopped because who does that um but it's shocking how much a clean floor makes your life feel amazing like it just does um mopping is like unicorn kitchen i mean if i get in motivated to mop i mean it's literally sparkling. I hear angels singing. I smell that pine saw lady, you know, like it's a real thing. I can't remember the last time I'm out my floors, to be honest, but sweeping, I do it every

day, every day. And it is such a payoff. And because you're sweeping when everything else is clean, because it's the last thing you do, it's very, it's like therapeutic. I know that's really weird to say, but like, that, that sound, that sh, sh, sh, sound. You all think I'm insane right now. I might be. But there's something really therapeutic about sweeping when that's the last thing. And then you, like, scoop it up in your dust pan and you put it in the trash can and you close that, that cabinet door with your trash can and you look around your kitchen.

It's like you're at the end of the commercial, you know, you lean on that broom. Everything is shiny and put away. And you're like, yeah, man, my kitchen's clean. It just feels good. It just feels good to end with sweeping. It's my favorite. Okay. So that's how a lazy genius cleans the kitchen.

You super might think I'm nuts. How can you possibly remember all this and is it even worth it? Like all the things. Yes, I am nuts. I am. This is very clear. I'm seeing that very clearly, you guys. But it's actually kind of logical to remember like once you do it a couple times.

And again, you can download the printable and just stick in a on your fridge if you want at the lazy geniuscollective.com slash lazy slash clean kitchen. And I believe it is remarkably worth it. Dozens of you have contacted me about the laundry episode specifically from a few months ago about how you couldn't have imagined how changing the order of the loads could make such a difference. But it does. The same is true here, y'all.

It really is. Now, it might, I mean, it might not work for you. It might not. Not everything works for everyone. Like we know this. We're all different people and process information in different ways. But I think there's a really good chance this order of cleaning the kitchen will be a game changer for you. If anything, it'll stop you from being a pinball machine in the kitchen, you know, just grabbing whatever's closest.

And remember, as much as you're able, do this after every meal. Having to start dinner in a dirty kitchen should be illegal. I mean, it's like the worst emotional torture that we do to ourselves, right? So get your whole crew on board. If you live with people, get everybody on board if you can. Like, after people eat, they clean up. After you cook a meal, clean up. After your insatiable high school boy eats four peanut butter sandwiches after school,

make sure he cleans it up. When you live with people, you're on the same team. Okay, the kitchen is not just your territory. and it's the most important spot for teamwork to start, I think. So start if you need it. Start kind of a teamwork culture in your kitchen. It's going to be better for everybody really well. Okay, that's it for today.

I hope that you are inspired to clean your kitchen. Be sure to let me know how it goes in the comments of the episode. You can go to the lazy genius collective.com slash lazy slash clean kitchen. You can leave a comment. You can download that printable. now let's get to a lazy genius tip of the week before we close up for the day do you remember when rachel ray coined that term trash bowl you know on that show she like changed cooking for everybody didn't she it's crazy um i still use a trash bowl well let me let me clarify i don't use a trash

bag um i don't have a ton of plastic grocery bags in the house um since we usually use use reusable bags when I go shopping. But I always have some, you know, there's always, they find their way into your house, right? I put one of those on the counter when I'm cooking, or like I line a bowl with one, so I don't have to wash an extra bowl. And if you're like a hard no on plastic bags or you don't want to use one just for collecting trash, you could use something that's already trash, like a cereal bag or the bag that held the carrots or the plastic that was wrapped around the head of cabbage. You know what I mean? Like you can use trash that's already trash to corral extra trash.

And then when you're cleaning your counters, it's just already there. You know, it's like having the trash bag in your car. It's just having a place for things to go makes it so much easier because it makes it easier of cleaning up on the other end. But it also kind of eliminates a decision as you're moving. Like, you know that that's where the trash goes. You don't just like, do I move to the trash can? Do I just put it down here?

I don't know. There's something about it. It seems so simple. But the simplest things are usually the ones we forget, the course. quickest. So, um, lazy juice tip of the week, you guys, when you cook, put out something to collect the trash. Amen. Okay. Thank you so much for listening. As always. Oh my goodness. It just means the world. And I know that, um, you've heard it, like pretty much every podcast you listen to. They're like, oh, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. The reason why that helps so much is not for like our egos

or anything like that. I mean, it's nice to hear like kind work. But really, it's because the more comments there are, even if the podcast has been around for a really long time, the more comments there are and the more like star reviews there are, the more that Apple will like put that podcast in people's vision when they're looking for new things. It just makes a difference in people being able to find different shows. So not just for my show. If there are podcasts that you love and listen to, like just go put a few star reviews out there. And it really does make a difference. Like that one review helps so very much. And I read them all and I'm grateful for them all.

I truly am. So thank you for leaving a review if you have. And thank you for leaving a review if you're thinking about it. If you haven't, I just appreciate you listening more than anything. It means the world. Okay, you guys, remember be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't. And I will see you next time. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life?

It's so dangerous to live that. More dangerous than a B minus or a C plus life because when you're living a B or B plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough. Is it? I'm Susie Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves.

Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts.