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The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines

by | Jul 22, 2020 | Decorating Inspiration, Rhythm + Routine, Self Care

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The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines

Do you find joy in cleaning your sink every day? I first started practicing my housekeeping routines about twenty years ago. Once we added a third baby to our household, I realized I needed to figure out how to manage a cleaning routine. The busier you are, the more you have to learn how to work more efficiently! So as I shared earlier, I came up with four daily routines.

I’ve offered these routines in a few variations over the years
on the blog and in my books, but basically the routines come down to these four:

Make Your Bed.
Clean Your Sink.
Do Cleaning Frenzies.
Do a Daily Load of Laundry.

The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines

One thing I love about these four is they are what I call domino housekeeping habits, which means each one has the potential to inspire you to HAPPILY do a few extra things! And as you do, you find more JOY in your home. You begin to turn it into your sanctuary. You will WANT to keep it clean and welcoming.The cleaning frenzies are fun because they are flexible to suit your needs every day. Yet there is enough routine built in that if you do them every day, you feel like you are winning at life. :)

I’ll be going through the idea behind cleaning frenzies and tackling each one of these daily routines over the next few weeks. Watch for some inspiration as well as my tips on why and how these work for me! As always, do what works for you!

The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines

Do you clean your kitchen sink every day? Perhaps you do, but if this is new to you or you’re hit or miss on it, try it for 30 days! I think you’ll be surprised at how impactful it is, both in how you see your home as well as how you feel about yourself!

Having a simple housekeeping routine isn’t about being a slave to cleaning, it’s about giving yourself FREEDOM from it so you can do the things you want to do and fall in love being at home.

Here are some tips that will help you keep daily sink cleaning a healthy, positive experience!

Consider a clean sink your gift to yourself.

Don’t call these routines your “chores.” Taking care of your home is a gift to yourself. My ultimate goal is to have my sink clean before I go to bed. Whether that’s me cleaning it, or my husband or family member, everyone in our house knows that I’m happier when the sink is clean. Even if no one else ever helped me with the dishes, I would do it alone. It’s a gift to myself to have a clean kitchen.

Ideally I find it’s best to try to keep it clean all day, or at least empty it real quick right before dinner. If you start dinner with a sink full of dishes, it will make it much more difficult to clean before bed. If you empty your sink before dinner, you’ll be able to buzz through the evening clean up and have more time for yourself!

The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines
Get your Thieves household cleaner and toxin-free products here!
  • Turn on some music you like (you can find one of my playlists here).
  • Bring in decorative elements like seasonal flowers or plants and dish towels so you’ll be inspired to see how pretty when the dishes are done! Shop my home and style here.
  • Collect pretty dishes, it’s more enjoyable to see them clean and put away than teetering in a sink of leftover lasagna! :)
  • Use a toxin-free cleaner so you aren’t breathing in chemical fumes that will harm your lungs as you are cleaning your sink (get thieves household cleaner concentrate (it is about $1 a bottle!!) and other toxin free products here! Read how I improved my health by making my home toxin-free!) You can even customize your cleaner with your own custom scent, I shared one of my favorite combos in this post.
  • Don’t use toxic dish soaps on your food or dishes or hands, don’t compromise your health. You’ll be doing dishes every day take a look at the ingredients listed on the label of your products. If it says it has it has “fragrance” or “use gloves” or adds a stern warning or caution, or says to use in a well-ventilated area, etc, get rid of them. Grab the Thieves concentrated Thieves dish soap, and the yummy Lushious Lemon foaming hand soap and refills here.
The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines
Diffuser Source
  • Instead of candle or scented room sprays or plug-ins, treat yourself to your favorite scents! I use a quality diffuser and real plant-oils to make my kitchen smell divine while keeping myself safe and happy, too (get the gorgeous diffuser above and other diffusers and oils I recommend here, You can also use these oils to safely scent your cleaning products. I made a new bottle of cleaner last week, just one capful of it with 2 drops lemon myrtle, 5ish drops bergamot, and 8ish drops peppermint. Yummy! When you get your oils with my link, I send you pretty diffuser cards and lots of goodies to get you started with oils.
  • Pour yourself a cuppa tea to sip as you clean or let yourself savor it as soon as the kitchen is clean. Make tea or your beverage of choice a part of your daily cleaning ritual. This Blueberry Chamomile tea has been one of my favorites lately.
  • Completely dry out and polish your sink when you’re done. I keep a small dry rag under the sink to make it easy to polish up the sink! The finishing details are what will make you extra happy in the morning.
The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines

Do you have a sink cleaning routine?

The Joy of a Clean Sink+ Four Daily Routines

Follow my daily routines and home inspiration on my Instagram stories at The Inspired Room and the Dwell Well Collective. Get toxin-free products for cleaning your home!

Grab the toxin-free cleaning products, oils and diffusers I recommend with my referral HERE and I will send you lots of helpful resources and recipes to make your home clean AND healthy for your family!

If you have any trouble ordering, email me at [email protected] and I’m happy to help.

Related posts:

My daily routines + puttering

How to keep your house clean with dogs.

My Bestselling Decorating + Homemaking + Organizing Books

9 Comments

  1. Deb Wostmann

    Sounds like you’re my spirit animal. I hate dishes in the sink. I for the most part never go to bed without all the dishes being done or put in the dishwasher. My family like yours is very in tune to this and will help to make sure it’s clean after any meals they come over for. I don’t know what it is about it, but I feel more at ease when the kitchen is tidy and clean.

  2. Betty

    You show a beautiful sink area but what do you do with your dish cloth, scrubber etc after cleaning. Show us the look of your cabinet below with the way you store everything. Tips like that are always useful and helpful.

  3. Carolyn K.

    I love, love, love a clean sink & counter tops. It’s so nice to come into the kitchen in am and see it clean and neat. I also love clean bathroom sinks and counter tops. My a.m. routine includes making the bed and cleaning the bathroom sinks. When I get dressed and those chores are finished, I leave the second floor knowing it is in good order. Problem is, after breakfast, I usually start prep for a meal or decide to bake something. So, kitchen order is needed again. (This seems to be especially true now with Covid19 house arrest.)
    Sincerely, Carolyn K.

    • Melissa @ The Inspired Room

      Yes, that’s great! My mom always told me to just out wipe the bathroom sink after you use it! We’ve been the same way, baking and cooking so much more than usual :).

  4. Diane

    I keep my kitchen clean and tidy as well. However, the bane of my existence is my stainless steel sink. It looks beautiful right after it is cleaned and polished, but as soon as the water is turned on those hard water spots are everywhere unless it is dried after each and every turn of the faucet. I have tried every wax, polish, olive oil, Rain X, and product I could find to get the water to bead up and roll off with NO success. Someone somewhere, please invent a product for stainless steel sinks that will inhibit hard water stains. Thanks for letting me rant.😂, it felt good to get it out of my system.

    • Lynn Czap

      I love getting your posts in my email, but unfortunately I have not had any emails from the Inspired Room in the last month. I have tried multiple times to sign up for the emails through your link-it appears to accept it, but I never get the confirmation email or any new posts. Could you please add me back in. Thank you!

    • Dr. Padd Barnes

      Diane, you can put car wax on your stainless steel sink and the water will roll right off.

  5. Curtis Chipley

    Oh you are preaching to the choir here. When you make your bed the first thing in the morning you start your day with a positive accomplishment! I hate a sink full of dishes! We lived in our last home for 18 years and had no dishwasher,. We never left a meal time without washing the dishes drying them and putting away, sold that house. Bought our new house, been here for 15 years it has a dishwasher, hallelujah! Never leave a dirty dish out, always put it in the dishwasher. I also vacuum everyday, I love seeing the vacuum marks in the carpet. Maybe a bit OCD lol, I even starch and iron my sheets. Got to love a neat and tidy home!

  6. Nancy

    My husband and I of 35+ years agree that the bed is made by the last one out and all dishes must be done before bedtime by whomever did not do the cooking. These are flexible jobs. I personally am squeamish about doing traditional women’s chores more than a certain frequency. Fear and shivers just thinking about a Stepford Wife.

 

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