My "Wasteful" Daily Habit Actually Keeps My Kitchen Running Smoothly
As a mother of five, I rely on strategies and routines to keep our kitchen running smoothly. For instance, I insist on having counter zones, I label sections in our fridge, and I shut down the kitchen every night. Part of our shut down routine includes a bit of an unusual habit: emptying the trash nightly, no matter what.
I realize some might consider this wasteful, especially if the trash can is not full, but this small part of our daily kitchen maintenance routine has an outsized impact on how our kitchen functions, not to mention how it smells! Here’s why this “wasteful” habit works for our family.
We have a smaller trash can.
First off, we do our best to keep this practice from creating undue waste. In addition to having a heavy duty garbage disposal that takes care of virtually all of our food waste, we purposely have a smaller trash can than you’d expect for a family of seven; it’s a pull-out trash can that fits in one lower cabinet. A small trash can combined with our large family means that it is full by the end of most days. This way, we’re not emptying half-full trash bags and using more plastic than necessary.
We start each day with an empty can.
Emptying the trash every night ensures that we start each day with a fresh, empty trash can. This makes our kitchen run efficiently because we aren’t having to stop in the middle of making school lunches or getting dinner on the table to empty the trash. Believe me, I need every minute and every bit of flow when I’m working in the kitchen! Not getting frustrated by a full trash bag is huge when it comes to my kitchen’s functionality.
We don’t have to deal with lingering smells.
Lastly, emptying the trash nightly means that trash never sits for longer than about 12 hours, from when we put our first garbage in the morning to when we empty it at night. This drastically cuts down on odors.
No matter how unusual they may seem, carefully considered cleaning habits that support your unique situation are key to creating a house that feels like home — even down to the way you handle your kitchen trash.
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