3.15.2016

# At Home With Madame Chic # Home and Garden

Morning Kitchen Tidy



I hope you enjoyed yesterday's Make the Bed Inspiration post. In yesterday's comment section, Daily Connoisseur reader, Daesman, shared an article about Admiral McRaven, a retired Navy Seal. Admiral McRaven explains at a University of Texas, Austin commencement speech why it's important to make your bed every day.

"If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another.
By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter."


I loved that quote!

Today we are doing a quick tidy of the kitchen. This is not a deep clean video, I am just tidying up after breakfast, so there is much less to do! For every meal, I like to have some warm soapy water in the sink that I can drop the dishes, pots and silverware in. This helps break up any food left on them before I place them in the dishwasher. I find that this actually uses less water than if I ran the sink for each additional item.

So put on your apron, don your gloves and tidy up your kitchen with me, won't you? If you are unable to see the video above, click here, look in the sidebar of this blog, or visit my channel: www.youtube.com/TheDailyConnoisseur

Comments of the Week

Jamie Z writes:

Since reading your books I have been dressing up more and I love it! I feel better. On occasion I would have a nice dress on coming from an event and would stop by the market and actually feel good about it. Now its all the time! (:


Hi Jamie, I'm so glad you are having that great feeling every day now. Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm with us!

Kerrie W writes:

My mum always said, "Make the bed, wash the breakfast dishes, sweep the kitchen floor, throw out the papers & straighten the lounge. If you do nothing else, the house will appear in order.

Hi Kerrie, I love your mother's advice! A quick tidy every day does wonders and doesn't take as long as we think it will.


Questions of the Week

Jennifer,
Hello! I was wondering if there was a way to subscribe via email to your blog updates. I only saw a feed but not a subscribe button for email. I am a big fan of your books and would love to get blog updates to my email, if that is possible.

Thank you,
Lori


Hi Lori, Half way down on the right side of the blog, you can subscribe via email. Enter your email address in the space provided and you will be subscribed. I believe you need to also check your email and click confirm to receive the emails. Thank you!

Many people ask where I get the music for my videos. The songs I use are royalty-free and from Epidemic Sounds. When posting videos on YouTube, creators must use royalty-free music for copyright reasons. The music in this week's video is
Beethoven Sonatina in G.


Today I would love to know... how do you tidy your kitchen after breakfast? What is your routine?

See you tomorrow for a family room tidy...

Jennifer x

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17 comments:

Ashitha said...

Hi Jennifer,

Wonderful video to see you tidy your beautiful kitchen. It's now about 9 30pm here in India and this video has inspired me to go clean the kitchen before bed.

Thank you...

Imo Thomas said...

I love that you are wearing your kitchen gloves and keeping your hands nice! Just because you do a fair amount of cleaning doesn't mean you have to let your hands go.

~ Shannon said...

It is wonderfully soothing to watch someone clean a kitchen! ;-) This has inspired me to go tidy up our kitchen -- making the bed is second nature, but keeping counters clear and wiped is much more of a challenge for me!

Your blog and books are such an encouragement -- and you look great, by the way! Love that pregnancy glow!

Cheers,
Shannon

PS -- The new kitchen is lovely!

Toinette deBrebis said...

Glad to see I'm not the only one putting on an apron (yours is a very pretty one I might add) and rubber gloves ! I would like to know what product you are using to spray on your counters.

Thanks for showing that just putting in a few minutes to clean up and put things away keeps things under control at home

Kristina said...

Hi Jennifer, I totally agree about filling the sink with soapy water to let the dishes soak. I usually only have time to put the dishes in soapy water before I take the kids to school. Then when I come back I put them in the dishwasher and they clean much better. I then clean counter tops and sweep the floor. I too usually light a scented candle when I'm all done. Great video. I'd love to see one on organizing closets.

OneEnglishLady said...

I smiled to myself as I watched it looked so much like a dance that we all probably know the steps to. I always look around just before I pull the plug to check...nothing else? I noticed you do too. Then I got to thinking it is a dance that all women down the century's have done each morning to get ready for the day.

Mylana said...

I am surprised that you have 2 little girls, and they are not there helping at all. Not even putting their own dishes into the sink (which is a doable task even for a toddler). Why?

The Daily Connoisseur said...

Thank you ladies for your lovely comments! To address Mylana's comment: 1. I do not put my children on camera for this blog. Please refer to my Raising Tidy Children video to see what they do in the kitchen. 2. You will notice there were not dishes in the beginning of the video. This is because they put their dishes in the sink.

One English Lady I thought your comment was very poetic. Thanks again for commenting everyone!

Jennifer x

Rose said...

I actually wash up by hand when it's only the three of us, I find it just as quick, it uses little water and is effective. I use the dishwasher at other times.

Clear kitchen counters are essential before I start cooking, it takes only moment to put away, wipe down and it makes such a difference the next time I walk in.

I do like that flexible extender on your tap Jennifer, I must see if we have them over here.

Anonymous said...

It is just the two of us, and I don't have a dishwasher. I don't really see the point of them, as it seems that people actually wash the dishes in soapy water before they put them in the dishwasher. If I have to do them by hand before I'd put them into a dishwasher anyway, why not just do the job by hand and be done, n'est pas? In any case, I prefer to wash my utensils as I go along. It only takes a few seconds, and the egg doesn't have time to solidify on the whisk, so there is less work involved. Clean it while the gack is fresh, and the job is a lot easier than scrubbing at it later when it's dried on. I use a cast iron skillet for scrambling our eggs, so that just gets a wipe-out, and a bit of fresh oil, if necessary. That's always best done right away, while the skillet is still hot. Since I made breakfast (yogurt with blueberries and clementine sections, scrambled eggs), my husband does the washing up and putting away-- which is just the bowls, plates, and flatware, as I have already taken care of the pan and utensils. I find that the kitchen stays clean and orderly during the making of breakfast because I do a mise en place first thing in the morning: set up the coffee maker, beat the eggs and refrigerate them, set the table, defrost the amount of blueberries I need, etc. Even the butter in the butter keeper is already cut into tablespoon-sized sections, so that when I am cooking, I can just grab one and go. Everything I will need is already set up, so it's no big deal to make breakfast. If it's no big deal to make breakfast, then it's easy to clean as I go. As a result, there is less cleaning up afterwards. Kind of a cascade effect.

Unknown said...

I love this. I clean up all the dishes, putting them in the sink, then I wash down the counters with a steaming washcloth with a couple of drops of Clove essential oil and it makes the kitchen smell very good. I think tidy up my boys' high chairs and then use a dust buster to clean up any stray crumbs. I then go and do the dishes and start a cup of tea and get on with my morning with other chores and play with my boys.

Anonymous said...

Hi there Jennifer. I absolutely adored both your bed-making & kitchen-tidying video. Thank you for sharing. In fact, the title of your video, having the word "tidy" in it, sparked me to pick up the book that has been the latest craze: "the life-changing magic of tidying up". I was just now reading the section of the book on tidying up our clothing. In the book, Marie Kondo says, when talking about wearing "sloppy sweat suits" (as she calls it) ... "If sweatpants are your every day attire, you'll end up looking like you belong in them, which is not very attractive. What you wear in the house does impact your self image." I instantly thought of you and our TDC community here, and had to come and share that quote from the book!

galant said...

Oh, what a fun little video, Jennifer! But I wish we could all move around a kitchen as fast as you appear to do, har, har! And what a lovely kitchen you have. Here in the UK, our kitchens tend to be a little more, shall we say, on the cramped side? And such lovely gleaming white surfaces everywhere which reflect the light. I'd have a huge display of flowers on that large central island, or greenery, but that's just a personal thing, and I'm not fond of candles because I think they present a fire risk, but other than that, it was so much fun to watch! And you looked so smart, too, while completing your tasks. But seriously, the kitchen was hardly in a mess, it was just a few things to put in the dishwasher - I notice you put them into the sink and rinse them first. So many people simply dump the dirty dishes straight into the dishwasher and then wonder why things come out smeary or the machine clogs up and stops working. Look after your machines, I say, and they will look after you!
Margaret P

Vicki Zimmerman said...

I so loved these cleaning routines, which is great inspiration and shows just how simple these daily activities can be. We're all in this together and thank you, Jennifer, for always being so helpful and inspiring. Your kitchen is lovely and I really like your apron, too, but I couldn't read the name of the label. I've been using your homemade cleaner, with lavender oil, and I love it!

Gail R said...

Vicky Zimmerman, that is a Cath Kidston apron. She is a wonderful English designer, known for her modern take on vintage designs, and you can find her things here in the US online at cathkidston.com. Her UK website, which tends to carry more items than the US one, is cathkidston.co.uk. But fair warning: Her designs are addictive! I started with tea towels and aprons and moved on to purses and luggage. I am a happy Cath Kidston addict and in three years supervising summer study abroad programs to England managed to get college-age young women equally enthralled with her. Enjoy! Housekeeping certainly feels and looks better in a Cath Kidston apron, right, Jennifer?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vicki Zimmerman said...

Hello gruss and thank you so much for filling in the blanks for me. I really appreciate your help along with your wonderful story about inspiring others and I will take a look on the cathkidston.com website. Jennifer's apron was darling and I'm always looking for a good tea towel.

Jennifer, I've been using your homemade cleanser ever since I read about it in your first book. It does an amazing job on my granite countertops in the kitchen and even on my bathroom mirrors, which was a nice surprise. My question concerns a marble countertop in the bathroom. Since vinegar is part of the mix and can etch marble, I was wondering if this cleaning solution can be used on marble surfaces? I add lavender drops to mine and I do love it. Thanks for adding what you can here if you have any experience with the use of it on a variety of surfaces (including wood, etc.).