Cleaning

Spring cleaning is hard enough without also having to scoot kids out of the way! Here, some little chores they can do with you (without creating a bigger mess).

Can Bon Ami or dish soap do the trick? Let's find out.

It's not all that hard. Promise.

Appliances like washing machines are particularly sensitive to mold growth.

Don't be so fast to automatically run the drying cycle!

Because your kitchen needs a little springtime TLC.

You’d be forgiven for thinking several items around your home are self-cleaning. Items like your soap dispenser and dishwasher are literally used for cleaning… with soap… so how can they themselves get dirty? Welp, they can. 

Some of them were game-changers. Some of the hacks worked... with caveats. Others? Well, let’s just say they didn’t measure up to the hype.

We call it the "Magic Trash" strategy — but it's more like a fresh game they can't get enough of.

My kitchen has never smelled better.

You'll never look back.

Use it to clean your shower, degrease cabinets, unclog drains, and more!

Two words: declutter caddy.

From "art" on walls down to pesky food stains on carpets, we've got solutions to life's little messes.

Rather than waiting until it's time to put it all back and bemoaning the amount of stuff you have that, once again, you didn't use, go through it now.

Give your kitchen a much-needed clean-out.

And some of these must-clean items are rather unexpected.

The before-and-after shots are pretty impressive!

The most important step starts with your utensil drawer.

I wanted to learn how to alter my bad-smelling home habits — for my own nose and to be more hospitable to my guests.

If you have kids or pets, you'll want to read this.

The set comes with all the tools you could possibly need for the little detail work that makes a big difference.

(Image credit: Esteban Cortez) Preparing for Thanksgiving is by no means a one-day affair. If you’re hosting, you’ve been getting your house and kitchen ready, and spent days making lists, shopping, and cooking. Once the feasting is over, the last thing you want to do is spend hours cleaning up—and you shouldn’t have to! Here’s our fail-proof, get-it-done method for getting your kitchen back in shape so you can relax.

You heard it here: It's OK to store toys in every room.

This super-easy hack gives us so much more time to spend together on weekends.

On Kitchn: A Thanksgiving Dinner Outdoors (Image credit: Leela Cyd) Thanksgiving is almost upon us. And you’re hosting. If you started planning weeks ago, you’re in great shape to pick up and get to the real work of having guests and preparing a very special feast. If you’re only getting around to preparations now, don’t despair!

You deserve a break!

Blasting Spanish-language music connects me to my heritage as much as it makes chores more enjoyable.

Mother knows best!

The never-ending cleaning cycle just got a little easier with these game-changing tips!

Any guesses?

We all need this important life skill, especially with loads of playground time at school!

It’s safe to say 2020 (and 2021!) is a year we learned a lot more than we ever thought we’d know (or want to know) about disinfecting. From how to do laundry in a pandemic to how to effectively eliminate viruses from household surfaces, we all gained a lot of new wisdom about how to take care of our homes and how to take care of ourselves. And yet, chances are you’re probably still making some mistakes.

Okay, I never thought I would say this, but some 2-in-1 cordless stick vacuums actually make cleaning fun! As a general rule, I used to hate all household chores equally. But there’s something about using these cool devices that doesn’t feel like I’m completing a tedious task. Here’s the best analogy I can think of: If a regular vacuum cleaner is a minivan, the right 2-in-1 cordless stick vac is a sports car.

Now that you’re vaccinated, you might be wondering if you can go back to your old hand sanitizer-free days. Do you still need to wash your hands every time you return home? Do you need to be wiping down surfaces? What, exactly, do we need to keep disinfecting … if anything? This is all further complicated by back-to-school season, where exposure levels are increased all around.We asked a few infectious disease experts — Dr.

I am confronting an empty nest and finally have time to go through all those stashes of art. I’m ready to let go, but HOW? A Viking burial pyre of burning art? We seem to have gone through a heavy phase of paint-your-own pottery, with some hideous results … (but as soon as I think of smashing them, it’s like “Ooh! Then we could make a mosaic with the pieces!” and there’s a whole new thing to not be able to throw away).

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. One of the most utterly soul-sucking requirements of being a parent for me is having to repeat myself over and over and over again.

You know how in that post-holiday, pre-New Year’s limbo zone your house becomes kind of a mess because everyone is home, all day long, for days? It’s been like that around our house for two and a half months and it’s probably similar in yours. With school, pre-school, and every single out-of-the-house activity on hold, each and every mess made by my curious and vivacious kids and always-home husband happens right under the roof of our perpetually full house.

I turned 30 a couple of years ago and, despite being solidly married with two children, I suddenly felt this need to adult harder than ever. Things were pretty chaotic (see: two kids) and I was grasping desperately for small things I could tweak to streamline, or simplify — whatever I could do to help me gain more control over the day-to-day. I did not read Marie Kondo and thank my old prom dress before donating it. I didn’t start intensive Sunday meal prepping.

As busy as they are, kitchens are just about the germiest places in our homes—especially all those handles. You touch food, you open the oven. Your kids come in after touching who-knows-what and head straight to the fridge (or maybe it’s just mine?). With all that touching comes the risk of cross-contamination of foodborne illnesses and the spread of germs (in addition to all our fears about coronavirus, flu season is coming!).

I enjoy simplifying and streamlining wherever I can, especially when it comes to routines and tasks at home. Usually this means downsizing supplies and tools and cutting down on decisions when possible. Simplifying almost always means less.But when it came to solving my laundry problem, it turns out that simplifying means having more of something, specifically more laundry baskets. First some background: We’re a family of seven.