Today we are going to shine our kitchen sink. This seams simple and you may be thinking “hey I have a house that belongs on an episode of hoarders! How is a clean sink going to help me with THAT?” The point of doing this is to create a clean spot in your house that you can look at and say “that is clean”. From there you can build on that and soon your clean spot will spread.
I know what you are thinking, “yeah right!” I thought so too, but then I tried it and it was true! My sink is near my stove. I would clean my sink and think, “Hey my stove looks awful next to this shiny sink! I should do something about that!” So I took a couple minutes and wiped down my stove a bit. It may not look as marvelous as my sink but you take 5 minutes a night for a couple of nights and it could look that marvelous!
Please note, while this looks like a lot, you will not be doing all of this every night. You clean your sink everyday and it isn’t really hard to do. We use cloth washcloths and towels. I have taken the added step of every night I take the washcloth and towel and throw them in the wash. Then I grab another one to replace them and my kitchen looks so inviting in the morning! 😀
This is one of my favorite Fly Ladies if you are more of a visual person:
Now for the nitty gritty
If you haven’t cleaned your sink in a while, you may need some help. The Flylady people recommend that you (source):
Note: Be sure to rinse well between each step!
- Take all the dishes out of the sink.
- Run some very hot water into the sink and fill it to the rim. If you have a two-sided sink, only do one side at a time. Then, pour a cup of household bleach into the hot water. Let it sit for one hour. Now, pull the plug with a pair of tongs. If you don’t have tongs, then scoop some of the water out of the sink into the other sink and use your hand to pull the plug. Make sure you wear gloves so the bleach doesn’t irritate your skin, and don’t get the bleach water on your clothes.
- Rinse your sink well.
- Use some powdered cleanser (Comet, Ajax, or baking soda) and scrub your sink. Be sure to rinse ALL of the cleanser from the sink.
- Take a sharp edge, such as a butter knife, and clean around the rim of the sink, just like you would clean dirt out from under your fingernails.
- Clean around the faucets. You may need an old toothbrush or dental floss.
- Now, get out your window cleaner; I use Windex. Give it a good shine.
- If you still don’t like the way it looks, then you can try some car wax. Just know in your heart that you have cleaned it very well now, and it doesn’t have to be perfect. Our perfectionism is what got us in this situation in the first place!
- Every time you run water in your sink, take your clean dishtowel and dry it out (I lay out a clean one every night as part of my before-bed routine). Before you know it, you will be doing this everytime you leave your kitchen! The rest of the family will, too. No more water spots. You will have a clean and shiny sink.
- Don’t have a fit if someone doesn’t take as much pride in your sink as you do. It is very easy to fix. You have already done the hard part; you will never have to go through this process again. Daily maintenance will keep it looking this way all the time. Nasty, hurtful words are not as easy to repair. Just be sure and tell your family what you are trying to do. They will think you have gone crazy.
- If you don’t have a dishwasher, don’t worry. A dishwasher is just a dirty dish disposal. Clean out a place under your sink and put a dishpan in there. Teach your family that instead of putting their dirty dishes and glasses in the sink, place them into the dish pan. Get into the habit of putting your dishes away as soon as they have been washed and are dry. No more leaving the dish-drying rack on the counter or in the sink. Put it away under the sink when you have finished. If your old one is nasty, you may want to soak it in the sink full of bleach water at the same time you soak the sink, or go buy a new set.
- To insure that your family remembers this, put a note in the sink. It will get their attention and remind them where to put the dishes. Be patient! They have never been taught, either. It is going to take some practice.
Now if you have a stainless steel sink, I recommend all of the above directions with one extra instruction added: after you soak your sink, rinse well, and use SOS pads to scrub it. This will buff the finish. It will look like new.
If you still can’t get it to shine after the Windex, put a light coat of lemon oil or olive oil on it. I mean just a tiny bit on a cloth and rub it. This will make you smile. Some people have had very good results from Bar Keepers Friend.
Go Shine Your Sink!
FlyLady
Last note: Be sure you don’t mix cleansers like Comet with Windex (or other ammonia based cleaners); you can create dangerous gases! It is worth repeating: rinse well between each step!