The kitchen often serves as the "hub" of the home. With so much activity going on there, it is 1) more likely to become messy; and 2) in greater need of being kept clean and organized. There are things you can do to incorporate cleaning the kitchen into your daily habits. Remember that we're talking about daily maintenance tasks here and not deep cleaning. These habits will help keep your kitchen cleaner and looking better day-to-day, but you will still need to take some time to do deep-cleaning.

First, if you are unable to truly buy into the idea that most kitchen cleaning tasks take less than 10 minutes--time it. You need to have the mentality that the overall cleanliness of the kitchen is a matter of hundreds of 1 to 10 minute cleaning tasks.

Second, if ever you are on the phone or waiting for food to cook--this is the time to sweep the floor, wipe down appliances, put dishes away, and (my favorite) clear out "expired" food in the refrigerator.

Next, attach a small task to some other task you are already forced to do. For instance: if you are already required to go into the kitchen to take dirty dishes from somewhere else, remove something from the counter as you exit the room. It will only take a minute or two to take that item to wherever it belongs and it has to get done sometime. If not now, then when? Might as well be now. If you're already in the kitchen to grab a snack, put away the clean dishes--or some of them. Nothing says they all need to be done at one time.

It certainly helps to keep your supplies ready and at-hand. Start to think about how you use the space in your kitchen so that the things you use regularly are in the same places where you spend most of your time in the kitchen. For instance: I spend most of my time standing between the stove and the sink--so my hand towels and the ingredients and tools I use most are a step or less away from that area. That includes my cleaning supplies. I don't have to go too far for the cleaning supplies I use constantly: granite cleaner, dish soap, hand towels and the broom. Likewise, my garbage can and a stainless steel bowl that holds my kitchen laundry (used cloth napkins and hand towels) are in that same area. I don't have an enormous kitchen, either--it is roughly 12'x15' with much of that devoted to walking through and a countertop bar to eat at. I made the decision to move my dishes outside of this basic working area because I needed this space for the things I used in the heat of motion. Dishes were things that relatives could set out when they were visiting and wanted to help (or better yet--the kids could do without getting in the chef's way). Their storage is about 3 steps from the dishwasher, but it has worked out wonderfully. Really think about where you keep your things, and make sure that you store them such that the things you need at your fingertips to completely kitchen tasks (including cleaning) are in the places that you spend most of your kitchen time.

Last, if you are unable to find opportunities to "steal" kitchen cleaning time in your day, build a set of kitchen cleaning routines each day that work for you. That could mean doing the same thing each day (morning-empty dishwasher and reload then clear counters, evening-clean the cooktop and sweep floors), or it could mean devoting 10 minutes to the kitchen each day--but doing different chores on each of those days. Only you know what will work for you.