The kitchen is the heart of the home. There isn’t a single day that goes by that you don’t need to be in your kitchen multiple times a day. People have to eat! If you have children you could probably also agree with me when I say it is the one room in the house that seems to never stay clean. I could spend the morning cleaning the kitchen top to bottom and feel so accomplished only to turn around and realize it’s time to cook lunch, and therefore I am going to have to clean the kitchen all over again. Keeping a kitchen clean is exhausting, ya’ll.

There is one thing though, having a clean kitchen is pretty powerful. The kitchen has a way of setting the tone for the rest of the house and contributing to your mood. Because so much needs to be done in the kitchen on a daily basis, having it clean makes it easier to prepare meals for the day.

So, here are five reasons you should go to bed with a clean kitchen.

Waking up to a clean kitchen is refreshing. Waking up to a sink full of dirty dishes a great way to feel exhausted before the day even gets started. Wake up feeling refreshed by waking up to a clean kitchen. This will give you a fresh start for the day. And no one likes being greeted by a bunch of dirty dishes anyway!

Starting the day off with a clean kitchen makes it easier to stay on top of. If your kitchen is clean at the start of the day, then you won’t get easily buried beneath all the dishes from yesterday and today. It gives you a chance to start ahead and not feel like you’re already behind.

You can find what you need. Nothing is more aggravating then needing a certain pan to cook breakfast and realizing it’s buried in the sink under all the dirty dishes from the previous day. Now you have to wash the dishes while the kids scream for breakfast before you can even get started on said breakfast. I’m not speaking from experience or anything…

Dishes that sit over night smell. Do I need to say anything else here? The food also gets really stuck. This just isn’t fun. So let’s leave this point here in all it’s non fun-ness.

Having a clean kitchen relieves stress. When you wake up to a clean kitchen, it’s refreshing, you can stay on top of it easily, you can find what you need, therefore stress is relieved! I told you the kitchen had a way of setting the tone for the rest of the day!

Sometimes the last thing I want to do after dinner or getting the kids in to bed is take the 10-15 minutes and clean up the kitchen. I am exhausted at the end of the day. But waiting until the morning make me feel stressed out and behind before the day even gets started. Taking those 15 minutes every evening is worth it. You should try it, see how it makes a difference.

Do you have anything to add to this list? What does waking up to a clean kitchen do for you?