Messy Monday: How You Go About the Process

I love this picture, because more often than not it represents what my kitchen tends to look like as I cook or bake. This past week, for example, with Christmas coming and myself being the only one responsible for my family's meals, I did a lot of cooking and baking. Even though I thought I was doing great to put my measuring cups, spoons, mixing bowls, and pans in the sink right away instead of leaving them on the counter to deal with later when I was done, my husband walked in the kitchen once and said "Whoa, what a mess!"

This spawned an interesting discussion about the process of any aspect of homemaking, whether it be cooking or baking, sewing, laundry, or anything else. In the process, I stay strictly on task with my eye toward the immediate goal: get dinner made and clean up once it's in the oven or on the stove (or afterwards), make the muffins (cookies/bread/etc.) and clean up once they're in the oven. I am improving as I go about the process by at least getting the stuff to the sink, but I still have a sink full of dirty dishes awaiting me once I'm done making whatever it is I'm baking.

I asked my husband if he ever remembers his mom making a mess in the kitchen as she went about her cooking (even if she cleaned it up all the way immediately afterward), or if it was always under control. He said she went about the process much differently than I do. She never let anything get out of hand. So she slowed down the process to keep up with the used items, and found once her baking was done, so was she. The kitchen was spotless because she had kept it that way as she went about the process. Interesting, hugh? :)

For those of us for whom this does not come naturally, we can train our mental responses and start to learn new skills. I truly believe some of us are more skilled in tidy homemaking than others, and some of us struggle much more in this area. I struggle.

So this week, as I go about the process of whatever it is I'm doing, I'm really going to try my hardest to keep it under control at every step. Use a measuring cup; wash it right then, dry it right then, put it away right then. That way, if you stopped over for a surprise visit, I wouldn't be petrified as you look at my disastrous kitchen; and you would never know I was in the middle of baking!

What tips do you follow to keep things under control as you go about a process?