As my husband can probably testify, the state of our kitchen is a great indication of the type of day I am having. If my kitchen looks clean and spotless, you can bet I am probably a happy, chipper mommy with tons of energy. If my kitchen sink is full of dishes and there is food splatters on the counter and you feel like you're walking in an ocean of crumbs- you had better look out because Mama Hyde is just around the corner.

Luckily, I have come to realize this about myself early on in our marriage. The state of our kitchen really affects my mood, so I have been getting better about putting it first and keeping it spic and span. (This is basically impossible with 2 toddlers and a baby on the way- but hey, I can get close;) ). Nothing in the house can affect my mood so fast, so it's definitely become a priority for me.

Here is a list of tips I have found very helpful as I have worked on keeping my kitchen clean on a regular basis:

*Put things away as you use them. When baking cookies or a pot of soup, I always put ingredients back in the fridge or cupboard as soon as I'm done using them. This saves me time later and valuable cooking space!

*Do the dishes after every meal, or at least rinse. Ideally, I would love to do the dishes after every meal. But sometimes all I have time for is a quick rinse to make sure there is no food that will cake onto the dishes through the day. This alone saves me a ton of time later, because I don't have to scrub at anything; I can just load the dishwasher and hand wash any delicate dishes.

*Clean the kitchen every night! With work and school and children, we may not have time to sweep the whole kitchen and wipe down all the counters after every meal. Be sure to do a quick cleanup of everything every night so you don't fall too behind! If all else fails, make sure you do the dishes every night, no matter the time or what's going on. Nothing ruins my day faster than waking up to a sink full of dishes; it immediately kills my drive and my creativity.

*Re-evaluate counter space. How are your counters being used? Are there appliances that you don't use very often that could be stored in the pantry? Does your mail tend to stack up on a particular spot of the counter? Take some time to clear everything off the counters and start from scratch. Designate a special spot for mail (maybe a drawer with file folders, or hanging file organizers on the wall), and make sure that everyone knows the rule is to keep things off the counters!

*Keep a cleaning schedule. For the deeper clean items, I like to schedule them for a specific day every week. For example, I scrub the floor on Monday, and clean the kitchen sink and microwave on Tuesdays. Some weeks you might miss, but at least you know that you'll get to it the next week! You could include things like scrubbing down the legs of the tables and chairs, disinfecting the counters, polishing cabinets, cleaning out the fridge, or whatever makes your heart happy;).

*Remember the two minute rule. Let's face it, life happens- if you haven't had time to clean anything in your kitchen all day, set the timer for two minutes and tidy up what you can in those two minutes. Once the timer goes off, continue with your other activities. Two minutes may not seem like much, but you'd be surprised what you can do in two minutes, and if you are able to do it 3-4 times that day, you can make a significant dent in your kitchen cleaning!

*Make your kitchen a happy place! Fill your kitchen with decorations/quotes that are inviting and inspirational for you. You'll be much more likely to want to clean your kitchen and keep it that way if your kitchen has a beautiful face to begin with.

What tips would you guys add? Do you have any special tricks that help you to keep your kitchen in a functional and clean condition? Please share in the comments below!