The 'Circle Rule' Method For A Clean, Calm, Clutter-Free Kitchen

Take a look around your kitchen. Is everything in its proper place? Does it feel calm and under control? Chances are it doesn't. Many people use their kitchen multiple times a day, meaning things understandably get disorganized easily and tossed where they shouldn't. Maybe there's mail on the counter. Snacks shoved into the pantry in no discernible order. When was the last time you neatly stacked those Tupperware lids? Exactly. Keeping an in-use kitchen tidy and free of clutter is hard. And there are many cleaning habits that make tidy kitchens easier. But the "circle rule" method may be here to make your life much easier. 

For Apartment Therapy, Laura Wheatman Hill generously shared her father's house cleaning method. His explanation? "Move in ever-widening circles." Sounds simple, right? And that's exactly why it's genius. "When you zoom out on this advice," Hill writes, "it might mean that you should broaden your scope when trying to solve a problem. Don't focus so much on the small stuff, but methodically and in an orderly fashion, work through your problem from the smallest detail to the most general." Not only is this great life advice, but it's great kitchen cleaning advice, too. 

Practically, the circle method involves picking a starting point — say, your kitchen island or your sink — and "moving in ever-widening circles" around that center point, tidying up anything that you see along the way. Maybe there are dishes in the drying rack to be returned to their drawers and cabinets, an empty soap dispenser that needs a refill, errant food wrappers that need to be thrown away, or surfaces that could use a wipe-down.

Focus on one circle at a time, completing all the tasks that appear in that circle before moving on to the next one. As you move away from that center point in those circles, gather piles of anything you find that doesn't belong in the kitchen. Maybe you'll end your cleaning session with a pile of mail, another of hair ties, and yet another of toddler toys that somehow made it into your cooking space.

But don't leave the kitchen and return those things to the room in which they belong until you're sure you've done your last, widest kitchen circle. The circle method allows you to stay laser-focused on cleaning the room at hand — in our case, the kitchen. If you leave to return hair ties to the bathroom, for example, there's a pretty good chance you'll start noticing everything in there that should be cleaned, too, and that's how you end up on the couch stress-eating Cheetos instead of actually cleaning your home (not that we speak from experience or anything).

The circle method keeps the scope of your focus small, so you don't end up getting distracted by other tasks and abandoning your original mission. It makes cleaning your kitchen feel segmented and therefore, manageable. If life gets in the way, it also makes it very easy to pick up right back where you left off. The circle method also allows you to methodically observe every layer of a room, making it a great system to follow if you ever need to find something you've misplaced, according to Hill.

"If I can't find something, I don't look around chaotically, running from room to room," Hill writes. "I start where the object is meant to be and look there (it's amazing how often the obvious is overlooked). From there, I move in ever-widening circles, looking around furniture, the floors, shelves, etc. ... This way, there's no stone unturned and I start with the most logical place first, maintaining efficiency."

Between cooking and dishes and grocery storage, there's no shortage of kitchen cleaning tasks you should do every day, week, month, and year. So whether you're tidying up your sink space, doing a deep clean, organizing your pantry with a new container set, or trying to find that pesky can opener that no one in your household can seem to remember goes in the utensil drawer, the circle method is there for you.