Give Your Clean Kitchen a Finishing Touch in 15 Minutes
Apartment Therapy’s Spring Cleaning Cure is a free 20-day cleaning plan that helps you tackle the most common spring cleaning tasks to give your home its deepest clean yet. Sign up now to get all 20 lessons in your inbox.
I might sound like a broken record right now, but spring cleaning is all about the unsung heroes of your home. It’s a time to spruce up all the things and places that mostly get ignored the rest of the year. Your garbage can is one of those things.
When it comes to routine, weekly cleaning, my garbage can gets an exterior wipe down. And I hose out the recycling bin every few weeks. But I confidently ignore the random crumbs collecting under the bins, and the gunk building up in the hidden, hard-to-get-to grooves.
But not anymore. The final part of our five-day kitchen spring clean is completing the finishing touch of a sparkling clean trash can…
Day 5: Clean the garbage can.
Every garbage can is a little bit different. Yours might be one plastic bin, or you might have something more complex with an outside shell or separate bins for different types of waste. But here’s a general plan for how to get it done:
- Take out the trash and recycling before you begin, and pull your trash can away from the wall so you can reach all around it.
- If your trash can has removable bins, pull those out and give them a scrub with all-purpose cleaner or soapy water. Leave the clean bins out to dry off and air out.
- Clean the inside of your trash can with a brush or rag, starting at the top and working your way to the bottom. Use a detail brush to clear out any tracks or grooves along the way.
- Once you’ve reached the bottom of the can, vacuum or brush out the debris from the bottom.
- Replace the inner bins, then wipe down the exterior of the trash can.
While your trash can is away from the wall (and in the spirit of spring cleaning), now is a good time to clean the floor and wall behind where it usually sits. Then you can put your garbage can back into place knowing your clean kitchen has its finishing touch.
The plastic parts of your trash can can absorb odors, but cleaning them regularly can help keep foul smells at bay.
More ways to participate in the Spring Cleaning Cure:
- Sign up for email updates
- Visit the 2021 Spring Cleaning Cure page and catch up on assignments
- Save or print your own Spring Cleaning Cure tips workbook
- Download the Spring Cleaning Cure calendar
- Join the Apartment Therapy Cure Facebook group
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