Wrangling Waste Baskets

Here are a few tips I use in the kitchen for wrangling waste baskets. Making a dirty job a little better.

Our kitchen waste baskets – one for trash and one for recycle – live in a dedicated cabinet next to the sink.

It’s nice to have them out of the way.  Especially since our kitchen is so small there would literally be no other place for family-size trash cans.

People reading this and yelling out, “Who designed a house for a family with a kitchen so small?”  I hear ya, but I’m just the one living here making due.

During our kitchen remodel, we converted one of the cabinets for trash and now I’m so glad we did.  Though our family is small, we eat most meals at home we seem to accumulate a lot of trash. The waste baskets get emptied every day or two but sometimes it’s still a stinky place and I have to keep on top of it. 

Obviously emptying frequently isn’t too much of a tip, but I do have a couple other things that have helped wrangle the waste baskets!

Create Layers on the Cabinet Bottom

I periodically tear out everything from the cabinet and give it a good cleaning.  But it’s awkward to get to and frankly, I just don’t like doing it.

Putting a drawer liner in the bottom helps because I can lift it out, vacuum in the corners and wipe down the liner.

But that still takes a lot physical gyrations to get to everything.

Dollar Tree to the rescue.  I found a thickly padded laminated placemat and layered it on top the liner and under the waste cans. It’s just the perfect size to fit under two cans and the perfect thickness.

And now?  Now any errant crumbs are mostly on the placemat which is easy to remove and wipe down.  So much easier than tearing apart the whole thing.

Create Layers in the Waste Cans

Since we purchase the gargantuan boxes of trash bags from Costco, the roll is too large to fit inside the can and still allow room for trash.  They live in the utility closet until one is needed.

And it seems like every time a certain someone, who shall remain nameless, empties the trash bag and forgets to put a new liner in, there are a few hassles. For me.

Like for instance.  My hands have horrible ick on them from prepping dinner or emptying the vacuum cleaner, and lo and behold, there is not a liner.  Just a personal trigger for me.

So lining the can with four or five bags does the trick without taking up space inside the can.  And I’m less triggered.

See how that works?

Have you ever noticed even with liners nasty stuff escapes and messes up the can?  I know.  How does that happen?

Usually a Clorox wipe will suffice, but for bigger jobs, I give the can a good squirt of Dawn and take it outside and hose it out.

The extra layers help cut down on escaped  messes.

For the recycle can, I just use a paper grocery bag which can also go right into recycling.  But even that waste basket gets grimy very frequently.  Lining it with a plastic bag that rarely gets changed helps wrangle that mess.

Clean & Deodorize

Clorox wipes and a spray of Lysol usually do the trick for basic cleaning and deodorizing.  But sometimes?  I don’t know what the heck makes the smell linger. Sometimes kitchen smells just like to stick around. Unwanted guests.

And frankly, I don’t love using those chemicals any more often than necessary.  So my new trick?

A few drops of essential oil on a panty liner stuck to the bottom of the can under the trash liners.  If you don’t have a panty liner, a few cotton balls will do the trick.

I used Young Living’s Thieves essential oil blend.  It is a yummy blend that contains many scents already in your kitchen such as clove and cinnamon.

What I’m Eating

If you’re celebrating the Fourth this weekend, you might want to try Spicy Cucumber Salsa from The Small Things Blog as a surprisingly fresh take on a chip topper.

The only changes I made were to use dried cilantro since I didn’t have fresh and a bit less red onion (which was still too much) and the juice of an entire lime. 

The combination of cool cucumbers and spicy jalapenos is heaven in the mouth.  Especially on a salty tortilla chip.  I might have eaten all of it myself.

This is a good one!

Wrap Up

Who thought I could write a whole post on waste baskets?  And that’s just in the kitchen. 

Well if you’ve stuck with me this long, I thank you very kindly and wish you a warm and wonderful weekend.