🚫The mop meant DO NOT ENTER🧹

Hi Frum Minimalists 💛

Sometimes I tell my students and clients:

“BTW, you gotta close your kitchen at night.”

And they look at me like…Ellie. What does that even mean? Like close the kitchen HOW?

So in this post, I want to share what I mean, how to do it, and why it's so super important.

Story Time☕

Growing up, we had a neighbor whose mother would close the kitchen every night around 7:30.

After supper, she would clean the kitchen, mop the floor, and then take the mop stick and put it across the doorway like a half X.

Basically like:

DO NOT ENTER.

Kitchen closed.

All of us kids knew it.

We would not step foot into the kitchen when we saw that mop at the doorway.

(Below is an Ai generated image exactly as I remember it!)

My mother went even further. 

She literally had special sliding doors custom-built into the walls by the kitchen.

At night, after we finished tidying up the kitchen, she would pull the doors closed, they would magnetically shut, and then she would formally announce: “The kitchen is closed.”

And we all knew what that meant.

We all had jobs in the kitchen before it closed, and it took literally 5 minutes max when everyone helped.

We would also prepare our stuff for school the next day and fill up our water bottles before the kitchen closed.

And when the kitchen is cleaned and closed each night, the mornings feel magical. Really.

I say this line all the time because I read it years ago and I love it:

Do something today that your tomorrow self will thank you for.

Closing your kitchen at night is exactly that.

Do something today that your tomorrow self will thank you for.

Did You Know? 💡

Restaurants do this every single night. 

They have a closing shift.

They do not finish serving their last customers and say:“Okay, everyone go home. We’ll deal with the mess tomorrow.”

Of course not!

Because no restaurant owner wants to walk in the next morning and still be cleaning up yesterday’s mess.

But somehow in our homes, so many of us act like that’s okay.

We wake up and yesterday’s mess is still sitting there to greet us.

NO THANK YOU.

I want you to walk into the kitchen in the morning and feel like:

Yay! I got this!

Not:

Help!!!! Waaaaa!!!! We are already behind!!

You may be asking:

“But Ellie, what if I have teenagers who come home really late?”

Okay.  Too bad on them.

LOL.

I’m kidding.

Kind of.

When my mother had her big boys coming home from yeshiva at like 10 PM, they were allowed into the kitchen.

Obviously.

They needed to eat.

But they understood that the kitchen was closed.

So they would come in respectfully, heat up their dinner plate, eat, clean up after themselves, and leave the kitchen the way they found it.

Because that’s the rule.

The kitchen has been reset.

And if you come in after the reset, you are responsible to keep it reset.

Your older children should understand to be respectful of all areas in your home. 

(Want to learn how to teach them responsibility? Join Raising Minimalist Kids!)

I Don't Have Time!

AND, IN CASE YOU ARE THINKING "VERY NICE ELLIE! BUT I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" 

I WANT TO SAY SOMETHING IMPORTANT

If your kitchen is truly Frum Minimalized, this after-dinner reset should not take a long time.

It should not take an hour.

It should not even take 30 minutes.

It should be closer to like 10 minutes.

And, even less if your kids help you.

And they should help you!

(Need help with getting your kids to help? I have a whole class called Raising Minimalist Kids because yes, this is something children can learn.)

If closing your kitchen feels like a full-time job:

That is not a cleaning problem.

It is a too-much-stuff problem.

READ THAT AGAIN.

Stop organizing your clutter.

Get rid of it.

Stop organizing your clutter.

Get rid of it.

Homework Time!🧽

Tonight, close  your kitchen.

You can do it alone.

You can do it with your husband.

You can call your sister.

You can text a friend and say:

“Want to reset kitchens together?”

You can even do it with your kids if they are around and old enough to help.

Just DO IT!

Here are your kitchen closing ideas: ✔️

Put away the food

Clear the table

Wash the dishes or load the dishwasher

Put away whatever clean dishes you can

Wipe the counters

Wipe the table

Sweep and mop the floor

Fill water bottles

Prepare snacks or lunches for tomorrow

Take out garbage

Put out clean hand towels

Turn off the kitchen lights

And then say it.

Out loud.

“The kitchen is closed.”

You do not need custom sliding doors, although that’s definitely nice.You also do not need a mop barricade, although that’s pretty easy to do and it makes a physical statement.

But, you do need to JUST DO IT:)

And than reply to this email and write:

KITCHEN CLOSED

Or send me a picture.

I want to see your reset kitchen!!

And if it takes you an hour, you need less stuff.

And if you need help with that, then come join me inside the Home Reset Bootcamp, because that is exactly what we do.

We stop managing all the stuff.

We get rid of it.

Warmly,