Seriously y’all… who else hates doing dishes? Like cannot be in a good mood while doing them, straight out hates doing dishes? I’ve tried many a routine, trick, hack, delegate it out, whatever I could to keep my sanity when the dishes need to be done. Yet again.
It’s hard to keep up with when you cook all your meals for the family at home and don’t use disposable stuff. It’s a never ending battle till death. Literally. Either the dishes are gonna break or I am.
However… my sink has been what you could consider ‘tame’ for over a week straight now. And… I don’t resent doing them anymore. Of course this is still a very new experience but it’s just made my day-to-day life in the kitchen so much better I knew I had to share.
I should warn you that these are disciplines I alone have been keeping myself to and not things I’ve imposed on the whole family. Though having the normal of a clean sink as opposed to a dirty one has led to a few times where my husband or eldest daughter decided it best to wash what they were putting in the sink without any nudge from me. So… WIN?
Wash more than you put in
We have to start here right? If you use a mug and spoon for your coffee, wash it right away when you go to put it in the sink. In theory that means you never have a dirty sink. Ever. Theory doesn’t translate to reality in this house but if I bother to clean a plate or a mystery cup that someone put in the sink in addition to my mug doesn’t mean much more work for me and keeps the mountain of dirty dishes at bay.
If you’re in the kitchen anyway…
You know those recipes that read something like… simmer for 30 minutes while you catch up on your show. No. Don’t go catch up on your show. If something has to cook or be left alone for more than 5 minutes, just stay in the kitchen and clean up after yourself.
15 minutes at the sink while the rice is steaming and the roast is resting is the perfect opportunity to get your sink cleaned up again. And even if you only have 5, set a timer and go. Do what you can. Doing half the dishes now while you wait for your pork chop to sear if time well spent. If you get in the habit of these mini resets when you have moments between cooking you’ll see a huge difference.
Soak while you eat
Not in the tub! Soak your cooking stuff. Fill up the sink with hot soapy water towards the end of your cooking and drop in the things you don’t need to bring to the table. While you eat, the pots and spatulas and whatever else you got going on can sit and break down a little. And you can put all your serving dishes in there while you wash your plates and utensils, since they tend to be quickest to get clean and don’t need any help from soaking.
I even soak my cast iron while we eat. It’s never more than 30 minutes and I’ve never had any trouble from doing this. If your seasoning coat is solid it should be fine. That seasoning is tougher than you think!
Reset every night
Even if I didn’t clean up much throughout the day I try and make a point to clean up every night after dinner. It’s easier if you can do a little as the day goes but at least I know there isn’t a mountain to wake up to in the morning! This is by far the best feel good motivator for keeping it up. Waking up to a clean kitchen sets the mood for a much better day than when I have a sink of dirty dishes.
Come to peace that it will never end
This is probably the toughest habit to adopt. But it might be the most important one for your sanity. Even if you’re willing to eat off disposables full time you can’t cook with them. You’ll always have pots, pans, bake ware, cooking utensils and the like to clean up. It’s a part of life, and it’s ok. A sink full of dishes doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong. Every other house on the block also sometimes has a sink full of dishes to be done. The only way to make it go away is to just do the dishes.
