How to wash the dishes
This is my inaugural how-to tip.
One of the most common complaints I hear from women is that their men won’t do the dishes. In fact, they claim their men would rather let the dishes sit for days and let the mould fester than take the time to clean it.
Kind of like this.
Well, not really. This was just from this morning’s breakfast and last night’s popcorn.
This is what our washing area looks like when it’s time to do the dishes. Clean dishes in the right sink, and dirty dishes in the left sink and on the counter.
So, first things first.
Empty out any clean, dry dishes from the drying rack and put them away. (A future post will show you how to put away dishes properly.) There shouldn’t be anything left in the rack.
Rinse the dishes. Don’t scrub them; just run them under water to get rid of loose particles. This ensures your washing water doesn’t end up too dirty.
After each dish is rinsed, stack it with like dishes: plates with plates, bowls with bowls, cups with cups, and so on. The idea is to make this as orderly as possibly to save time and to use efficiently the space available in the rack.
Plug the now empty sink.
Add some soap. Usually just a squirt will do, but it will depend on your detergent. Concentrated detergents (i.e. ultra) require less detergent, for example.
I usually add it right into the drain plug. It makes for more bubbles.
Real men love their bubbles.
Turn on the water to the hottest temperature your hands can endure. Direct the stream into the drain plug so it makes direct content with the soap. It also creates the most turbulence, thus creating the most bubbles.
Real men love their bubbles.
When the sink is about a third to a half full, turn off the water. Any more water is pointless, and for those of us who pay for water, it’s money down the drain (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
Now, we’re ready to start cleaning. I start with the plates. This helps use the rack’s room efficiently. It may vary depending on your drying rack, but try practicing different combinations.
Be sure to use your cloth to wash both the front and the back of each dish. It doesn’t matter if the back (bottom) looks clean. We’re not trying to make the dishes look clean; we’re trying to clean them.
After washing each dish, stack it in the rack. Start with the smallest dish and work up to the largest. This ensure they lean better, providing more room for other dishes.
Bowls are next.
Then cups.
Then cutting boards and other flat dishes (like plastic lids).
Then come the larger dishes.
Last things to wash are the tableware. No photo. Sorry. Sue me.
Now that your dishes are done, wash your sink and counter. If they haven’t been scrubbed for awhile, use a cleanser (look for a future post for details on how to use a cleanser); otherwise, just wipe them down with your washing cloth.
See that wasn’t too hard.
Hey, watch the lip about my backsplash. What can I say? The house is 100 years old.
Next week, how to change laundry.
Okay, I got questions/comments…
Why is your sink so grungy after your rinse and before the bubble round? You should really start with the cleanest slate for cleaner plates.
Also, clear glass is always first in the cleaning process. So highballs, pints, and wine glasses should be the washed first as clear glass shows the most amount of scuzz and dirt. You want the hottest/cleanest water to look after glasses.
And OMG that is the smallest sink counter I have ever seen. Good on you for cleaning dishes instead of throwing your hands in the air and weeping.
The owner who installed the sink before we bought the house installed the cheapest sink he could find. As a result, the sink stains very easily. I should have taken a photo after I was done using the cleanser on it. It looked much better considering the circumstances. Excellent point on starting with a clean sink though, and the next batch of dishes was done in a much cleaner sink.
Also a good point on the glasses. We don’t have glasses for alcoholic drinks, so that hadn’t crossed my mind.
Yes, that is probably the smallest counter I have seen as well. :) It forces us to wash the dishes more often.
I’d say you can only get a small counter in a small kitchen that fits in a 798 sq ft home!!! and housing 6 people…Holy Cow!! I hope my husband can better appreciate the instructions I’ve been giving (& him resisting them) since another wonderful husband is giving them as well. At the very least, he can be grateful for being able to load a dishwasher, but it is still important to rinse and sometimes scrub dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Ok, maybe that last sentence could still be considered criticism, which I’ve been trying to avoid…hard to distinguish the difference between criticism and instruction no matter how gentle my voice ;-( I guess I’ll shush now…thank you for this blog!!
I have no idea where we’d put a dishwasher. :)
I’m glad you like this blog, Sharon. Please tell others about it.
Cool idea Kim… I am very appreciative that my husband does more then his fair share of housework!! When I got back from vacation a few months back I found he had pulled all the furniture away from the walls (most are very heavy pieces) and had shampooed all the carpets. I hate it as well when all men are compared to the general mass as not being able to take care of themselves or their homes. How do I attach it to my Facebook and blog?
I never rinse dishes, and can manage to get them clean enough. Instead of rinsing, I scrape. I’m a master scraper. Just wondering, Sharon, if you actually have to scrub some of your dishes, what’s the point of even having a dishwasher? I mean, if you’re going to let something take up that much room in your kitchen, the stupid thing has to work. Anyways, good post Kim. The sequence that you use, plates first, then bowls, etc. is pretty much the same way I do the dishes. And, I didn’t know that putting the soap right on top of the drain plug meant more bubbles, will have to try that tomorrow.
It’s only more bubbles if the stream hits the drain plug as well.
Aren’t you supposed to clean the sink before doing the dishes since it is the dirtiest place in the house?
That a great idea, and precisely what we were discussing in the first two commments.