Who has the secret....

[mommychem]

...to keeping the dishes clean without a dishwasher? Seriously, my counters are always covered with dishes. And there are always a few on the table, in the sink, and pots on the stove though I wash them several times during the day (when we are home). I would literally spend hours in front of the sink if I was able to stay on top of them. What gives? :help

[SweetCaroline]

i wash dishes after every meal. and i make sure the kichen is CLEAN before i go to bed. and i love me some paper plates :yes

[swimming with sharks]

I'm pretty sure it involves not feeding people out of your kitchen :yes, which I've heard is frowned against in some circles. :shrug3

[Luciola]

I put anything that won't melt or catch fire in the oven until I get a chance to wash it need to bake something. :bag

[mamacat]

I dont know answer either - we have 4 people in household right now on diff. schedules that eat at diff times and often diff meals and creates lots of dishes Try to have big people get into habit of at least rinsing and stacking :hug2

[Mother of Sons]

I keep a dish pan under the sink. Everything gets rinsed and put there until I wash. It doesn't cut down on the dishes but it cuts down on visual dish " clutter"

[mommychem]

i wash dishes after every meal. and i make sure the kichen is CLEAN before i go to bed. and i love me some paper plates :yes

Wrt spoiler - that worked for me after I got fed up with dirty dishes; then I stopped buying them. :doh

I'm pretty sure it involves not feeding people out of your kitchen :yes, which I've heard is frowned against in some circles. :shrug3

Good point! :wink

I put anything that won't melt or catch fire in the oven until I get a chance to wash it need to bake something. :bag

Oooh, I've been known to do this when we were going to be out all day. :tu

I dont know answer either - we have 4 people in household right now on diff. schedules that eat at diff times and often diff meals and creates lots of dishes Try to have big people get into habit of at least rinsing and stacking :hug2

DH is a stacker - that is really all he'll do with dishes. I'll have to ask him to start rinsing first before he goes into SuperStacker mode.

I keep a dish pan under the sink. Everything gets rinsed and put there until I wash. It doesn't cut down on the dishes but it cuts down on visual dish " clutter"


The visual clutter is very ....demotivating. I'll try that so I can at least do small batches at a time without looking at the mountain that follows and giving up on conquering it.

Thanks! :heart

[Elora]

could you usethe same plate and cup all day...and everything else gets rinsed and stacked very orderly?

[tazmom]

I do a sinkfull (well, it's more like a drying rack full) after breakfast, after lunch, and mid-afternoon. Dh does them after dinner and before work if there's any left. I never start cooking until the clean dishes are put away.

If we get behind, dh and I work together to get it caught up.

[blondie]

:hugs to everyone without a dishwasher. That's my input!!

We went several years without one, and it stinks!

[mommychem]

could you usethe same plate and cup all day...and everything else gets rinsed and stacked very orderly?

I just told DH about your suggestion and he said, "hmmm, our problem is that we have too many dishes." :think It is definitely a contributor to the problem - we can keep going to the cabinet to get another and another and another until they are stacked on the counter instead of inside the cabinets. First world problems, I tell ya. :-/
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[AdrienneQW]

I do dishes twice a day - before and after dinner. Breakfast and lunch dishes get rinsed right away and stacked in a dishpan on one side of the double sink, leaving the disposal side open. I wash anything in the dishpan prior to starting dinner, then wash the dinner dishes sometime before bed.

One thing that helps is we don't have a lot of glasses to wash - each person has their own water bottle, and we drink only water most days. Water bottles get washed every few days.

Occasionally I don't need to wash dishes before dinner - if we were out for lunch, or if the kids just had sandwiches and a piece of fruit off a paper towel. Those are good days. :thumbsup

[Allison]

Three children who are able to wash dishes. :shifty

Otherwise, keep a sink of hot, soapy water at all times and wash a few dishes every hour or so.

[houseforjoy]

our dishwasher just broke, so we are using paper plates and bowls and plastic cups:shifty i can keep up with the rest by doing it twice a day.

[ShangriLewis]

In a prior house, we had one sink that was deep but couldnt even fit two dishpans:doh. The house was from the 50's maybe. I have no idea how they did the dishes. I had a bunch of dishpans under the sink. I just rinsed and out them in there till it was time. 5 people and no dishwasher really sucked.

[justbreathe]

Ha! I was just coming here to ask about this. :yes Our dishwasher is now just a big ole drying rack. :giggle I'm really bad about staying on top of dishes and DH never rinses anything. :doh I tried to do Flylady but the "shiny sink" was kicking my rear.


So, I'm subbing hoping for more tips. I'm sorry that I don't have any advice to offer but I do have a lot of commiseration! :hug2

[mamajane]

Otherwise, keep a sink of hot, soapy water at all times and wash a few dishes every hour or so.
The problem I always have with the "sink of hot soapy water" method is it doesn't stay that way! It becomes a cold murky sink of water in no time. Do y'all have sink warmers or something?:lol

[mamacat]

I would need to have a dishpan size of small bathtub to put under sink:giggle

[Earthylady]

I wash dishes a lot. At least 2-3 times a day. "Flylady" suggests keeping a plastic tub under the sink to put dirty dishes in until it's time to wash so that the counters stay clean. I wash in the morning, after lunch, and after dinner most days.

[mamajane]

Anyone else have an under-the-sink area that would NOT be the ideal place to put stuff you want to eat off of soon? :no

[tazmom]

I don't do the sink full of hot soapy water thing. I use a dishwand with the soap built in and the hot water running on trickle. It uses about the same amount of water. (Dh and I got into a huge arguement about this so we actually checked. :O)

I stack the dishes in the sink so that the water I'm washing/rinsing one dish with helps rinse off the dirty dishes below it. Like right now, the big plates are on the bottom, medium plate on top of those, little plates on top of those, medium bowls on top of those, and little bowls on top. The sink is big enough that I can usually have a pot or pan next to those filled with cold water to soak and I throw the silverware in the pot/pan to soak.

I work from the top down until the drying rack is full, then do the silverware, and there's a dishcloth next to the rack for the pots, pans, and any odds & ends like spatulas or wooden spoons to dry on.

[justbreathe]

Not to hijack, but I am a little confused by the whole "dishpan" thing. I just can't quite place what y'all are talking about. :O

Yeah, under my sink . . . .not putting dishes under there. It's the only place in my kitchen that I have lower cabinets and they are child-locked so we can put cleaning supplies, nasty chemicals, rat traps, etc under there. Sometimes I'm even scared to go digging around under there. :shiver

I'm wondering if I set an alarm for every hour, then set a timer for 5-10 mins. . . maybe that would be more doable? :think My washing method is similar to tazmom's but all the silverware ends up under all the dishes so I have to get to the end of the pile to wash silverware.

[tazmom]

Not to hijack, but I am a little confused by the whole "dishpan" thing. I just can't quite place what y'all are talking about. :O

I'm so glad you asked. :phew I thought I was the only one who didn't know what a dishpan is. :giggle

[mamajane]

My washing method is similar to tazmom's but all the silverware ends up under all the dishes so I have to get to the end of the pile to wash silverware.
yes, silverware at the bottom of the sink is the bane of my existence :giggle. Lately, we've been putting the silverware in a breadpan (when we get around to it) so there's a way to get to it before everything else is washed, and so it doesn't get nasty in the bottom of the sink. It's handy to wash the silverware out of a breadpan or pot filled with soapy water, and then to put it in a breadpan to rinse.

[Tandem mama]

Idk the answer yet. My kids love to destroy things when I'm facing the skink. Right now it's a weekly day without kids that gets mine done once a week.

[Quiteria]

One of my dad's tricks was that he didn't actually wash certain dishes...he just rinsed his cereal bowl every day, and set it in the drainer. He only got out the soap to wash it if he had something like greasy soup, but cereal and skim milk really do rinse away just fine with plain water. He did the same with plates for sandwiches, just used water to rinse away the bread crumbs, or else put them on a paper towel without a plate in the first place.

I haven't quite been able to bring myself to do that, because I like to know that things are really super sterile. :o But, logically, it would be equally clean in cases like that, and it would save time.

[mamajane]

Dishpan: http://www.housewaresandbeyond.com/images/items/12210/jpg/Rubbermaid-2951-Dishpan-Almond.jpg

[ShangriLewis]

Dishpans are plastic tubs that are cheap at places like Walmart or target. My under sink area was nice then. I wouldn't do it here. I would choose a different cabinet as the dirty cabinet. I would rinse them first. I had a skinny one and just stacked them in top if each other like a leaning tower.

We put all our cleaners in an upper cabinet.

I still wash quite a few dishes to keep up with my larger family. I just fill up the sink at meals. Then wash until the drainer is filled.

Little kids can be given towels and pots to dry.

[ShangriLewis]

I use dish pans for organizing and little kids to carry laundry in.

[tazmom]

:scratch Do people wash dishes in the dishpan instead of the sink?

[AdrienneQW]

:scratch Do people wash dishes in the dishpan instead of the sink?

:yes

I don't think I've ever washed dishes in the sink without the dishpans. Dishpan goes in the sink, dishes go in the dishpan.

[mamajane]

:scratch Do people wash dishes in the dishpan instead of the sink?
I did when I had a one-sided sink. Just a warning, though, since they're plastic, the bottom can get pretty gross if you don't get to the bottom of it often enough. A regular scrub of the bottom is necessary.

[mommychem]

Interesting...I've never used a dish pan. And felt kinda primitive when I'd use a large pot in which to wash dishes when my stopper didn't fit. :shifty
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[justbreathe]

:yes

I don't think I've ever washed dishes in the sink without the dishpans. Dishpan goes in the sink, dishes go in the dishpan.



really? :think hmmm . . . is that just so that your sink doesn't get all nasty? Maybe this would be a good solution to my one side of the sink that leaks that DH never gets around to fixing. :think

What are the pros of using a dishpan?

[Earthylady]

Those dishpans also make great foot soak tubs. :)

[ShangriLewis]

My previous house had a single sink from the 40's or 50's. I had to use a dishpan because it was small.

[Susan K]

My grandmother would have told you to wash them after you use them. She never had a dish washer and had very small kitchens .

[Katydid]

I used to use a dishpan to wash in when we had a broken disposal that would drain properly. So I would wash in a dishpan on the broken side, but then pour the dirty water down the other side. I'm glad we have a new sink and no disposal now and I no longer have to use dishpans.

We don't have a dishwasher, either, and the days I'm most able to keep up are when I do dishes at least twice a day, we use paper plates, and don't do much messy cooking or baking. And even then it's hit or miss. :shifty My goal is to rinse every dish after use and put in on one side of the sink. When that side starts to get full, I would wash the sinkful and let them air dry in the in-sink dish drainer on the other side. That way no dishes are all over the counters. It doesn't usually work out that way, though. :sigh I like the timer idea... I wonder if that would work for me. :think

[Luciola]

So, do most of you dry and put away your dishes? Our only decently sized counter is constantly taken up with a large pile of clean dishes. I have a dish drying rack, the silverware sorter from our broken dishwasher, a bottle drying rack, and randomly piled coffee cups and pots and pans.

I count this is a "clean area" in our house. Clean dishes on a clean towel. DH doesn't think its clean. Probably because its a huge precarious pile of things that just so happen to be clean. And the rest of the kitchen isn't clean. The piles of clean and dirty dishes are also the first thing you see when you walk into the house since we mainly use the back door.

I think drying dishes is a waste of time. :shifty If you leave them out, they dry themselves!

I'm intrigued by this dishpan idea. Maybe I can tell hubbs I'll put away the dishes if he gets on board with the rinsing/dish pan idea?

[Katydid]

I totally agree with your spoiler! :yes

[mommychem]

So, do most of you dry and put away your dishes? Our only decently sized counter is constantly taken up with a large pile of clean dishes. I have a dish drying rack, the silverware sorter from our broken dishwasher, a bottle drying rack, and randomly piled coffee cups and pots and pans.

I count this is a "clean area" in our house. Clean dishes on a clean towel. DH doesn't think its clean. Probably because its a huge precarious pile of things that just so happen to be clean. And the rest of the kitchen isn't clean. The piles of clean and dirty dishes are also the first thing you see when you walk into the house since we mainly use the back door.

I think drying dishes is a waste of time. :shifty If you leave them out, they dry themselves!

I'm intrigued by this dishpan idea. Maybe I can tell hubbs I'll put away the dishes if he gets on board with the rinsing/dish pan idea?


:no

I CANNOT stand to dry dishes. :blush I'll wash dishes all day and night...it feels a bit therapeutic to me :shifty. But drying :sick. So once my drying rack is full, I really can't wash anymore dishes until they dry...which in turn leads to never finishing the dishes. In reality though, I wait a few minutes for glasses, saucers and plates to dry then start another sinkful. I typically do about 3 sinkfuls in one batch but I still never actually finish. :shrug Another issue is my DH does not do a good job washing dishes. I don't know if his sight is flawed or what but his dishes are always dirty after he's "washed" them. I cannot understand this. So I'd rather try to tackle the problem by myself. :-/

[mamajane]

:no

In reality though, I wait a few minutes for glasses, saucers and plates to dry then start another sinkful.

Yes, it really doesn't take long for dishes to air dry enough for me to put them in the cupboard. I think if you put your glasses in the cupboard upside down, damp glasses would be a problem, but right-side-up they just air dry the rest in the cupboard.

[tazmom]

I don't dry my dishes. They're all dry within 2 hours, so I can do a rackful every two hours if I have to. I've made putting away clean dishes the first step in cooking so it gets emptied before every meal.

Here's a pic of my drying area.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-YZMv0aRdmjs/UJlEdEwpMhI/AAAAAAAAD70/Dl95ZDdEztg/s400/IMAG1537.jpg

I don't know why the bottom of my picture is grey. :scratch You get the idea.

When we had bottles and sippy cups, they all waited until the end of the day. Once the dinner dishes were dry, dh washed them before bed. They would be dry and ready to put away in the morning.

[amydawn]

I *do* have a dishwasher and my counters, sinks, stove and table are covered most of the time:bag. Women with children and no dishwasher are my heroes.


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[amydawn]

really? :think hmmm . . . is that just so that your sink doesn't get all nasty? Maybe this would be a good solution to my one side of the sink that leaks that DH never gets around to fixing. :think

What are the pros of using a dishpan?

I use a dishpan mostly because my sink is nasty. :bag


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[justbreathe]

I'm thinking with the alarm/timer deal that you should reward yourself if the alarm goes off and you don't have any dishes to wash. :yes Be it chocolate, or 15 mins reading in the bathroom, or just taking a break from the housework to play with your kids, we need an incentive (other than a clean kitchen) to stay on top of our dishes. :giggle

[Katydid]

"If you have to dry the dishes (such an awful, boring chore)
If you have the dry the dishes ('stead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes, and you drop one on the floor...
Maybe they won't let you dry the dishes anymore"

~Shel Silverstein

[justbreathe]

Katie - :haha


I haven't tried setting an alarm yet but I have been setting my timer for 15 mins for the past couple of days. It's actually going really well! :yes I have been washing for about 10 mins, then rinsing for about 5 mins. If I'm really going good, I can fill up the dishwasher in 15 mins (beat that stupid dishwasher :snooty). For some reason, I'm having a much easier time with the 15 minute rule vs just looking at a pile of dishes and making myself wash every singel dirty dish at once - that's just feels overwhelming. i'm washing them faster too. :think What would take me 30 mins before, I seem to be getting done in my 15 mins.

[tazmom]

I'm glad you've found something that works for you.

[mommychem]

My system is working better too. :rockon I've been using paper plates and utensils.

:shifty
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[Earthylady]

My system is working better too. :rockon I've been using paper plates and utensils.

:shifty
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:giggle

---------- Post added at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------

The 15 minute rule is another one of those gems of flylady. :yes I've been fluttering for a couple of years but just can't seem to soar. I absolutely REFUSE to wear shoes in the house. :snooty Just when things are going along great something else happens. Like a new baby or something that totally takes the wind out of my sails.

[Beth1231]

This is our first married year with a dishwasher, I KNOW that futility feeling! :hug

Okay. Small kitchen. A mom who hates washing dishes. I got a couple of boxes and put away most of them. In newspaper. I washed the same four plates over and over and the same four bowls ect but it made it impossible for me to just keep taking clean dishes and ignoring the dirty pile. Im kind of weird and extreme like that though.

Ill admit I didnt get desperate like that until our last year in a dishwasher-less home. I had a new baby and couldnt afford paper products. But the other 6+ years....the stuff that helped me the most was having the trashcan RIGHT next to the sink (stuck on food makes dishes last a year longer),rinsing them off immediately (same reason) and washing a dish or four whenever I came into the kitchen. Or work on the nasty pot for a minute and put away three dry ones. Whatever. I use that same principle with cleaning. As I walk down the hall to get to wherever, I pick up a book and dirty socks on my way. Huge messes suck the life out of me,so I chip away at it.

[mommychem]

:think Put most of them away in boxes...that's something I can see myself doing. The intj in me can agree with the practicality of that. :yes
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[Beth1231]

:think Put most of them away in boxes...that's something I can see myself doing. The intj in me can agree with the practicality of that. :yes
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This intj is pleased that you can see the sense in it :wink

This why I am not crazy about holidays and birthdays :bag Less stuff means less cleaning.

[mommychem]

This intj is pleased that you can see the sense in it :wink

This why I am not crazy about holidays and birthdays :bag Less stuff means less cleaning.

I couldn't agree with you more. "Get it outta here!" :haha
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