Dear FlyLady,

One of my biggest struggles in keeping my apartment clean is the dishes. It’s just my husband and me, but our kitchen is tiny! Our dishwasher doesn’t work well, so we decided several months ago to do them by hand. This has been a lot of work, and it’s not always fun! We will set our dishes by the sink, and before we know it they are all over our limited counter space. My husband is better than I am about tackling this job, but it’s a constant struggle to keep up. Even when I finish the dishes, it’s only a day or so before it’s piling up again. Do you have any tips on keeping up with this constant chore?

Thanks,
Struggling with the Dishes!

Dear Dish Procrastinator,

That is what is happening. You are putting off doing the dishes till later and later doesn’t happen. You have to have a routine for doing the dishes. When you mess them up; wash them before you leave the kitchen. The dirty dishes are standing in your way of putting a meal on the table. Those dirty dishes are probably costing you a lot of money; its easier to order take out than to cook.

As for your dishwasher that does not work. Get it fixed! But until you do; run it one for time so you know that it is clean inside. This way you can use your empty dishwasher to hold your dishes after you wash them. It is sort of like a drying rack. This keeps them off the counters. Now you could use the dishwasher as a dirty dish disposal unit. But since the dishwasher is not working it would probably begin to stink.

Another thing you could do is clean out from under your kitchen sink. There is way too much clutter under there. When you get it cleaned out; put a dishpan under the sink. Then when the dishpan is full you can place it in your sink and wash your dishes.

Morning, noon, and night; this is when you do your dishes. Dishes are just like laundry; there are five steps.

1. Clean as you cook by starting with a sink full of hot soapy water.
2. After dinner, clear the table and stack your dishes to wash.
3. Wash the dishes and rinse.
4. Allow the dishes to air dry or dry them by hand.
5. PUT THEM AWAY!

The secret to getting the dishes out of the way is to do them! Anytime you procrastinate; you are making things harder on yourself. Set your timer for 15 minutes. You can do anything for 15 minutes; even wash dishes. It won’t take that long. Then you can celebrate!

FlyLady

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