Do the dishes

If you eat every day, then you must do the dishes every day. That is unless, of course, you use the ever popular paper china. For now, let’s assume that you actually use reusable dinnerware. Gaining control over the dirty dishes gets you over the first hurdle in organizing your spirit.

Gather your supplies.

For those with a dishwasher, you will need:

· Your Favorite Upbeat Music

· A Lined Trashcan

· Automatic Dishwasher Detergent

· A Refreshment

For those who do not have a dishwasher, you will need:

· Your Favorite Upbeat Music

· A Lined Trashcan

· Dishwashing Liquid

· Bleach (and a measuring spoon)

· A Dishpan

· A Sponge or cloth

· A Drying Rack or towel

· Gloves

· A Refreshment

I will wait for you to get the appropriate items.

Go do it now.

Seriously, don't read any further.

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Ready? Turn on your favorite music and roll up your sleeves!

Your first task is to go around to all areas of your home and car to retrieve your dishes.

Where Are Your Dishes?

Are the dishes on a chair? 

Or, could they be on a stair?

Are the dishes beneath the couch?

Well, maybe they are in a pouch.

Are the dishes in your bed?

Have you checked above your head?

Did you look on the floor?

How ‘bout behind the door?

The car, the car! There they must be.

Then again, look by the TV.

Oh me oh my. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

There are plenty on the desk.

Did you check that outside table?

While there, look at the gable.

From here and there, near and far,

You will find ev’ry last jar.

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Once you find your dishes, simply take them to the kitchen. Yes, I know your counters are full. I don’t care where you put them right now because everything is in a state of confusion. 

Actually I do care. Put them where you’ll see them.

I say this because I really don’t want you to open the oven door and store them--however temporary--in your oven. Some options are:

· Stack them on the stove.

· Get a folding table, like a card table, and put them there.

· Put them on the floor if you must.

Do you get the idea? This is only about getting the dishes out of the non-kitchen areas of your house and laying them on a flat surface.

Congratulations! You have accomplished a great deal. You are ready for Do the Dishes, Part Two.

Now that you have gathered the dishes, it is time to actually “do the dishes”. A task, I know, that seems monumental. There are so many! No worries! Step-by-step, you’ll finish the task.

Whether you have a dishwasher or not, you need to make sure that your first batch of dishes washed includes a set for each household member. If there are four housemates, then you need to wash at least 4 cups, 4 plates, 4 bowls, 4 spoons, 4 forks, and 4 knives.

Remember your energy level is artificially motivated right now. You may feel like you would be fine to wash all of the cups right now, and then all of the plates, but you’re headed for a crash. Just focus on one set of dishes for each resident dweller for the first load.

Loading the dishwasher (the machine, not the person):

· Pull from the dishes that are in the sink first.

· Empty any liquids into the sink.

· Anything solid needs to be scraped into the trash.

· Do not waste your time in rinsing the dishes—just place them into the dishwasher. (I am giving you permission to NOT rinse your dishes.) 

· Make sure you have a minimum of one set of dishes for each person that lives in the house in there.

· Continue to fill in the spaces without stuffing the trays. You don’t want warped plastic or a cracked glass.

· Be sure the water sprayers are not blocked by the dishes. If they are, either rearrange the dishes or take some out. It is okay to run the dishwasher more than once a day.

· Fill-in the detergent tray according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

· For those with more recent models, set the machine for a heavy wash, sanitize (if available), and heated dry*.

Washing by hand:

· Put on your gloves.

· Fill dishpan with warm-to-hot water.

· Add a few tablespoons of bleach to the dishpan water.

· Starting with the dishes in the sink, empty any liquids into the sink, scrape anything solid into the trashcan, and stack the dish elsewhere.

· Now, clean the sink.

· You will be washing and rinsing the dishes with a steady stream of water flowing* from the spigot. Water should be warm-to-hot, where the flow is not too forceful and not too weak.

· Make sure you wash a minimum of one set of dishes for each person that lives in the house first.

· Deposit some dishwashing detergent on your sponge or cloth, wash a dish and rinse.

· Place it in the dishpan.

· Wash and rinse the next dish, replacing the current one that’s in the dishpan with this one.

· Rinse off the item that was just removed from the dishpan and place it on the drying rack (or towel).

· Repeat until the drying rack (or towel) is full.

· Empty dishpan and let dishes air dry.

· If you have a small, dust-free fan, then you may consider having it blow in the kitchen to hasten the natural drying process.

*Don’t quibble with me about the energy use for the heated dry setting nor on the amount of water use right now. There will be time later to be economical. At the moment, your energy use is more important. I am giving you permission to treat yourself to the heated dry setting and the steady flow of clean water.

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Stop and Give Me Ten!

A ten minute break, that is. Grab your refreshment, set a timer for ten minutes, and rest. Whatever rest means for you, do that. You deserve it! Great job!

Come back when you are ready to Do the Dishes, Part Three.

What do I do next while my dishes are in the dishwasher or while they are air-drying on the rack? You can begin your Wash the Laundry adventure and come back here when your dishes are dry.

My Dishes Are Dry! Now What?

Congratulations!

For those who used the dishwasher, there should be very few dishes that have water drops on them if you used the Heated Dry setting. Unload the dishwasher and towel-dry any that may have water drops on them.

The same applies to the dishes that were placed in a drying rack. There may be a few, but it’s nothing a towel can’t take care of quickly.

Regardless of how the dishes were washed, you must now put them away. Do not use them out of the dishwasher or drying rack. Put them away now. If your cabinets are full, make it fit for the interim. Cabinet organization will be addressed a little later.

As you are putting your clean dishes away, you may notice some dried on food particles on a dish or two. This is particularly common with automatic dishwashers. No worries! Just scrub it off and wash with the next load.

Note: Do not get trapped into thinking that a manual pre-rinse is what you should do in the future. No way! Count how many dishes that are affected each load. Unless it is 10 or more dishes, then a good scrape at the trashcan is all you need.

Stop and Give Me Ten!

Then, roll up your sleeves and set off on another round of Do the Dishes!

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Final Caution

Some dishes do not say whether or not they are dishwasher safe. Maybe it isn’t obvious. Maybe it is something you have never washed in the dishwasher before. Maybe you should call someone or do a quick check on the internet before putting it IN the dishwasher. I say this from personal experience.

One day, when my husband Scott and I lived in our first apartment, I decided to be helpful and wash items that had become dirty with use, such as the dish drainer, drip trays from the stove, and Scott's cutting board. My attitude up to that point was that if it could fit into the dishwasher, then it was dishwasher safe. Um, yeah, not so much.

Prior to our marriage, I did own cutting boards. I believe they were all some sort of plastic. I usually washed them by hand because there weren't enough other dishes to do a full load, but sometimes I would put it in the dishwasher. No problem.

There was enough for a load this time, so why not?

Before I left for work that morning, I ran the dishwasher which had these odds and ends kitchen items, including Scott's cutting board.

Later that night, Scott is getting ready to start dinner when he notices the drip trays are missing. He asks me where they are and I tell him. He opens the dishwasher and I hear, “What the ?” and then silence.

I walk over to the kitchen to find out what it was that had him speechless. To my horror, his once very pretty, elegantly carved wooden cutting board is now in four pieces in the bottom tray of the dishwasher.

“Scott, I’m so sorry. That is your cutting board.” (It wasn’t even a wedding gift. This was HIS before I entered his life.)

“Why did you put it in the dishwasher?”

He asked this in a way that was more sad, rather than accusatory. It was pretty pathetic actually and then I did what every good wife is supposed to do. I laughed.

“I guess these are not supposed to go into the dishwasher.”

Scott is now just staring at the pieces. I begin to lift the different sections out inspecting them as I laid them on the counter.

I continued, “I guess the glue that held these sections together melted in the dishwasher.”

Scott turned and looked at me as if I grew another head.

“Maybe we can glue it back together,” I offered.

Moral of the story: I should have asked if the really nice wooden cutting board could go into the dishwasher. And no, apparently you cannot glue them back together. In the end I bought Scott a new cutting board. It’s plastic. Problem now solved.

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You have now completed the "Do the Dishes" step and you are making excellent progress! If you haven’t started already, go on to the next step, Wash the Laundry, The First Load. YAY!