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Post by wynken on Dec 31, 2013 19:14:19 GMT -5
For many of us obtaining and maintaining a functional kitchen starts with getting debris from meals cleaned up, and a sink or dish washer readily used. If you are needing to play catch up: It can happen one dish at a time as per 60isolderthanithot's method (that action was repeated frequently every time she passed by the sink), or by washing today's + 1 item as per Arid's success. I washed one dish drainer full daily to play catch up - I am only washing up for one person so that was more than the dishes/debris created in a day. Some find they need make multiple actions through the day to get it all to flow smoothly without creating backlog. Amnesty - Really ugly/difficult/grotty stuff can be tossed before washing if that is what is possible. Some people use disposable plates and cutlery if that is what is needed - just remember to dispose of them if that's your choice. If it helps you to post your success, or your difficulties, then jump in. Please - post what works for you. We are our own cheer squad so please cheer on whoever posts before you. Wynken
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Post by rededen on Dec 31, 2013 20:18:09 GMT -5
I am totally anal in the kitchen. Don't ask me why . Even as a hoarder/messie I was still anal in the kitchen. The rest of the place may have looked like a bomb site but not the kitchen. Right now I'm having a 'summer clean out'. I'm getting rid of any plate or bowl that's chipped; glass caserole dishes that I haven't used in a while - meaning all year - and I do a lot of cooking. I think I'm anal in the kitchen because I've had food poisoning in the past; have seen many a very grotty commercial kitchen and also been in some weird and wonderful places around the world where the food's been fabulous but you don't want to look too closely where it's been cooked !! Also if I'm getting creative in the kitchen I like space to work. I've got a nice long kitchen bench - yes, we call kitchen counters kitchen benches here in Australia and we don't usually sit on them (can happen sometimes! ) and it's frustrating cooking for at least 6 every night with no space. The family knows the one place which has to be left as it is found is my kitchen. Yes, I refer to it as 'my' kitchen as I'm the one who does the most work in there. It's really only big enough for me when I'm cooking. My pantry isn't the best use of space. It's 60 cm deep (two feet) and about 4 feet wide therefore it's difficult to access what's in the back. I store extra china there and least used items. It's also a good place to hide things. There are a few food raiders in my house! I have the 'clean as you go' policy meaning that I clean up as I cook and I have instructed the rest of the family to do the same. Those who cook clean! Doesn't always work though . I've only got a single bowl sink plus dishwasher and only 30 cm (one foot) between sink and stove. I have a mobile trolly island thingy which is about 2 foot square and is a godsend because I can move it around the kitchen to where I need extra bench space. My kitchen isn't an open kitchen or an eat in kitchen, although there are two stools in there so I can sit if I want to & two people can use the mobile trolly thingy as a tiny table. DH & I often do that. If I'm using pots I try and have them soaking or washed up before the meal. The rest of the dishes can go into the dishwasher, or I'll wash the pots while the dishwasher is going. While things are cooking I try and clear away as much as possible. The one thing that is not helpful in a clean & tidy kitchen is having a lot of knick knacks or decorations around the place. While these things might look good in Vogue Living or on Houzz, or in decorator magazines, they are not particularly practical and can impede work. They're also dust catchers. The kitchen is the 'workhorse room' in the house and I think that's something people forget. That doesn't mean to say it can't look good. I wash up/tidy up after every meal. The rubbish (trash) gets put out every night and there's a clean tea towel put in the kitchen every day, normally after the last meal at night. I cannot stand walking into a bomb-site looking kitchen first thing in the morning. Little kids love helping in the kitchen too & if they see you cleaning & tidying they'll do the same, or you can encourage them to do the same. It does work. Routines, people, routines! They become habits.
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Post by imamess on Dec 31, 2013 22:39:45 GMT -5
Wynken, thanks for starting this thread. I had been napping on the couch and kind of thinking about doing the dishes, but this spurred me on. I really did not want to wake up to the new year with a sink full of dirty dishes. Now all the dishes are washed, the counter and stove is wiped off and I even washed the coffee pot. I readied the trash for takeout, although I can't put it outside until I am ready to go to the county dumpster because of neighborhood cats and dogs. In a minute, I will dry off the parts to the coffee pot and get everything ready to just push the button in the morning for fresh hot coffee. My parents and grandparents believed that how you started the new year was how you would proceed for the whole year. Maybe this is the year for a clean kitchen all year.
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Post by puppybox on Jan 1, 2014 1:30:55 GMT -5
I constantly struggle with this. I'm in.
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Post by wynken on Jan 1, 2014 7:26:07 GMT -5
ty for sharing your method Red. welcome back Ima - wtg preparing for the new year - just remember we can start over anytime. welcome aboard puppy. Here's our old thread. takeonestepatatime.proboards.com/thread/21144/doing-dishes-dailyNo - don't read it all, but there are some treasures in there. I still need to drag myself to a chat room that is working to get this done. If no one is posting at ours I admit to going over to fly lady chat. I'm finally washed up for the night. I have been using more pots, and a food processor doobie and it makes for more dishes. I have a choice in all this.
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Post by PaperGrace on Jan 1, 2014 9:19:18 GMT -5
Way to go wynken! The new name isn't too scary. I'm back in too! Done at least once today!
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Jan 1, 2014 14:35:28 GMT -5
i gather this is the new "doing the dishes daily" thread.
Or ... "improve the frequency of doing dishes".
or whatever works for you?
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Post by TML on Jan 1, 2014 15:04:37 GMT -5
Count me in too! I am tired of the kitchen from heck.
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Post by seashell on Jan 1, 2014 15:18:08 GMT -5
It's been a couple of month since I've posted on the dishwashing thread, but I have done a fair job of keeping it up. I just now read this thread, then went and washed the first load of dishes for 2014. Wynken, thanks for getting us going.
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Post by MamaAngie on Jan 1, 2014 15:18:33 GMT -5
Happy New Year to all the daily dishwashers!! I am happy to say there are probably only 1 or 2 days that dishes were skipped in the last few months. Dishwasher has been unloaded this am, loaded up with all our new years dishes and is running.
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Post by saffron on Jan 2, 2014 3:07:32 GMT -5
wynken, Thanks for the new 2014 thread. We can shed the old year, and start anew. Count me in. January 1, 2014 today's dirty dishes to counter put away leftovers tossed visible trash put four clean dishtowels in kitchen cleaned out the sinks washed one sink load of dishes, including two pans, one large cutting board, and one large pitcher set everything out to dry refilled 2 water bottles, put them in fridge rededen, Thanks for sharing your methods. My goal is to work in the kitchen daily, washing, putting away, cleaning, whatever is necessary. imamess, WTG on what you got done! puppybox, Let's try to do something every day, okay? That way, it won't become unbearable. PaperGrace, YAY! We're in this together! CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity, Yup! It's the new thread. A new year, a new leaf to turn over. TML, I'm sick of my kitchen getting so bad, also. When my sister & BIL were here in March, it was shining. I even photographed it! I'd like to get it back to that condition, and keep it there! seashell and MamaAngie, WTG for developing and keeping good habits going!
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Post by wynken on Jan 2, 2014 4:57:54 GMT -5
wow. look at you all. We have company in our struggles those dishes. pots . and the rest. welcome PaperGrace Lioness Seashell, MamaAngie and Saffron.
Great cheering people on Saffron.
I was out today and dinner is bubbling in a pot. I am calling it soup. I'll go empty the dishdrainer so the washing up is that much easier - hopefully not too much later.
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Post by rededen on Jan 2, 2014 5:47:59 GMT -5
My kids are all old enough to get all of their own meals but they get their own breakfasts. After each person's breaky, they rinse their dish or dishes, stack them in the dishwasher & put the food away. DH is the worst. He tends to leave mugs, plates around the place! Must be a DH thing The routine or habit of cleaning up after each meal makes things a lot easier. If you have don't have a dishwasher, you need to be able to establish a routine of washing up after each meal. If there's only one of you in the house, well that's a fairly easy thing to do. If there's many in the house it can be harder. There's six in my house without hangers-on! And at one stage I didn't have a dishwasher (a machine) so I had to organise everyone else to help. A roster system in the kitchen can and does work. But you have to be organised in the kitchen and stick to routines.
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Post by wynken on Jan 2, 2014 7:23:21 GMT -5
Recognised I had a pot of demand resistance on the heat. mentally added a few choice ingredients. Stirred until laughing. Decided it could go on the mental compost heap. Trying for vanishing compound.My dishes are washed. 7 min included door / dog wrangling when I finished, and finishing my chia seed and water solution so I can continue to walk without too much pain. And claim enough fluids drunk today. to all making a huge new effort.
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Post by Jannie on Jan 2, 2014 8:40:26 GMT -5
I keep a dishpan full of warm soapy water and a dish drainer out all the time. I wash dishes any time they build up. My Mom taught me how. Glasses first, then cups, then silver, then plates and finally pots and pans. Finish by rinsing the kitchen sink.
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