How Do You Do Your Dishes (When You Have a Dishwasher)?

Hi, Not a silly question, I am starting to feel like a waitress but it works for me...here is what I do, I was any possible pots and pans before I even call anyone to the table to eat (big stuff out of the way!! (I wash them by hand), I have the counter cleared of any clutter that does not belong there i.e. (butter, spices, utensils, after dinner I slide the trash can to the table, throw out all trash, then I stack all dishes togther on counter NOT IN THE SINK!! My sink stays clear for rinsing NOTHING ELSE!! then I bring over glasses, and completely clear off the table 100%. I wipe down chairs and table and sweep the floor. Table area done! Then I tend to counter area, I dry the wet clean pots, put them away and rinse off all the dinner dishes and put in dishwasher (I'm not a neat freak who washes them first)! A good rinse and they are out away. I put away any left over food, wipe off counter, start dishwasher, sweep floor, wipe appliances, throw out trash! Done!! Oh and I ALWAYS empty dishwasher before I go to bed...its so nice to wake up to an empty dishwasher for breakfast dishes!!! Moral of the story...Stages, table, dishes, counter floor, trash. Make it short things that make you feel like you can tackle easier!!! Good luck!!

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For myself - make sure the dishwasher is empty when i start to cook - that way I throw things in as I go. Those cutting boards and other things get a quick rinse and I mean quick and get tossed in after I use it. I love having the kitchen nearly clean as we sit down to eat! That much less to do at the end.

Good luck!

Great Questions, and what a great answer you recieved, just wanted to add, that you can call any big enough helpers into service too.

and probably the most important point, start with an empty dishwasher and empty sink before you cook.

First of all fill one side of the sink with hot sudsy water while you are cooking dinner and wash things as you go and put them away. The only thing that should be left are your actual dinner dishes. Everyone should march theirs to the sink, rinse em off and stuff em in the dishwasher or at least put them in a sink of water to soak overnight and do them in the morning. I always hated the night time dish chore after a meal, always too full and lazy to tackle them.

First I put any leftovers away.
Open door of dishwasher
Then put all utensils to in the basket in d.w.
Scrape dishes and put then & cups/glasses into the d.w.
wipe table & floor underneath child's chair
wash pots and pans that can't go in d.w.
Dry above & put away
Wipe down countertops & stove
Turn on d.w.
Done

Don't "rinse" your dishes, just scrape--the dishwashers actually need a little schtuff on there to work properly.

Well, my hubby doesn't "get it", but I cannot cook or prepare any meals without starting with a clean kitchen. If the sink has stuff in it, it has to go into the dishwasher before I can even start boiling a pot of water. lol

I wash as I go while preparing dinner, too. Obviously, some things are in use, but when I am done with the cutting board I wash it/discard the veggie stems/skins, etc into the trash can right then. I line my baking sheets with foil, so when bread comes out of the oven, I can strip off the foil and the baking sheet can be put right back away (well, 90% of the time... sometimes it will get a rip/tear in the foil and then I'll have to wash it). The miscellaneous knives I have used during prep, go into the utensil carrier in the dishwasher. All the empties (can, bags, styrofoam, etc) go into the trash.

Once dinner is finished, we all (the kids are 12 and 9) take our plates into the kitchen, scrape any large scraps into the trash, rinse the plate briefly in the sink, and put it directly into the dishwasher... it just stays open until the plates and utensils are put in there. Glasses too.

Then I (with help from my hubby a lot of the time) wrap up anything that needs to be saved/leftovers for the fridge and put them in the fridge.

Then I hand wash any big pots/pans that are too big for the dishwasher (or that I think prohibit the proper cleaning of other stuff in there by blocking water flow) and set them on a towel to dry.

Finish up by wiping the counters and rinsing the sink and running the disposal for a few seconds. I don't usually start the dishwasher right away unless not another thing will fit in it. Often I wait until bedtime to get that last glass/mug in use into the top rack before starting it.

LOL..... I love the responses, but I have to laugh because I thought that I was the one with OCD around here!!! LOL! Some really great ideas though, and some that I will be using to make my evenings flow much easier too! Thanks for asking the question so that I could read the answers!! :)

I leave them in the sink for a week. LOL! Not really, but sometimes it is the next day before they get washed.

But when I DO get a wild hair to wash them, I usually enlist the help of my kids. The older ones are 10 and 8 and can empty the dishwasher and put in the dirty ones. I usually rinse them off if they are dirty. I don't want a bunch of food to accumulate at the bottom.

1 parent takes kids and starts bed-time; the other takes care of dinner clean up. When it's my turn in the kitchen here's how it goes:
We bring the dishes into the kitchen. I put all the leftovers in containers and put them in the fridge or freezer.
Then I scrape the dishes, rinse them (we only have one big sink) and then put them straight into the dishwasher.
I rinse them because it usually takes me a day or 2 to get a full load and if I don't rinse then 1) they stink 2) we get ants in the dw.
I wash the big pots/pans/platters by hand and dry on the drying rack over night. I put them away the next day after they have dried.
The last thing I do is wipe down the table and counters, putting all crumbs in the garbage can. If the can is full, I take it out. If not, I'm done for the night.
Hope this helps you get organized. The more it piles up, the worse it gets.

Just one note, scraping is all you need to do. There is NO reason to "wash" dishes before you put them in the dishwasher. If there is nothing on the dishes for the dish soap to scrub away, then the soap will scrub at the dishes themselves. Plus, it is a waste of water to wash your dishes before you put them in the machine. I recently learned this, and I am amazed at how clean my dishes are after the dish washer does what it is supposed to do.

Everything gets thrown into the dishwasher. If you are asking about order, well, that depends on who clears the table. My husband will just throw everything in the sink, then when I have the energy, I do a quick rinse and thrown it in the dishwasher. Although I try to load as I go, I too am not that skilled and usually end up loading a heavily stacked counter after the meal is over (and sometimes later that night).