There are other people who just cannot get motivated to wash the dishes by hand. I used to be one of these people. I would look at my kitchen and think to myself, this will take hours to clean. I don’t want to do it, I’d rather do something fun. The only way is to trick my mind into not thinking about the whole process, but just focus on the smaller steps.
Sometimes a task seems overwhelming, but by only focusing on the next step and not the whole project a person can get it done in a jiffy.
So here we go – how to wash the dishes by hand, step by step. The dishes below are 2 days worth in my house of 2 people (myself and my husband).
There is a printable image (without the photographs of the progress) at the bottom of this post!
The kitchen when I started (12:02pm):
Step 1: Pack away and throw away anything that doesn’t need to be washed. Spot the difference in the pictures above and below. It already looks better doesn’t it? Time: 5 minutes – 12:07pm
Step 2: Collect all the dishes and place them together in one spot. I collected from all over the house and put them together on the kitchen table. It is also useful to put all the dishes of a similar type together, so all the bowls together, all the glasses together and all the coffee mugs together. See the difference in the background of the picture above and below! Time 5 minutes – 12:12pm.
Step 3: Get the sink and all the stuff ready for washing dishes. I recommend getting some rubber gloves. The hotter the water the easier the dirt comes off the dishes. Time 1 minute – 12:13pm
Step 4: Wash all the eating utensils first. Gather them up nicely together and wash them first in the cleanest water (since these go into your mouth). I also including the dishing up spoons, chopping knives and so on in this bunch. The pot in the picture below was only what I used to hold them. I did not wash the pot yet. Time: 7 minutes – 12:20pm
Step 5: Wash all the glasses. The next step is to collect all the glasses next to the sink (or into the sink) and wash them. I put fresh water in the sink at this step, but you must judge if it is necessary. Total time: 5 minutes – 12:25pm
Step 6: Wash all the coffee mugs. The next step to washing dishes by hand is to wash all the coffee mugs. I used the same water that I used for the glasses. Time: 4 minutes – 12:29pm
Step 7: Dry the dishes you have washed. Excellent job on the washing so far. Give yourselves a break and dry/put away the dishes you have washed so far. I found that I love bright and colourful dish towels, it makes the drying process much happier. Also take the time to clean up the sink properly for the second time at this point. Time: 11 minutes – 12:41pm
Step 8: Wash the plates and bowls. I cleaned the sink and put fresh water in for this step. Starting time 12:42pm. Normally I would have taken a break after step 7, but I wanted to get this over and done with today. So here are the pictures below of this step. Time: 8 minutes - 12:48pm
Step 9: Wash all the plastic containers and the other bits and pieces. It is almost over now. You can do it! Time: 5 minutes : 12:55pm
Step 10: Soak the pots and pans in the sink. At this step it is a great time to put hot soapy water in pots and pans to let them soak a bit. Make yourself a cup of coffee and relax for a while. The table is now clear! It is very tempting to stop at this step, but don’t you need to finish the job! Time: 2 minutes – 12:57pm
Step 11: Wipe down the surfaces in the kitchen and dry dishes. Time to wipe up any spills on the newly clean surfaces. Look how shiny it is! I also dried the dishes and put them away, giving myself a clean work space for the greasy pots and pans. Time: 5 minutes – 13:38pm (remember, I took a nice long break!)
Step 12: Wash the pots and pans – then shine your sink! That was the last of it! I usually let the pots and pans drip dry. Time: 8 minutes – 13:46pm
And as promised, here is an image that you can print for your cleaning file (click the image below to open up a bigger one to print):
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