Tuesday Tips: Washing and drying dishes

I don’t know about you, but when I mention to folks I lived on my own since college, many people asked me how I did chores like keeping my kitchen clean. How did I know which plates I’d washed versus the ones I rinsed. Maybe, you -if blind-are still working out a system for yourself.

Items you’ll need:

Dish rag

Drying cloth and dish drainer

Dish soap

Sink

Stopper

Dishes

For me, it’s literally divide and conquer. Before I actually wash a meal’s dishes, I scrape off any excess crumbs, turn on the water and flip a switch to let the disposal do its work for a few seconds. Once I’ve shut off the disposal and the running water, I put a stopper in the drain, then pour dish soap in the sink.

Now, you may ask: Why pour in the soap first before filling the sink with water? Combined with the hot water I’ll run, the soap bubbles instead of staying oily and static. My choice of dish soap is Dawn because it handles all kinds of surfaces well from the plates to skillets, to the countertop and table.

Now it’s time to run the water. It’s always a good idea to wash after each meal or two so that you can run just enough water to cover the dishes. With a dish cloth, wash each item and set it in the other side of your sink, presuming it’s empty. That way, what you washed doesn’t get dirtied again by what you haven’t.

Once all your dishes are scrubbed and lathered up with soap, drink the water, rinse the side of the sink where you washed the dishes, and put the soapy ones back in it.

Make sure you’ve rinsed the dish cloth as free of soap as possible before using it in tandem with the running water to rinse your dishes. Repeat the process of rinsing that you did with washing except that you’ll place your finished dishes in a drainer or drying mat to the side of the sink. Personally, I like air drying the dishes I wash by hand instead of drying them immediately with a towel. Only later, when I put dishes away do I wipe the remaining water off before putting them away.

Of course, using a dish washer makes things a whole lot easier after scraping excess food residue into the disposal. With that said, you’ll always have those pots, pans, and utinsels that are better done by hand.