I cannot tell you how many times I’ve used the expression, “There’s a method to my madness.” So many people have raised their eyebrows at the way I confidently follow a specific order to do certain things. For example:
I know that, at some point in the first half of the day, I should probably eat. I could buy food, but, even better, I could make something! I don’t like to cook in a dirty kitchen, so I’ll need to clean it first. I cannot clean until I’ve tidied up and moved things that don’t belong in the kitchen back to their proper home. Done. Now, before I wipe down the surfaces, I’ll need a clean kitchen sink. (Thanks, Fly Lady. http://www.flylady.net/) So I do that. How? Well, to wash the dirty dishes, I need to have somewhere for them to go. So I turn to empty the dishwasher, but I need somewhere for those to go. So I realize I’ll need to put away the clean dishes from the drying rack first. Once the clean dishes in the drying rack are put away, I can empty the dishwasher. There’s an order to that too, by the way:
- Silverware
- Sharp knives (because I am less likely to nick myself when my level of focus is higher – at the beginning of a task)
- Special items (because they require more thought than the masses that follow)
- Other knives (because they’re the tallest and easiest to grab)
- Forks (because I’m still semi-focused on what I’m doing and I know that, when that fades, the prongs are likely to graze my knuckles with a not-so-pleasant “kiss”)
- Once all the forks are in my hand, I line them up in a row so I can easily separate the salad forks from the dinner forks (as if that’s how I use them, haha).
- Spoons, the “safe” silverware, if you will
- Same process as with the forks: Soup/Cereal spoons vs. “dessert” spoons – Honestly, I don’t know what percentage of the population follows this anymore. I know that I just use the spoon that makes sense for the item being eaten and the mouth about to consume the food.
- Breakable dishes (because I am less likely to drop them during the first half of the routine than I would be as my auto-pilot takes over, later)
- Other dishes (because dishes are usually drier at the end of the cycle than the items I’ll put away next)
- Pots/Pans – If they were washed in the bottom rack, they should be mostly dry at this point. So a quick check of the handle (sometimes, I find a bit of water in there) and a wipe of a kitchen towel will do and I can put it where it belongs in about the same amount of time as it would take me to convince myself that I should work hard to finagle it into a space in the drying rack… never worth it.
- Anything else from the bottom rack: glass baking dishes, cutting boards, etc.
- TOP RACK: I jostle the top rack before I pull it out to shake off excess water into the dishwasher instead of inviting it to spill on my shirt as it travels to my kitchen floor.
- I pull out the drawer and look for the rare dry item… usually, nothing
- It does feel like winning something when I find one. Haha. Tiny hits of dopamine for the win!
- If there is anything that would take minimal effort to dry and put away, now is the time to identify those items: spatula, bowl, etc.
- Finally, we’re at the cups. Our dishwasher’s track record for cleaning cups is subpar; There’s usually a bit of dishwashing soap residue in/on them. So I like to give them a quick rinse in the sink before shaking them out and finding them a spot on the drying rack. This helps to put my mind at ease when grabbing a cup from the cabinet, later.
- I treat the plastic tubs and lids the same way: quick rinse, shake it off, drying rack.
- Anything left? At this point, I’ll assume that I’ve been in auto-pilot for a while. Finding something that was left out of my routine is a fun way to “wake me up” and help me to reassess the situation. I know I sound so serious about what should be a simple household chore, but I’ve also come to learn that I’m not alone in the way that my brain works. I know there are others out there who will read this list and feel seen and heard. That’s the whole point of this blog: YOU ARE NOT ALONE! <3
- I decide if the item needs to be wiped off and put away now or if it needs to be (rinsed and) shaken off and placed into the drying rack.
- Now that the dishwasher is empty, I can load the dishwasher:
- Silverware
- Cups
- Plates
- Bowls
- Anything else
- I generally try to load the top rack from the back to the front to make loading easier as we go.
- The bottom rack has a pattern that I try to follow so that I can fit the most into it:
- Large dishes, small dishes, sturdy bowls… Everything has a “primary” place. I can always adjust as needed, but starting with the default setup keeps me calm.
- I generally point sharp knives downward. (Thanks, life, for teaching me this lesson the hard way.)
- I start with two pieces of silverware in each “bucket,” making an “X.”
- I add silverware strategically, as needed.
I do this because I’m never 100% sure how full it will be when the dishwasher is finally run. I prefer to give each piece of silverware its own space to increase the likelihood it comes out clean. This is why I am so aggravated whenever someone else decides to load the dishwasher with spoons that were actually “spooning.” I can’t even explain how gross that is to me.
TRIGGER WARNING: Dishwasher Spoons Spooning in the following pic. I’m not kidding. It actually makes me a bit queasy, so I assume others react the same way. Scroll past if it’s too much for you. If you’re feeling brave, you’ll be relieved to know that I used clean spoons for this picture:
What’s nice about this dishwasher routine is that I decided, a long time ago, that this method makes sense. I have logical reasoning for each step in the process so I know that the mental energy required for this task is minimal. Every step, every choice, has already been decided. So I can “check out” mentally for a few minutes while I’m doing this. Should my brain already be “on,” I can also use this time to listen to a podcast or an audiobook, which makes the whole process a little more desirable. Right? It almost turns it from a chore into a treat. 😉
Anyway… I’m probably starting to feel a little peckish at this point. I’ve tidied the kitchen, I’ve managed the dishes. Now, I can scrub the sink clean so that I’m in a good position to have space for the sponge and/or towel I’ll use to wipe down the surfaces in the kitchen. Yay!
Once the kitchen is clean, I can finally cook breakfast. I really thought this blog post was going to be about more than how I do the dishes, but I’m 40 minutes and three pages in, so I won’t keep you here any longer. I’ll change the title from “Routines” to “Routines – Dishes” and be on my way. Have a lovely day. I’ll catch you on the flip side! Mmmmm… Flipping… Maybe I’ll make pancakes…
