fbpx

reliefkey

Nicely organized kitchen items

Cleaning dishes sucks, how to make it a bit better

Cleaning the dishes. It’s never going to end. Everyday dishes will need to be cleaned, this is a fact of life that will not change. That being the case, I’ve set out to set up ways to make cleaning the dishes simple, quick, and almost effortless.

I’ve found to make it as easy as possible is to limit the number of dishes I own and use. By doing this my sink can never be too full so it never feels overly daunting to clean them. Although I still have to battle my inherent laziness of just not wanting to complete mundane 5-minute tasks.

All I have is:

• 3 bowls from Target

• 1 cooking pan for making eggs (need a new one)

• 3 forks 3 knives 3 spoons (which I rarely use)

• 2 Nutribullet blender cups (I need a 3rd and want them to be all the small sized ones)

• 1 metal spatula

A few items I use and rewash throughout the day, like the pan. What I’ve found works is to let the bowls and silverware dirty up and then throw it all in the dishwasher at night so it’s ready for me the next day. It’s the lazy way and I should just hand wash, it is actually faster, but I found I don’t have much willpower at night so this is working for now. However, I have an idea to make it more fun like hooking up a podcast that auto-plays at a certain time every night so I then am notified and become enticed to go over and do the dishes.

The tools you use are essential to making things not so big of a deal or having it be an endeavour that makes you want to tear your eyes out and hand them over to the devil in a sacrificial ceremony.

The tool I use to prevent this are:

A sink brush that adheres to the bottom of my sink with suction cups – This item is ideal for cups but has been useful for every item I use. I need to find a way to make it so it doesn’t move. The suction cups don’t keep it from sliding around on the base of the sink. Once that’s solved this system may be complete.

A broken spatula that I added a wooden dowel to – that works spectacularly as an egg scraper to get it off the bottom of the pan.

A steel wool-like scrubber – This is the newest addition but it works 100x better than the brush to remove the last bit of egg from the bottom of the pan.

I’ve created and matched up cleaning tools with a specific item that is optimal for cleaning that specific piece of kitchenware. For instance, the egg scraper is optimal for the pan, and the sink brush is for the cups and bowls. The sink brush also works fantastic for cleaning silverware because you can just blast it between the brush heads and wala it’s ready to go!

One day I dream of having a bigger sink. Currently, my sink is tiny, and the dishes get cluttered in the brutalized steel bowl. I’d also appreciate having one half of the sink raise and lower when I wave my hand over a sensor. Not sure how I’ll pull that one-off, but that’s a problem for future JP when he stops renting.

Making small adjustments to areas of my life like this brings me a tremendous about of joy. The smallest improvements increase my overall wellbeing. Why? It’s one less frustration to deal with in my day. That frustration by itself isn’t that big of a deal, but over time it builds like a corroded artery, the more of them you have around the home, the more they compound. That’s why I look to weed out as many as possible through creative thinking, prototyping, and building, this way I clear up the blockages and have steady flow through my home on a daily basis.

What are some frustrations in your cleaning process? Shoot me an email below, or connect with me on Instagram at @reliefkey. Also reach out if you have some really unique solutions, I’d love to hear about them.