Our kitchen sink is awful. It only has one basin, it was disgusting when we moved in, and seems to love hanging onto water spots. We have a dishwasher but a lot of our dishes have to be hand-washed, and that’s usually my job.
Since I despise washing dishes I came up with a couple ideas to make it less awful…
- Use a dish soap I like (I use an environmentally friendly, unscented brand).
- Place said soap on a nice dish or coaster to prevent water stains on the sink.
- Use a really good dish cloth (and launder it every day). I’m partial to little dinky crocheted ones.
- In between uses of the dish cloth, keep it on another pretty dish or coaster so water doesn’t run all over your counter.
The coaster I use for my soap bottle was given to me (in a set) by my mother-in-law. We have so many sets of coasters so I decided to use this one in the kitchen. The plate under my dish cloth was a 25 cent yard sale find from my mom.
I know it probably seems like a really pointless thing to do, but having those few nice things really does make dishwashing more enjoyable.
Oh, I also like to blast some music while washing!
I have a natural cleaning business and whenever I’m giving a presentation, I tell people this exact thing–make cleaning as enjoyable and conscious as possible. I love that you’ve chosen things that remind you of people you love. 🙂 Something else you might like: in a jar, mix a box of baking soda with 20-30 drops of lavender oil, then use it to scrub out your sink at the end of the day. Smells amazing, and the baking soda works great on stainless. You can also leave the open jar on the counter if you ever have a gross kitchen odor issue.
I keep the cupboard right above the sink clear so I can put my laptop there and watch TV while washing dishes. It makes my least favorite chore into something more like “me” time.
This is me but with my iPad propped on the window sill. Binge Netflix-ing FTW.
I love the plate you got from the yard sale! I think it is a great idea to find ways to make your home and cleaning more enjoyable.
I also like to blast music when I clean. Another idea that my friend does is listen to audio books while cleaning to help pass the time.
Oh man, I installed an under-counter radio in my kitchen and it’s changed everything. It mounted right under the hanging cabinets so playing music while doing dishes takes up NO counter space.
I’ve always used my dish washing time as my thinking time. I usually have some type of background noise going on, whether it be Hulu or Pandora.
Glitch Mob station on Pandora while doing a heavy cleaning job? Bring it on!
Seconded on the first comment. What gets me through it is knowing that whatever smells I had to scrape off, pouring vinegar/ baking soda/ lemon juice in the sink will erase ALL THE ODORS. And then I will feel ACCOMPLISHED and GROWN UP! 🙂
I find the only thing that makes dishes more enjoyable is strong drugs.
Right at this very moment I am actively avoiding a sink FULL of dishes by reading this article. And now commenting on it. Perhaps I should re-read it to get myself motivated…
My husband and I recently replaced our faucet (it was seriously leaking, and the side sprayer died months ago) with one that we liked more ($140, markdown from 200 open box section at hardware store.) It wasn’t hard to do and the box even included instructions. We were so impressed how much happier it made both of us. Now that we are getting adapted to it we are loosing some of the new toy novelty, but it still has helped make dishes a bazillon times better. Now we’ll save money to replace the sink.