7 ways to speed up washing the dishes

While nobody necessarily likes doing the dishes, it’s a household chore that must be completed in order to keep a clean kitchen. There are some kitchen accessories that can’t be cleaned in the dishwasher, so they must be washed by hand. Don’t spend your whole evening tending to the dishes – here are a few tricks that will make this household chore go by faster:

Keep dirty dishes in a bin
Coming up to a sink filled to the brim with dirty dishes is not only intimidating, it makes washing each dish much more difficult. This way, you can fill up your sink with soapy warm water and get to work on each plate, cup and bowl.

Opt for a farmhouse sink
Leaning over the kitchen sink to do the dishes is never fun, plus you end up with puddles of water soaked into your clothing. With a farmhouse sink, the leaning isn’t necessary. A farmhouse sink is extremely versatile and looks charming in both a modern and vintage kitchen design. This type of basin is also very spacious, allowing you to wash lots of dishes at one time.

Let big pans soak
Casserole dishes, woks and dutch ovens with caked-on grease are tricky to clean and take some time to get back to their original sparkling finish. Save yourself some time and lots of extra cleaning effort by letting these items soak in hot soapy water while you get to the other dishes. Then by the time you get to them, the grease and stuck-on food will come right off.

Start with the cleanest dishes
It may make sense to get to the dirtiest dishes first, because, well, they’re dirty! But washing off a pan filled with food scraps and grease will only leave your hot, soapy water extremely dirty. And who likes to stick their hands in a sink of dirty water? After washing just one item, you’ll have to drain your entire sink and fill it up again with fresh water. Avoid this unnecessary process by starting with the clean dishes and making your way to the dirtiest ones.

Keep clean towels nearby
While some dishes can air dry, you can speed up the process by drying your dishes with clean dish towels. Store them somewhere close to the sink so that you can grab them without having to run to the other side of the kitchen to access them.

Have the appropriate cleaning tools
An old sponge may not get the job done as quickly and easily as a new one with a rough side. This will make it much easier to get off food or stains that seem to be stuck on your dinnerware.

Say goodbye to water spots
There’s nothing quite as frustrating as spending an hour doing dishes only to find that there are water spots on all of your silverware and dishes. Those spots may be harmless, but they make everything look dirty. Prevent this from happening by putting a splash of vinegar in your sink’s water.