I feel like I could literally, spend my entire life at the kitchen sink.
I NEVER get out from under our dirty dishes.

How does your family handle dish washing?

Do you have a designated dish washing person?

Do family members wash their own dishes?

Do you wash n dry immediately?

Do you use paper?

We cook a lot, and have a tiny kitchen sink/counter area, so when there are dirty dishes, the whole kitchen feels overwhelmed and messy.

I try not to let dishes pile up, but it is inevitable, and never ending.

Maybe, it's just part of life......and I need to not stress over it.

(Even our laundry is more manageable than the dirty dishes, and we hang our clothes on the line.)

We each take turns. It WAS dd and I each doing them ALL the time. Finally dd complained of always cleaning up after her brothers and she has a point. SO, now they also take turns. We rotate each day.
We use paper plates a lot. I know it's a waste of money but we buy the cheap ones. I see no reason to dirty a dish each and every time someone wants a small snack, sandwich, etc.
I figure the money saved on water and detergent balances out the cost of paper plates anyway.
We have a dishwasher and we load it and only run it when it's full. It gets unloaded and refilled each day. If there are any really large pots and pans, I will usually just wash them myself after cooking. I'd rather have them out of the way. Having large dirty pots and cookie sheets makes the kitchen look messier. I can handle a few cups and bowls in the sink but I can't stand 2 sink fulls of dirty dishes.

It depends on your family configuration, and if you have a dishwasher.

When we had teen boys (3) and a broken dishwaser, they took turns washing by hand - one washed, one dried, one had the night off.

Now, it is strictly MY job (since dh works outside the home many hours, I've basically forbidden him to take on that sort of home tasks, too). We have a dishwasher now. DH clears the table, and I do the rest.

But, little one is just learning to help put some dishes in, with my help. She can "help" put away a few big, non-breakable things on low shelves. And, she can empty the silverware basket - all but knives - by herself : ) Of course, it helps a lot that she is still at that age where she *wants* to help.

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http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

I'm always thinking the same thing, lol! Dishes, dishes, dishes, it never ends! We have a dishwasher, but I hate dishwashers, so we never use it. My kids often like to help wash the dishes, then they hand them to me and I rewash them. I look forward to the day when they can do the dishes by themselves and then we can take turns. By then, they probably won't want to help, but that's too bad!

I put them in the drying rack to dry and the kids usually put away their own dishes. I think I will start buying paper plates, too. I have tried doing like my grandma used to do and wash each dish as soon as it's put in the sink, lol. It would only take a second, but that's easier said than done. I'm trying to start washing them after breakfast, lunch, and dinner because it seems more managable that way. It's amazing how quickly a few dishes can turn into a mountain.

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Mom to Christian (13), Saphira (10), Xavier (5), and Adrian (2).

We do them after each meal. We do have the kids take turns. My DS does all the pans, my oldest DD does the silverware and large bowls etc, and DD #2 does all the plates and bowls. This way they all are cooperating in the kitchen and learning how to master certain chores.
However, in the trailer it will be crowded! So, I think I will take over then. I will wash and rinse and then let someone else dry and put away. Those sinks are really small and I have no counter spae to allow build up. I think in the trailer we will go back to paper plates for sandwiches and snacks in order to keep the sanity!

I have to admit I love my dishwasher. I know I use way more water washing by hand than it uses. I use the quick cycle and it doesn't heat the water additionally nor does it dry them. I let it cool off in there then open the door, turn on the ceiling fan and let them air dry.

I am weird about dish water. I can't use the sink to hold the water I wash the dishes in. I don't feel like I can get it clean enough plus I feel like all the dirty dishes being in the sink full of water muck it all up and it looks gross LOL. I have a medium glass bowl, maybe a fruit bowl?, I got from someone in the family. I keep that by the sink and fill it with my dish water and just do it that way. I don't soak the dishes in the water or anything. We rinse stuff off and down the garbage disposal then put in the dishwasher. If I am hand washing something, I use my bowl of dish water and dish cloth, then rinse it off and put on the drainer rack. Easy to get fresh dish water that way too.

We don't use much paper plates because we have to pay for trash we put out although if the paper plate doesn't get too messy it can go in the recycle bin. Usually it is just easier to use a small plate and hand wash it real quick after lunches and snacks. Bigger quantities go to the dishwasher.

Over the years all my kids have had dish duty in one way or another. Our dishwasher does not work so dishes get done by hand. When I'm really busy the girls work together to wash and dry. The kitchen is in my zone of the house, so I usually do them. I have a container I fill and have everyone put their dishes in. Then once or twice a day, depending on amoung of dishes used, I wash them up and leave them to air dry. I really like having them all washed before I go to bed so I wake up to a clean, empty sink. Takes only a couple of minutes to put the dry dishes away and the kitchen starts out looking good.

I read a book some years back about an American who visited Ukraine. In the Ukrainian homes, there is a cabinet above the sink. But, the cabinet doesn't have a wooden floor, instead it has a row of closely spaced parallel wooden rods. When dishes are done, the plates are put in the cabinet - standing on edge, and drip right into the sink. They dry in the cabinet, and are already put away! : )

I dream about that kind of setup!

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http://stuffedveggies.blogspot.com/

One trick is NOT to cook so much. Won't your family eat leftovers? A casserole or pot of spaghetti, wraps/sandwiches, picnic eggs, cut up veggies... these are things that can be done all in one shot and eaten for several days.

I refrain from using extra dishes whenever possible. I steam veggies in my pot of noodles the last few minutes or use paper towels for "dishes" at times. We use the same cup all day and just rinse it out if we change what we're drinking.

I leave dinner dishes half the time and wait til after breakfast to do the dishes. Then I have hours of a dish free kitchen. In the summer we usually have sandwiches for lunch.

Gotta go. Writing from IHOP in Oklahoma. : )

Waving at Sis!!

I saw one of those draining racks above the sink in a "tiny house" blog I think it was. That would be cool.