I’m a clean person but the dishes scare me

I used to be so organised now I feel like everything is a mess and I don’t know where to start

Same! Washing them immediately OR in the morning while preparing my coffee helped me.

Hi

What helped me was thinking about the dishes as a cycle rather than a task. The dishes are never “done”, they’re just at a different place in the cycle (dirty, wet, dry, in the cupboard) and when I have the energy I just try to move things to the next part of the cycle. It made it less overwhelming to realise I don’t have to do it all in one go.

Dishes are my most stressful cleaning task. I don’t have a dishwasher so EVERYTHING has to be washed by hand. I constantly am looking in the sink saying “I really need to do these today” or “if I can just do what’s there first thing every morning they won’t pile up.” I also have a toddler so the guilt of not being a good example can be crushing.

My partner can’t stand any dirty dishes at all. He needs to wash everything as he goes so when dinner is cooked and served up there are no dishes to do and then as soon as we finish eating he will wash the plates and cutlery immediately. He feels sick if the dishes are left to sit for even half an hour. I am the opposite but I am so thankful for him never letting it get out of hand.

Same! I've found the best thing to help me with it it to divide it into separate tasks. 1. Sort out the different categories of dishes. 2. Rinse the dishes to get the gross stuff off. 3. Wash one category at a time. That way I can stop at any point during the washing process without feeling like I'm just horrible. And It also helps prioritize things I need now, and things I can wash later.

Not alone

Yep !

Same. I use a dish wand like others mentioned but tbh I also keep compostable plates and flatware for when I'm stressed or depressed and KNOW I'm not gonna do the dishes. It's more expensive than paper and plastic but I feel a little less guilty about being wasteful

So comforting reading these posts as am exact same! Have always struggled with the food scraps and what appears ‘yukky’. Gloves, fancy handled brushes etc and natural hydrogen peroxide spray bottle that can be sprayed on the brushes afterwards help with getting rid of some resistance to the task. Even lighting a candle to make it more of a pleasant task/ bring some energy/life to the tasks helps. Relate so much to what everyone has posted though.

I use a wand brush and gloves to avoid touching the dishes 😅

I get it, I hate the textures. I also struggle with the grossness of brushing teeth, the spit and toothpaste is so gross to me

Okok I like this ima have to try it