Washing Dishes

Sometimes, I think it takes a change, or a large series of changes, for something that once seemed TAXING to all of the sudden feel manageable or even pleasant. For me, Washing Dishes, falls under this list.
(wishing I had that apron.... image from here)
Things that have changed:

• New dishes--I love my new dishes purchased from the dollar store. They are pretty (off white and a bit modern looking) and fun to serve and eat off of. I just love how they look when they are sparkling clean. 
• No dispose-all--n this place we are renting, for the first time in my entire renting life (of 4 years) I have no Dispose-all. What this means is that NASTY, DISGUSTING food remnants, are NOT to be left sitting in dishes inside of the sink. Has this rule been fully abided by? No. But, he-- I mean WE, are making an effort to do better at scraping our plates off into the garbage at the bare minimum :)
• The Power of a scrubby-- Down at the local dollar store they sell 2-packs of those lovely O-cello sponges with the rough and soft sides on them. Mine have cute little flowers on one and plaid on the other. For years, I have wondered why my dishwashers would not clean my dishes. I swear that growing up, just like in the "Cascade does the dirty work" commercials, I could just load things in without rinsing, and they still came out spotless, but in my adult life, so has not been the case. BUT, the scrubby, takes the junk off the dishes with effortless ease. Three cheers for the scrubby. (scrubby image from here, a new favorite bloggy !)

The answer I have found is Wash it as soon as you finish with it. Then, it won't ever seem disgusting or gross. It will only be one or two things to wash instead of 100, the smell won't make you want to pass out, and your dishwasher might even have a chance at cleaning them the first time around!

Amazing discovery, in my opinion. To most of you, this is probably something you already do anyway, but for me... a breakthrough.

Next I just have to figure out how to keep up with my laundry at a similar pace, instead of just all of a sudden realizing there are mountains of dirty laundry everywhere... but baby steps, right? (image from here)