It’s taken me a while to realise that you don’t ever “finish” cleaning up. I’m probably going to die while there are unwashed dishes that I need to do. There will be dirty laundry that needs doing. I will also have things that I’ve Been Meaning to Get Around To.
Not in a dreary way, but just that this is what it’s like going through life. It helps put things in perspective when I realise I’m not actually capable of finishing all my todos. It’s just a process that you go through while alive.
This was very frustrating for me when I went through it. I was in a growing phase, trying to get my life on tracks, and I HATED that I could never have all my clothes I love to wear washed while still being able to wear them. Obvious, I know. But it really wasn’t something I had encountered before, because I never really cared about keeping things tidy.
It’s funny that once you decide you want things tidy, you realize they never truly will be.
You can clean up all the cans, but you will crack another.
You can do all the laundry, you gotta wear it
You can clean the plates, still gotta eat off of them
Just chill, there’s an insurmountable amount of work to have a perfect house. Is that what truly gives you happiness, or is it the untidiness that gives you unease?
And either case, is that truly coming from you or the family/peer pressure?
I go commando because I just have no underwear while wearing two different socks. They will find me keeled over like this eating in a restaurant. Kitchen dirty of course.
I also don’t care.
It’s you! The Unfinished One!
Truly, this is the most relatable sisyphean trial of modernity.
I read this while cleaning the kitchen.
The biggest culprit to a dirty kitchen is someone that has never heard the phrase “if you got time to lean, you got time to clean”. My wife hates this philosophy, but when I’m done cooking and ready to plate, the kitchen is spotless. It must be witchcraft!
Yeah you gotta do it straight away or very soon after. I try to wash dishes as we go but anything left, if we’re watching TV over dinner or whatever, I pause that after we eat and go wash the remaining dishes. Otherwise they aren’t going to get done
The phrase is used to shame people for taking amy breaks at work, which is why people tend to hate it.
Cleaning as you go (if time is available) does result in a lot less work at the end and more about efficiency than laziness. For meals that create a lot of dishes, having someone else clean as you go is even better than puttibg it all on to cook!
I wish my kitchen was just a little bit bigger lol. My fiance gets mad when I’m all up in her space, kitchen is off limits when she’s cooking.
I always refuse all helpers in the kitchen.
Not because of the size, but just fuck no. I don’t want to clean up after some “helper” who managed to slice a single cucumber while getting in the way and leaving a chopping board, knife and excess cuttings all over the place because “I don’t know where you want the dishes” or whatever. It’s no help at all.
My mother in law is especially bad. She doesn’t know where things are, how to cook or how to clean, but always insists on “helping”.
I’m trying to cook here, not babysit a senior who doesn’t accept that her role as provider is over. Go play with the grand kids. That’s why we invited you as a guest.
Clean the toilet. Leave for 3 weeks, toilet hasn’t been used. Come back and the bowl is dirty.
The call is coming from in the house.
From the porcelain phone!
It’s made even worse when you don’t have a dishwasher.
Dude, for real. Folks: do not take your dishwasher for granted!
This so much. Don’t have a dishwasher currently and I spend upwards of 20 minutes a day in front of the sink. Makes my shoulders hurt hunching over like that all the time
Only 20 minutes?!?! I do have a dishwasher, and I still spend well over 20 minutes hunched in front of the sink cleaning dishes that can’t go in the dishwasher every day.
I let my dishwasher decide which dishes can be washed in there. They either survive or they end up in the trash.
No one in hell would I pay premium prices for something that is going to waste my time by requiring pampering.
Same with clothes.
It’s all just stuff and I refuse to allow it to control me.
This is a pretty silly mindset. I cook every day. I like to use high quality tools for my cooking. That includes high quality kitchen knives. Those shouldn’t be dishwashered. It ruins the handles and dulls the blade.
Same with my nice cast iron pans. And wooden cutting boards.
I also have several very large pots/bowls/etc that are just too large to fit in the dishwasher.
The dishwasher is an extremely useful tool, but it’s pretty ridiculous to limit what kitchen tools you’re willing to use simply because they aren’t compatible with another kitchen tool.
It takes less time and effort to clean it as you go.
Maybe (probably) I’m just stupid and clumsy but cleaning as I go means cooking takes even more time and effort. I do it exactly the other way around, to minimize cleaning time I only clean my kitchen every few days when my counter gets too full. YMMV.
WHatever works. :)