Do the dishes, broken into 6 small steps
A full sink is discouraging because it's hard to tell where to start, and there's no room to work. Most of the effort is in the setup, not the washing.
Make space first, soak the hard stuff, and wash in an order that keeps the water clean the longest.
Start here · under 2 minutes
Empty the dish rack or dishwasher.
Two minutes. Now there's somewhere for clean dishes to go.
The rest of the steps
- Step 2:
Scrape food into the trash.
And stack dishes by type next to the sink: glasses, plates, pots.
- Step 3:
Put pots and pans to soak with hot soapy water.
They'll be much easier in 15 minutes.
- Step 4:
Wash glasses and cups first.
Then cutlery, then plates. Clean to dirty keeps the water usable.
- Step 5:
Wash the soaked pots last.
Most of the stuck food will come off with a sponge now.
- Step 6:
Wipe the sink and the counter next to it.
A clean sink makes it easier to keep it empty tomorrow.
Why this one stalls
The dishes block the sink, so you can't wash anything without first moving everything, and that first move is the part you avoid.
If you get stuck
Wash just ten items. Count them out loud. Ten often turns into all of them, and if it doesn't, ten fewer is still progress.
What “done” looks like
An empty sink and a clean counter beside it.
These steps follow the same rules as the method in our task breakdown guide: the first step is physical and takes under two minutes, and every step after it is something you can see yourself doing. Got a head full of other things too? Start with a brain dump.