I keep a small squeeze-type bottle full of bleach on the back of my sink. In the morning I put several inches of water in the sink, with a squirt of dish soap and a teaspoon of bleach. Throughout the day, any dirty dishes go in the water to soak or to be washed right away. The sponge sits in the water and is disinfected by the bleach, I use it whenever I need to wipe the stove, counter, microwave, etc.
I use an empty contact lens solution bottle, but any squeeze-type bottle would do. If I end up with a bunch of dishes that need to be hand washed, I will fill the sink with water, use the normal amount of dish soap and add 1 Tablespoon of bleach. The bleach helps to kill germs and bacteria on the dishes as they sit and keeps the sponge germ-free (I hope!). My mom started doing this many years ago when she developed an auto-immune disease. I started doing it when I had children who couldn't remember to wash their hands, bringing germs home from school to share with us. It seems like we are all less prone to be sick and pass it around among us when we remember to do this.
Caution: Dish soap and bleach will cause toxic fumes when mixed together by themselves. DO NOT put them together in the sink before you add water! Put water in the sink, add the soap and then add the bleach. DO NOT overdo the bleach, or it will still cause fumes - just remember that a very small amount will do, as I said, no more than a tablespoon for a full sink of water and barely a teaspoon for a half sink of water.
By Judy = Oklahoma from Tulsa, OK
I live in a complex that redid my apt. It's newer and such, but I would have loved it if I could have had the older style double sink. Recently, someone left a tiny drainer in the community center. At first I thought it was a shelf unit to allow you to keep plates up higher.
I have a tiny kitchen and when I moved, I lost my dishwasher. That used to be my dish drainer. Now I have to have a drainer, but I prefer to put it inside a nice tub.
We have glasses that are just wide enough on the top that only 3 fit on 5 hooks along the side of the drainer. But if you have larger plastic glasses, you can set those on top and double the space you have.
I recently cleaned out a garage and found tons of things others could use. However, they were only usable after about 8 hours of washing and bleach rinsing.
I use dishwasher cubes to do my dishes by hand for hard stuck on food. I just fill the sink with hot/warm water and my soap and add a little dishwasher soap, as well.
When I was a little kid I was always underfoot while Mama was doing chores. When washing the dishes she had a really peculiar (to me) habit. This was eons before dishwashers became commonplace. She always ran her hand over a dish before putting it to rinse.
When hand washing dishes, do you use the same dish cloth that you washed the dishes with to clean the countertops and stove with? I was watching a TV show and they said this method transfers germs all around your kitchen and it is best to use a dishcloth for the dishes and another one for cleaning. I would think 2 dish cloths in the kitchen could be a headache trying to remember which is for cleaning and which one is for washing dishes. What do you think?
By Onesummer
I use a separate dish cloth to clean counters and other areas in my kitchen after hand washing dishes or you can rinse your dishcloth with a disinfectant, place dishcloth in microwave, run microwave for about 1 minute to kill germs.
I am disabled and have to use an office chair (I use it do do everything in the kitchen) to sit on while I do dishes. It puts me at a height that makes the water roll down my arm. I spend half of the time cleaning the dishes and the other half wiping my arm off.
By Dawn
Have you tried using rubber gloves with the cuff turned back. It might catch the water before it got on your arms. You would have to empty it after a bit, but it might work.
Do you have a dish rack on your countertop in the kitchen or do you use a drying mat? How does a drying mat dry dishes like glasses very well on the inside if the glass is turned upside down on the mat?
By Onesummer
Dishracks harbour germs unless you scrub them periodically and get into all the crevices. too much trouble for me. I've never had a problem with my glasses drying as long as they are rinsed in clear water after washing in dishsoap.
I love my drying mat. When I am washing glass ware or anything that needs to be turned over I prop something such as a piece of silverware or something along those lines just under the lip of the glass so it kind of tips just a little bit and this has always worked for me. It works on anything that when turned over on the mat won't dry very well. I also like to spread all my silverware out all over the mat and it dries better then standing up in the dish drainer and also helps to avoid getting poked by something sharp such as knives.
I love my drying mat. I also use the top rack in my dishwasher for big items or if I have too much to fit on the mat. I also wash my mat periodically and air dry it (I have 2 and switch 'em out)
I have almost no counter space. I bought a small drainer but realized I didn't have the pan for it. While shopping lately, I came upon this tub for $.25 and thought it might work.
