Truly, this is the most relatable sisyphean trial of modernity.
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.
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!
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?
It’s neither, honestly. Great question, really.
I’ll be honest: I’m an alcoholic finally doing the work to never touch that shit again. So in that, I’ve been doing a lot of “finding myself”. I’ve been trying to be a bit more conscious of things and to also do a lot less sitting around playing video games and watching YouTube and Twitch. And I’ve found that being in a nice space is really comforting, so I started working on my tidiness. And that’s where I found those things I mentioned.
I wouldn’t say it’s coming from my family, it might not even be coming from me. It feels like a “societal” thing. I hate to use this example, but like Jordan Petersen saying “make your bed”.
I don’t know, I’ve also found myself feeling “worthless” in the dating and sex scene, so it’s also probably coming from there. I think “what girl would want to hangout in a shitty room?”
I got a lot to process lmfao
That is wholesome to hear. And I get you, society has some norms that are actually healthy when you mention it like that: shower frequently and don’t let the house turn into a stinking cave 😃
Good on ya, and remember to be grateful to yourself for the results and actually take a minute to enjoy the outcomes.
I feel this comment intensely. I have no idea where this dissatisfaction comes from, but it was just an invisible part of the lived environment for most of my life, and only now am I realising that we’re chasing something, an end state, that is fundamentally unachievable.
Maybe it’s the video games. I’m waiting for an achievement to pop up so I know I’m finished lol. :P
Yep
I’m in a less is more phase. Consciously not pursuing certain things if it means I can get it with extra effort, and putting that effort into appreciating what I already achieved.
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.
We have had only tiny kitchens and it did take a decade to get the dance down to both be productive in the same space when making some meals. Opening the oven involves an announcement and a confirmation!
There are a few where she needs all the space and I just clean up after. Most of mine have breaks in between steps where I can clean things as I go.
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.
It’s one of the reasons I hate having one person cook and the other clean — the incentives are misaligned, and it just breeds bad habits and reckless cooking IMHO. If you do both cooking and cleaning, you’ll hopefully learn to clean as you go.
I read this while cleaning the kitchen.
I read this while procrastinating about cleaning the kitchen
…and folding clothes! That’s how you know you’re alive 😅
The kitchen exists as a place where you can make a mess and quickly clean it up.
Imagine trying to do all the stuff you do in your kitchen, but in your living room or bedroom?
That was my thought. If you take your take out to the couch directly you don’t need to clean the kitchen. #life hack
For years people asked how I kept my house so clean when I lived by myself. I had 2 plates, 2 forks, 2 knives and I kept cooking down to 1 pot. If I was making spaghetti and meatballs (the easy way) I mixed everything in the pot, I made the balls on my plate, heated up the pot, browned the balls on bottom of the pot, cleaned dish while I did it, put browned meatballs on plate, boiled water in the pot, throw in noodles drain water when aldente, add sauce, add spices and throw meatballs back in on low heat until I get the sauce how I like. Put food on plate, eat. Put lid on bowl into the fridge for leftovers tomorrow. 1 plate and fork to clean when done. 2 minutes to clean that and the stove top up. Having more people complicates thjngs
Have kids, the floor has to be cleaned every day throughout the house.
I have kids, what is this clean floor you speak of?
exactly. Had the oldest one clean the floors before bed last night and that lasted until they all woke up in the morning.
no thank you
It’s made even worse when you don’t have a dishwasher.
Bro we had a dishwasher and our Dad still made us do the dishes manually every night. Now I have a dishwasher of my own and avoid doing them manually as much as possible.
Fucc u Dad
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.
Claiming my choices are silly is silly.
When you start to level up in life, invest in a mid-tier or above dishwasher. Man that thing has changed my life. We had a dishwasher but it started leaking and caused water damage on the floor. That was a whole headache. Went to buy a new one once the floor was fixed, turns out I had a very basic, entry level dishwasher. It wasn’t terrible (until it leaked) but upgrading to a better one, oooh baby, this thing cleans and dries like a dream! Ah such a midlife thrill acquiring an effective dishwasher.
Our struggle is lack of space for a full-size one. We might eventually get an 18” one, but we don’t have a lot of options for where to put it. What was the upgraded model you went with? Those crappy basic “contractor’s special” white ones can be more trouble than they’re worth.
We went Bosch, I think some 800 series or something. It’s nice, it’s got that hidden top rack for the weird shaped utensils and whatnot. Also nerded out and watched instructional videos and they were saying it’s best to just scrape food off and load. Don’t pre-rinse, you’re basically doing the job twice if you pre-wash. We had a Whirlpool before which the appliance sales guy said any Whirlpool is like entry-level. Once you go up a level they brand them as KitchenAid cause I guess those two companies merged.
Dude, for real. Folks: do not take your dishwasher for granted!
Yeah, in my student single flat, I didn’t had a dishwasher for quite some time.
Couldn’t keep up in any way, although this shit kitchen wasn’t even up to really cook something big, but hand washing every little thing, really put me off cooking for quite some time.
I think, I re-used the same set of plate and knife for years, just because I didn’t want to use up more dishes, that I need to wash…
I have had a dishwasher for basically all my life ( Over 50. Get off my lawn), an I recently moved to a small apartment that has no “magic cabinet”, (the one where you put dirty dishes and when you take one out it’s clean), after my kids moved out. At first the dishes piled up, but now I use what is in tbe drying rack. Gamechanger.
There are small dishwashers that you can place anywhere, bought one for my small kitchen. Lifesaver.
Ooooh. Look at Mr SpongeBorgFANCYPants!!
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!
I want true cleaning hacks. I just got a dishwasher last week for the first time in my life and it’s a huge time saver. What else is like that? The most common sense of course is putting things away after you use them, and another hack is cleaning the kitchen before bed, but what else? Does wiping down the shower every time I use it help? Should I get a used roomba? Are there any roomba-type-objects that mop? Give me the knowledge please.
A big drying rack for things that don’t go in the dishwasher. Drying with a towel sucks and is unhygienic.
I’ve been putting things out on a towel when that happens, and putting the towel away after. So far so good, but I haven’t been cooking much recently.
There are mopping robots, I have a Braava by irobot
Be warned: that specific model (M6) cannot clean the inside of corners! I’m sure there are newer (and nicer ones) that can do that, since irobot has been super behind the curve for a long time
On the other hand there are now combo vacuum/mop robots but idk if those mop corners very well since I don’t have one
Do you also have a robot vacuum, or do you just let the mop do it’s thing? I have two very hairy animals, so we get tumbleweeds of hair around the house.
Yeah, I do
I have a shark matrix and it does pretty good, of course it has the same issue with the corners though! I definitely don’t recommend roombas for pet hair, I have a long haired dog and the roomba would usually just roll up the hair into balls and deposit them in random areas on carpet. The shark doesn’t seem to do it (and also has a bristle brush and not rubber, which I anecdotally think is better)
My best life hack to reduce cleaning time is “no shoes in the house”. This is the easiest thing to do and yet, it seems impossible to tell that to my friends and family when they visit.
Also, do less laundry: your clothes don’t need to be washed each time you wear it.
What about muddy dog feet? 😂 That’s my shoe rule too, and I also second your laundry practice. I’m not sure I’ve ever washed some of the pants I own…
Get one of those car window cleaners, The kind they use at the gas station with the wiper blade on one side and the scrubby sponge on the back. Use it in your shower every time after you shower. Scrubby side first wiper side second. It literally takes 30 seconds to scrub down everything and while it’s never completely clean it never gets groady.
Treat your grout with bleach. Spray the wall wipe the bleach off the tile itself The grout will absorb it a little bit and it’ll keep mold from forming.
If you have a glass shower door you can treat it with rainx the same way you would do your windshield. It’s not get any appreciable muck on it for weeks. It is unfortunately a fair amount of work to apply the Windex properly.
Get stainless steel cleaner to clean stainless steel. It really makes a difference.
The oxalic acid in Bar Keeper’s Friend will remove tarnish from copper with zero effort. It can also remove burned on food to an extent.
If your range hood is covered in grease and dust, pour olive oil all over a paper towel and use that to wipe off you hood first. Then use a soapy rag to clean off the oil.
Slightly damp magic erasers will remove almost anything from painted drywall. You can do the same spot about four or five times usually before it needs to be repainted.
Don’t use a steam mop on luxury vinyl plank. Only use a spray mop and neutral pH cleaners specifically designed for flooring. Definitely not fabuloso.
Remove the baskets from your dishwasher once in a while and scrub the insides down with the magic eraser.
Clean your dishwasher filter every time you run it, or be prepared to replace the pump every other year.
Take your shower heads off and soak them in CLR if they start spraying water in strange directions.
Magic erasers?! Like the ones I used to get at the at supply store?
Melamine foam sponges, like Mr clean brand, but you can source them cheaper if you search around.
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misread kitchen as chicken and got really confused
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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. :)
