Comments on: Kitchen Tip: Washing Dishes with Baking Soda

By: audree

audree — Wed, 18 May 2011 14:38:08 +0000

AGREE!!! sure wish this website had been here when my kids were little! i sure could have used all the wisdom here, as i was a single mother without a lot of help. i’m so happy my daughter subscribes to your site!!!

By: k breen

k breen — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:56:48 +0000

What a beautiful mothering idea! This is also the way of the Waldorf nursery school where children help to make bread, soup, and salad and wash dishes. Thank you for your post.

By: Kika

Kika — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:54:19 +0000

Use baking soda diluted in water in a dish pan and wash It’s nonsense to think you have to use anything else afterwords especially an enery wasting dishwasher

By: Amanda

Amanda — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 23:23:44 +0000

Great tips! I’m so glad I found your website today, thanks for the ideas!

By: Kathi

Kathi — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:52:13 +0000

I am always unfortunately in a hurry and have to remind myself to slow down for my 3 yr old. I discovered that doing dishes is much more fun when I put I big low bucket on the counter right a long side my little girl. I put the glasses and other less dirty things in her bucket, baking soda a dash of vinegar and give her a sponge. She doesn’t just play but loves to scrub those things, so by the time I’m done with my heap, I just have to rinse her things. Result: I not only did all the dishes but shared quality time with my little one (while complimenting her hard work) who also gained some important discipline training for her adult life.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:53:46 +0000

Hi,
I have just stumbled upon your website.
I fill my sink with hot water and a little dish soap and leave it. As soon as a plate or utensil or what have you is done with, I scrape the food off and just put it straight into the sink. All the crockery collects over time and when it’s full, I load it up into the dishwasher. Every bit of soil almost falls off freely as I’m loading them into the dishwasher. It allows my dishes to be very clean with very little effort and chemicals. I use a little bit of dr bronners dish soap (3ml) in the dishwasher, along with 1 tbspn of baking soda and then 1/4 cup of lemon juice in the final rinse (instead of vinegar as I absolutely hate the vinegar smell). My dishes are sparkling, sanitized and I barely do anything to get them that way. It’s almost a dream! And I end up using about 5 gallons in total for a full load of dishes (including them soaking in the sink).
I have two little ones and I can mostly certainly say that I do not always have the time or energy to do dishes at the end of the night too…. Hence my “method”. Goodluck to you – your website is fantastic!

By: AEdmonds

AEdmonds — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 19:33:08 +0000

I tried putting baking soda on my pan this morning and soaking for just a few minutes to get caked on food off. It worked great.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:48:41 +0000

“1) I try very hard to do as many of the dinner prep dishes (my husband’s brilliant suggestion as he noticed me struggling to get it done after dinner), and any other dishes that need washing, counters that need wiping, etc. while I am cooking, so that after dinner, there is basically just the dishes to be loaded, and maybe a couple pots or pans to quickly handwash.”

That is also what I always do…nothing is more depressing then a clattered place after the meal…

My kids often help me before sitting around the table, so it is easy after the meal.(we find it important to have our meals together)-

saving pots and pans is a good idea too…in the south of France, my husbands aunt, ends up with masses of dishes…it’s true that after a good meal you do not feel like having mountains of pots and pans and what ever…

I believe that more we are lazy, more we find tricks to make our life easier!!!

By: Lindsay

Lindsay — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:36:11 +0000

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

By: Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:48:34 +0000

I have two tips for keeping the kitchen clean despite being tired in the evenings:

1) I try very hard to do as many of the dinner prep dishes (my husband’s brilliant suggestion as he noticed me struggling to get it done after dinner), and any other dishes that need washing, counters that need wiping, etc. while I am cooking, so that after dinner, there is basically just the dishes to be loaded, and maybe a couple pots or pans to quickly handwash.

2) With whatever is left, I will often set a timer for myself, so that I am extra motivated to just zip around the kitchen and get it done in record time so that it is out of the way in record time. I also soak my dishes as soon as the food is out of them, so they are faster to wash (although I’ve never tried the baking soda- I’ll have to give it a go). Another solution is to chat on the phone while washing up, as it makes the time feel doubly productive, and yet more relaxing than simply doing the dishes alone.