Rinse Off the Dishes

Picture by Michal Zacharzewski

You just cooked a nice batch of marinara sauce, and boiled some spaghetti noodles for dinner. You put everything nicely on a plate and walk out to present the meal to your family/partner/friends. In the kitchen, your pots are left on their own, which will result, inevitably, in the food drying and setting in there.
The same thing happens to those plate of spaghetti marinara that are left on the table or in the sink for longer than they should be. Or with the tall glass of juice that's left next to the computer. You know what I mean, right? Dirty dishes that stand out too long become more difficult to wash. They take longer in the end!

We've finally established the habit of rinsing off things like pots for making sauce, pasta or rice. Or we at least fill them up with water, so the left overs can soak. 
After we eat, we try to make it a habit to wash our dishes right away. Sometimes this is easier than others, but it happens more often than not.

To get yourself going on washing the dishes, ask yourself the following questions:

1. If I don't do them now, will I have to do them later? (If the answer is 'no', then of course, don't bother) 
2. Do I have urgent business that cannot wait 10 minutes? (if the answer is 'yes', you have a valid excuse)
3. Is doing the dishes now, really such a big deal? (only one correct answer to this one!)

If that doesn't get you going... try leaving the dishes out for a couple of days. Let them stack up, in the messiest way possible. After the stench has become unbearable, take a picture. Print it out. Put it on your wall.