Don’t Wash This Bowl! A Soapy Bowl By the Sink Is the First Step in Washing Up

Faith Durand
Faith DurandSenior Vice President of Content at AT Media
Faith is the SVP of Content at Apartment Therapy Media and former Editor-in-Chief of The Kitchn. She is the author of three cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-winning, The Kitchn Cookbook. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and two daughters.
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updated Sep 20, 2022
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When it comes to cleaning, we talk a lot about cleaning as you go, but what does that actually mean? Other than washing every pot as you get it dirty (which isn’t always practical or time-effective), what does clean as you go actually look like?

For me, the first step in cleaning up is this super basic thing that many of you probably do: keep a soapy bowl of hot water by the sink.

I don’t use any particular bowl; usually I just grab any large container that’s already dirty, squirt in some dish soap, and run some hot water into it. (If there’s nothing big in the sink, I’ll pull a bowl out of a drawer expressly for this.) Then as I cook, I slip utensils and flatware into the bowl as I finish with them.

Sometimes I’ll even leave a soapy bowl out for a couple of days, dropping silverware into it from multiple meals, then washing everything up at once.

I love how this keeps dirty flatware from cluttering up the bottom of the sink, and how it rinses the tools and makes later wash-up much easier and faster.

Like I said — this is a super basic element of washing up, and maybe one you do so frequently and habitually you don’t even think about it! But it’s not something that everyone does — my husband, for instance, doesn’t think to rinse plates, stack things by size, or put silverware in a soapy bowl. (But I’m certainly not complaining, as he does most of the dishes in our household!) These are all things I do by habit because making the side of the sink look more organized helps me feel like I’m making progress in cleaning as I go.

Do you do this? Or do you just throw everything into the sink (or dishwasher) right away? I love hearing how other people organize their washing up; it’s a daily chore for most of us, and it can take up a lot of time!

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