Why is it so many times I think of a great tip, it’s something Scott came up with? Hmm. In any case, he doesn’t have a blog (and barely reads mine, for the record) so I get to post all his great ideas.
Like many of you, I’m sure, I keep a hand towel by the sink. In the case where I have to hand wash dishes, I always spread the hand towel out on the counter, wash, rinse and then like a game of Jenga, place all the dishes on the little hand towel. For years. And I mean YEARS, if I was losing at my game of Jenga and really needed more drying space, I’d just get another hand towel out and lay it beside the other and keep going. This was fine and all but Scott made it a little better.
See, about a year or two ago when I finally figured out how to cook something besides spaghetti (thank you, Ree), we figured out that the best way our house worked (ie, not have dirty dishes lying around for a week) is if I started and emptied the dishwasher, he reloaded it and he washed any of the larger dishes/pots left. I take out the trash normally so don’t feel too bad for him. This is the part where I don’t mind feminism so much. In any case, because he normally was left with several pots to clean, rarely was the one hand towel enough.
So.
He started keeping a large beach towel in the adjacent laundry room. When it was time to do dishes, he folded it in half and used that as the drying towel. It’s GREAT.
- It’s super absorbent, unlike many of my hand towels
- It expands to take up the entire countertop if we need it
- We can use it forever because it’s never getting dirty, just wet. I do wash it occasionally just to calm my germ fears.
- I only have one hand towel out at a time.
Ya’ll. It works for me! Or him. Whatever.
This post is linked up to WeAreThatFamily.com
Pretty cool! I don’t think I ever noticed you guys using the larger towel.
Well, since Dave does all the dishes at our house, I’ll just pass this little tip right along to him! We have pretty awesome hubbies, huh.
haha! Yes we do!
We use a dishrack. Actually, the dishrack is permanently out in our kitchen. Since we always have dishes throughout the day that get hand washed (the kids plastic stuff doesn’t get put into the dishwasher) it works for us better than a towel.
Jen, does your pots and pans all fit in the dishrack or do you dry and put them away right away?
Good idea; thanks!
Yes, most of our pots fit. There’s the Jenga thing going on even with the rack, but we feel it’s more secure than just a towel on the counter. And the rack part is great for the plates, lids, flat things. Then the larger pieces go on top and around as they fit.
Honestly, we let things sit a lot. =) There are some hand washed things that get used daily and tend to live in the dish rack. If you’re a clean counter person it may not be for you.
Oh what a great idea! I don’t know where I would store the towel….maybe in the cabinet underneath. Thanks for the tip!
Or maybe in a basket on the fridge?
What a great idea! I’m a masters swimmer so we have tons of beach towels. As a matter of fact, I can’t believe I haven’t thought to use a large shammy as a drying towel.
Oh, that sounds promising!
Great tip!