I’m a clean person but the dishes scare me

I used to be so organised now I feel like everything is a mess and I don’t know where to start

Same! Washing them immediately OR in the morning while preparing my coffee helped me.

Hi

What helped me was thinking about the dishes as a cycle rather than a task. The dishes are never “done”, they’re just at a different place in the cycle (dirty, wet, dry, in the cupboard) and when I have the energy I just try to move things to the next part of the cycle. It made it less overwhelming to realise I don’t have to do it all in one go.

Dishes are my most stressful cleaning task. I don’t have a dishwasher so EVERYTHING has to be washed by hand. I constantly am looking in the sink saying “I really need to do these today” or “if I can just do what’s there first thing every morning they won’t pile up.” I also have a toddler so the guilt of not being a good example can be crushing.

Same! I've found the best thing to help me with it it to divide it into separate tasks. 1. Sort out the different categories of dishes. 2. Rinse the dishes to get the gross stuff off. 3. Wash one category at a time. That way I can stop at any point during the washing process without feeling like I'm just horrible. And It also helps prioritize things I need now, and things I can wash later.

Not alone

Yep !

Same. I use a dish wand like others mentioned but tbh I also keep compostable plates and flatware for when I'm stressed or depressed and KNOW I'm not gonna do the dishes. It's more expensive than paper and plastic but I feel a little less guilty about being wasteful

I get it, I hate the textures. I also struggle with the grossness of brushing teeth, the spit and toothpaste is so gross to me

I always wear gloves when touching dirty ones. And putting music on as you put the dry ones away helps make it more fun - I try and use the "might as well principle" when there are a few left or see how many I can put away before the water starts boiling as a game

Emptying the dishwasher is painful for me. It involves putting each thing in it’s appropriate spot and sometimes that feels overwhelming.

Idk I guess anticipating having to do a long task after a long day of work is unappealing

What does it scare you about dishes?