Never is,of course, an exaggeration. I think I do about a fifth of the ashing up, minus a bit for my share of the cooking. I hope Peter does a somolar amount (otherwise, he does more than his share).
Oh, and Colin only washes my socks when I've run out of his to wear...
Whenever I have the tuits. Whenever I could really do with not spodding for a bit. Whenever the pile looks like it's going to become unsafe if it gets any bigger. Whenever I'm feeling insecure about my contribution to the house/the dull maintainance bits of my life/the world in general.
This just about adds up to about my 1/5 of the duty, I think.
I think "almost never: re-use mucky plates instead" is the true answer, and a whole lot more defensible than what your tickyboxes made me tick.
Bear in mind that I'm almost without exception using a plate to eat either crackers or bread with something on. Normally, shaking the crumbs into the bin suffices.
When Dawn's away, I normally wash them immediately after eating; indeed, during cooking, as much as possible. Dawn especially washes them when we expect guests.
The reusing mucky plates thing - I do with discretion eg. it's fine to reuse a plate that's just been used to heat a ready meal in its container and I'd never give a plate to someone else without washing it first - though I don't do entertaining here 'cos I haven't got the space, so it's highly unlikely I'd be feeding anyone anyway.
What I really hate is my mother's insistence upon doing the washing up in the middle of dinner eg. between maincourse and afters.
That's before eating only in the sense of 'if there's a handy time in the middle of doing the cooking'. I wouldn't want to wash up after dishing up, the food would go cold. (It's a house rule in the student dorm accommodation here, which is one reason why I opted for a self-contained apartment instead.)
Thankyou! The original photo is here (http://www.emilyandjames.co.uk/Assets/JPEGs/Housewarming/housewarming_08.jpg) (and the one of Benedict is from the same day).
I try to clear the kitchen before going to bed every night (because it makes me much happier to see clean kitchen in the morning). This is going by the board a bit atm cos of NewHouse Decorating, unsurprisingly.
Generally I wash up when I'm cooking; I run a sinkful of water near the start of the process and wash stuff up as I finish with it. Any existing backlog is dealt with once the meal I'm cooking goes into the simmering phase, and then I leave the water there so I can wash up the plate after I eat. This deals with the washing up while simultaneously solving the problem of what I do while I'm waiting for the food to cook.
Also I proactively wash up whenever my hands get annoyingly cold, which happens reasonably often in winter owing to my crap circulation.
I never seem to have the serious problem with washing up that other people I know have. I don't find it much of a chore; it always seems to take less time than the to-do pile looks as if it should take. Mind you, I'm careful about rinsing things straight after use if there's the slightest chance that they'll congeal before I get round to washing them up; it might be a different story if I were plagued with housemates who deliberately spot-welded primordial goo on to everything in the kitchen whenever they knew it was going to be my turn to wash up next.
Somewhere between that and when I've got the time and energy and notice that there's going to be a saucepan/frying pan shortage next time one's needed.
It just occurred to me that I might have misinterpreted "before eating". I took it to refer to those alarmingly tidy people who cook a meal but then won't let anyone start eating it until all the pans and utensils from preparation have been washed up. But maybe you meant, leaving the washing up until you're about to start preparing a meal, and then doing it so that you have some clean plates and pans to use during preparation. Which is nearly always what I do.
If I had more crockery etc., I would probably wash up less frequently, but as it is, I _have_ to wash up most of our crockery and pans every day, simply in order to have anything clean to use.
there's a website somewhere that reckons that's one of the steps to happiness, or something. last daily task in our house is to leave a clean teapot and cafetiere and a full kettle on the timeswitch
Currently I'm careful to err on the side of overclenliness for my housemates' sake, and try to keep nothing more than a couple of pieces of cutlery and a glass waiting to be washed up while I eat; at college I fell into a "this plate's ok, it's only had the last meal on, I'll use it again", and I'd like to aim for... once a day?
Ideally I wash up every evening before I wipe down the surfaces and the sink and leave a lovely tidy kitchen for the morning.
Recently the reality is that I wash up about once a week, when there's lots to do, most of it is my mugs of hot chocolate and bowls of cereal, and I feel something resembling energetic. It would be worse than that, except fanf did lots when I was ill.
After eating, unless it's really late or I'm feeling really ill or something. Given recent doom, it'd be interesting to see which options my housemates would choose.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 03:05 pm (UTC)Oh, and Colin only washes my socks when I've run out of his to wear...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 03:14 pm (UTC)Whenever I have the tuits.
Whenever I could really do with not spodding for a bit.
Whenever the pile looks like it's going to become unsafe if it gets any bigger.
Whenever I'm feeling insecure about my contribution to the house/the dull maintainance bits of my life/the world in general.
This just about adds up to about my 1/5 of the duty, I think.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 03:26 pm (UTC)Bear in mind that I'm almost without exception using a plate to eat either crackers or bread with something on. Normally, shaking the crumbs into the bin suffices.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 03:28 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 03:41 pm (UTC)I might not do this with plates but have been known to with socks (on several occasions).
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 03:58 pm (UTC)Somewhere under the house, sekrit gnomes are shredding all our underwear and spinning it into blue fluff, that's what I think.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 04:01 pm (UTC)What I really hate is my mother's insistence upon doing the washing up in the middle of dinner eg. between maincourse and afters.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 04:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 04:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 06:10 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 11:31 pm (UTC)middle of doing the cooking'. I wouldn't want to wash up after dishing up,
the food would go cold. (It's a house rule in the student dorm accommodation
here, which is one reason why I opted for a self-contained apartment
instead.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 11:47 pm (UTC)It's not my photo, but I'll ask
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-05 11:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 12:35 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 12:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 02:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 02:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 02:46 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 03:04 am (UTC)Also I proactively wash up whenever my hands get annoyingly cold, which happens reasonably often in winter owing to my crap circulation.
I never seem to have the serious problem with washing up that other people I know have. I don't find it much of a chore; it always seems to take less time than the to-do pile looks as if it should take. Mind you, I'm careful about rinsing things straight after use if there's the slightest chance that they'll congeal before I get round to washing them up; it might be a different story if I were plagued with housemates who deliberately spot-welded primordial goo on to everything in the kitchen whenever they knew it was going to be my turn to wash up next.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 03:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 04:20 am (UTC)If I had more crockery etc., I would probably wash up less frequently, but as it is, I _have_ to wash up most of our crockery and pans every day, simply in order to have anything clean to use.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 04:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 04:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 04:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 04:31 am (UTC)last daily task in our house is to leave a clean teapot and cafetiere and a full kettle on the timeswitch
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 06:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 07:15 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 07:50 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 08:01 am (UTC)Recently the reality is that I wash up about once a week, when there's lots to do, most of it is my mugs of hot chocolate and bowls of cereal, and I feel something resembling energetic. It would be worse than that, except
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-06 06:54 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-09 12:23 pm (UTC)