The One Thing I Do Before I Start The Dishwasher

I hate doing dishes. I try my best to keep up with the growing pile of bowls and mugs accruing on my counter and keep them from taking over my kitchen. It is always easier to find something different to clean or eating out than tackling the dishes every day.

There are tons of ways to keep your kitchen cleaner, but the constant wiping down and cleaning can feel overwhelming. Why does our kitchen get dirty so fast? The times I do tackle the dishes, I have found that vinegar and baking soda are my best friends for removing caked on dish stains. Less scrubbing, more results-just the way this lazy cleaner likes it.

Despite being the kitchen cleaning procrastinator, I always do one thing before I start my dishwasher.

Once I have scrubbed every inch of the pots and pans, cleaned my scuffed up sink, and loaded the dishwasher filling every last inch of space, I throw my sponge and dish scrubber into the dishwasher.

Do you know how much bacteria sits in your dirty sponge and scrubber? A microbiologist in Germany estimated that there are 45 billion bacteria per square centimeter of your kitchen sponge. That’s as dirty as your toilet!

Many people use their sponges to wipe down their kitchen counters and tables before and after each meal. Those bacteria can spread to your dishes, silverware, and hands. We wouldn’t want to serve our four-course meal in our bathroom, but here we are using bacteria infested sponges on all of our surfaces.

Even if you change out your kitchen sponge on a regular basis, it still won’t kill the 362 bacteria living inside the pesky holes of yellow sponge. The best way to keep germs and bacteria out of your sink, dishes, and kitchen is to wash your sponges every time you run your dishwasher. This will prolong the life of your sponge, and keep bacteria out of your way.

See more Blossom’s Kitchen Hacks

How have you kicked bacteria out of your kitchen?