Do you always clean up your kitchen before bed?

[Anonymous]

If you have a party or just a regular night do you always clean up your kitchen and house before you go to bed? I wish I didn’t feel the need to do this but I cannot go to bed knowing there is a sink of dirty dishes. After we host a party it usually takes me somewhere around 45 mins to 1.5 hours to clean up and I am always exhausted!

[Anonymous]

Always. But we do it together and we’re good about cleaning as we go. Plus my oldest will help.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but I’m also strategic about what kinds of plates/serving items I use and also when the party ends. So, casual hang out with friends that will go later? Paper plates. Larger party (when we did those)? End earlier, more time to clean up.

Also, I clean my kitchen, but not the whole house. Straighten up, sure, but I’m not scrubbing floors at 11pm.

[Anonymous]

My teens do it, but I load the dishwasher. It helps us avoid snacking after dinner. Also, we live in apartment so combating roaches require constant vigilance.

[Anonymous]

We had a mouse problem and ant problem when we first moved in, and I cleaned up just because it seemed a bad idea not to. We have since gotten rid of the ants and mice, and we still clean up and turn the dishwasher on overnight. Every night.

[Anonymous]

No. I get up early the next morning and they are clean before the rest of the family is awake.

[Anonymous]

No...sometimes things soak and are much easier to clean in the am. I am more in the mood to tackle things in the am too.

[Anonymous]

Yes. We live in a row house and so I’m afraid of roaches from next door if we don’t clean dishes.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I wouldn’t be able to sleep well thinking about the mess that would greet me in the morning, so even if I’m tired, I do it. My husband helps too so I don’t feel like it’s all on me.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes for a party I might do 90%— maybe there are a few glasses that didn’t fit in the dishwasher or I’ll give the chip bowls a quick rinse but leave them for the morning.

[Anonymous]

Yes. If I am having a dinner party I'll make sure I have a completely empty dishwasher so most things can get rinsed and go right in. I also clean along the way as I cook so it's not too bad. But I always clean up. I can't leave a mess it drives me crazy.

[Anonymous]

Op here - I think is a characteristic of mine that I can’t change. I am one of those people who immediately unpacks all suitcases as soon as we get home from vacation. My sister and her husband let things sit for weeks. I would have an anxiety attack if I did that.

[Anonymous]

I used to but having small children has made me so tired that sometimes I just can't. But I loathe waking up to a dirty kitchen, especially if dishes didn't even get rinsed off so that it still just smells like stale food.

Now I often split the difference. I load the dishwasher and set it to run overnight, rinse off anything that needs to be hand washed quickly, set anything that needs to soak in the sink with soap and water, and then wipe down counters. I can usually get all this done in 15-20 minutes, less if it was an easy dinner or if we cleaned as we cooked. And I love leftover night!

I still don't like waking up to dishes, but I find it more manageable if it's just a few pots and pans and they've been pre-rinsed or soaked. Plus as long as I run the dishwasher, that means we're starting the day with mostly clean dishes.

[Anonymous]

Yes. I can’t sleep if I don’t. I can have six inches of dust on the living room furniture but the kitchen has to be spotless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here - I think is a characteristic of mine that I can’t change. I am one of those people who immediately unpacks all suitcases as soon as we get home from vacation. My sister and her husband let things sit for weeks. I would have an anxiety attack if I did that.

WHY would you want to change that? My DH and I finally started doing this about 5 years ago -- when we get home from vacation, we immediately unpack everything, start laundry if that needs to happen, put things away, etc. It's such a good feeling. It takes about 30 minutes and then we can relax in our clean and organized house and the next day we aren't tripping over suitcases or hunting for a favorite sweater because everything is where it should be.