I bet you didn't even know there was a right way to do dishes! There is and I am going to tell you how.

I realize that most of us have dishwashers now that do the dishes for us, but there are those who do not. Some things cannot go into the dishwasher either. Some of those are:

Cutlery (Kitchen Knives) becasue the dishwaser tends to dull the blades.

Plastic Storage Containers. The heat from the dishwasher may melt the container and some things will lose their shape. Be safe and just do them by hand.

Anything Teflon-coated. I learned this by experience. The dishwasher will leave a film that you have to physically wash off. It also ruined a few of my cookie sheets that were Teflon-coated. The spray of the water is so hard that it sprayed between the Teflon coating and metal and the Teflon pealed away from the metal making the cookie sheets useless. Best to do these things by hand also.

Scrap all loose food material off the dishes. Preferably put it in a compost bucket to compost later.

Fill up the sink to about half full with the hottest water that you can stand. Add to this while filling a capful of bleach. This will disinfect the dishes as you wash them.

Near the end of the filling up squirt about 2 secons worth of Dishwashing liquid into the water. Do this at the end so as not to make too many suds.

To conserve water you might want to fill up the other sink, if you have a double sink, with hot water to rinse the dishes off. You may have to drain the water and fill it up again depending on how many dishes you have.

After you have filled up the sink then put the silverware into the water. You may put your cutlery into the water as well but be very careful to remember which direction you put the blade. These items will be disinfecting and washing as you do the rest of the dishes.

The first things you will wash is the Plastic food container lids. All the lids will be done first, then the cups and then the bowls.

Glassware gets washed next, followed by plates, platters and the like.

Now you are ready to wash the silverware and cutlery.

Dip these items into the rinse water for a few second to rinse off the soap and then put them into the dish drainer. If you have a helper they can dry as you wash and rinse. Children as early as the age of 5 can help out with this chore and will prepare them for when they have to do this in their own lives.

You may want to drain the water and refill the sink as above, depending on how dirty the water is. Save the greasiest things for last.

The first thing to wash is the glassware, such as ceramic and other glass cassarole dishes.. 

Lastly you wash things like cookie sheets, bakeware and the like.

After the last dish or pot or pan is finished you can now wash around the sink area with the dishwater left - unless it is too greasy. If this is the case you may want to drain that water and just put about three inches of hot soapy water in it and use that to wipe up the counters, appliances and cabinets in your kitchen.

Drain this water and rinse everything down really good with clean hot water.

Here is a hint to keep your stainless Steel sinks shiny and looking new.

After washing the sink you then dry it really good. Take a paper towel and put some Mineral Oil on it. Rub around the sink and faucets really good. Rub it in and wipe off the excess. You will have a nice shiny sink that looks like new in your kitchen.