We have been almost three months without plumbing in the kitchen. It has been most unsatisfactory, to say the least. I have long ago had to resume cooking...a couple of weeks of take-out/frozen meals made us realize we cannot afford to eat that way for long! We have relied heavily on throw-away dishes, but there are still pots and pans, mixing bowls, sippy cups, etc. I had been washing them in a large mixing bowl, but this hasn't worked very well. Pots and pans generally need to soak when you are washing by hand. Trying to get a greasy, gunky pan clean in a bowl of water just doesn't work. But I have a NEW and IMPROVED system now...odd, but effective enough. I post this for those who might have a remodel done in the future, God help you. I am using our cooler as a "sink". In the morning, I carry the cooler to the bathroom and fill it with as much water as I can carry (about half full). As dishes are dirtied, I scrape them into my "sludge bowl" on the counter (aka, the piece of plywood that is serving as a counter) and deposit them in the cooler. When it is full, or after dinner, whichever comes first, I drizzle dish liquid over the heap and use our mop bucket to haul very, very hot water from the tub to dump over the dishes (have a towel handy). I let the dishes soak. When I'm ready to wash, I flip the mop bucket over to use as a seat in front of the cooler. I wash the dishes and deposit them in the (un-hooked up) kitchen sink. When they are all washed, I go get clean hot, hot water in the mop bucket for rinsing and leave the dishes to dry on the counter (aka, the top of the un-hooked up dishwasher). Then, and here's the fun part, I use the mop bucket to scoop up dirty dishwater (mmmmm, good) and haul it to the toilet for dumping (again, have a towel handy). When I've dumped most of it this way, then I haul the cooler to the toilet and dump the dregs, rinse the cooler out, rinse the mop bucket out, and viola! dishes are done. This chore is all mine as no one else in the house has washed a single dish since we lost the plumbing. But that issue is for another post.
For all those concerned about our health, you should know that we haven't been using the mop bucket for mopping. It is exclusively for dishes. And I clean my bathroom daily. And yeah, it's still kinda gross. What else can we do man?
Well, I'm off to wash dishes...we ran out of throwaway dishes and I have quite a pile today! haha!
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