I had to do a thorough kitchen cleaning before Thanksgiving, and I did it all with hand-made cleaners. There was a lot of baking soda used for scrubbing, and then a water-vinegar mix for regular counters.

I've had an ongoing issue with Bob. He does all the cooking, and he has good AllClad pots. He thinks I wash them very poorly, so he says he'll wash them. But he never does, so they sit there for months (I'm not kidding) until he finally needs a specific one again and then washes it.

I think that's silly. If he's going to wash it anyway, at least it can be "Lisa Clean" and off the counter until then. So I have taken to washing them and putting them away. If he pulls one out and thinks it's not Bob-clean, then fine, he can re-clean it then and at least it's not mostly clean.

It's not like I'm missing giant spots of food. I'm not even sure what he thinks I'm missing. It looks clean to me. I must be missing some microscopic dust.

But in any case, I think we finally have a compromise that works. It doesn't take any extra time for him - if he's going to wash it either way, then it's the same time. And in the meantime our counters are clear and things are more sanitary.

Do you have any dish-issues in your home?

Yes, our silverware is constantly missing. I have no forks now, NONE, except for the plastic ones that I get from takeout food. At some point my griping will penetrate layers of young brain cells, and PRESTO, forks will appear.

My biggest dishue is that if a person is going to clean the kitchen then they need to do the entire job not just half the job.

It bothers me when somebody says they'll clean up but their version of cleaning up means loading he dish washer but leaving stove, counter tops, and sink full of food and crumbs and water that harden up overnight. Then I have to scrub the hell out of it the next day.

I would rather just clean the entire kitchen myself than have somebody half-[censored] it. Taking out garbage and then not replacing bag is a big pet peeve of mine too. I guess I never replace toilet paper rolls and put empty half and half carton back in fridge sometimes so I'm not perfect either. We all have our kitchen issues

With us, Dan does his dishes and I do mine. I try to keep up with it - i hate doing dishes. I have to use gloves or my fingers start cracking.

I have discovered lately that if I have one mug, one cup, one bowl and one plate, that i will actually clean my things. So that is looking like a good answer for me.

Connie -

That is so bizarre! Missing forks? Where in the world are they going?

I've never had missing silverware They are all in the kitchen, and those are easy to stick in the dishwasher, so they never cause an issue. It's only the non-dishwasher items that cause a months-long backlog.

Dear Monica -

Maybe it's a wording issue? What if they said "I'll load the dishwasher" and you knew one task would be done and others remained? I would be very happy to have different people take on different tasks.

Dear Jilly -

You're in a different situation where you hand wash things. We pretty much never hand wash things, everything just gets dropped into the dishwasher. The only things that are handwashed are the pots, and as mentioned those can sit there for months. So the handwashing definitely doesn't get done. Right now we still have Thanksgiving pots sitting there. I did 3 of them. I do whatever fits on our counter to dry and then I stop until those dry and I have room to do another set. So now sometime today I should do another 3. We have at least 7 pots sitting there I think, so when I do this 3 there will still be pots remaining.

LOL Connie mine is missing knives, I found one today, yesterday there were two! I have absolutely no idea where they go, I had six to start with last year when I bought yet another set of cutlery, but now there is only one dinner knife left. We are using the chopping knives now to eat with.

Wow Lisa, does Bob really not clean his pots for months! I can't believe you are that bad at washing up that he has to re wash them lol.

I have to wash up every day, our kitchen is so small and with three of us using it the dishes soon run out, (not to mention cups and glasses).

I clean everything with lemon and bi-carb but I had to get my son to buy some Mr Muscle over cleaner as I don't think the cooker has been cleaned for a while!

Linda

Lisa, you must have a very small counter? Or very big pots!

If we actually cooked we'd have more dishes. There are lots of dishes and utensils that get used in food prep. Our food prep consists of opening up a can and plopping it into a bowl that we then eat from. Dish total - one bowl, one spoon.

Connie, maybe the knives go live with the missing socks from the laundry.

Lisa, what does a 'bob clean' look like? Does he use scalding water and dip them in bleach or something?