It happens to all of us, at some point or another: the amount of dirty dishes in the sink makes you want to light the kitchen on fire and use paper plates from now on.

As adults, we have to roll up our sleeves and dig in, so here’s my process for doing it without losing your mind.

First is the time required. If you can, block off an hour and listen to a good podcast or playlist and knock it out. If that’s not feasible, try 10 minute dish sprints until it’s all done.

Second, put away all the clean dishes immediately and anything else on the kitchen counters which can be moved. You want the clearest surfaces as possible.

Dishwasher Tip: if you’ve got a dishwasher fill is with the dishes that will fit, without over loading, and start the washer. Let it do most of the work!

Third, lay out your dish mat or strainer for hand washed dishes. If you don’t have a dish mat, just grab an old bath towel to soak up the water.

Now it’s finally time to wash the dishes. Fun times.

When I have an overload of dishes, I always sort them first. Plates and lids are stacked up together, all utensils are in one spot, bowls are nested, cups are set together. This allows me to work in sections during a dish sprint and feel like I’m making progress.

Working on the stacks might look like

• all the cups
• all the plates and lids
• silverware
• bowls and tupperware
• larger pots, pans and cookie sheets
• all the other random stuff

Since I don’t have a large kitchen, I’ll work until the dish mat fills up and then take a break. When I come back I will dry and put everything clean away before moving on to the next section.

It’s really tempting to get 80% of it done and think “good enough” but I try to put through to get everything done. The cutting boards, the pots, cast iron skillet – all of it.

Once all the dishes are caught up, do a little walk around your space to find any lingering cups or dishes. Wash those up quickly.

Then, wash the sink thoroughly and celebrate being done with Mt. Doom of Dishes!

While it’s tempting to give tips on how to avoid the dish pile up from ever happening again, it’s simply a fact of life. Things get busy, we catch up after a party, situational depression happens, and it’s not something to be ashamed about. You can get back to baseline, one dish at a time.