Some people can’t stand even just one dirty spoon in their sink. Other people don’t even notice if their sink is overflowing with dirty dishes. Some people are in the middle.
What about you, where do you fall on the spectrum? Would you ever leave dirty dishes in your sink overnight? Tell us in the poll below and, of course, feel free to leave a comment.


They bother me, but not always enough to wash them! 🙂
Hear! Hear!
We have been married 56yrs and have only left dirty dishes in the sink either on our motorhome or at our home a few times. My wife and I keep both our rv and our home as clean and organized as possible. Laziness can become a bad habit!!
It depends on the amount, just a few is ok, but not a sink full.
Dirty dishes go in the RV or house dishwasher which doesn’t run till it’s full. (That conserves on water)
Me no, Wife yes to some extent. When camping, we do let them pile up to conserve water and Gray Tank capacity and wash when the silverware runs out.
Unless we are trying for an early departure, no it does not bother me to have dirty dishes overnight. With the exception of cast iron, letting dishes soak in soapy water overnight often makes them much easier to thoroughly clean the next morning.
Not the end of the world depending on circumstances. Dishes in the sink happen occasionally in our house but not often in the camper.
I also use the “Not the end of the world” saying. None of us should sweat the small stuff, and this is really the small stuff!
We have enough dishes for three meals. We tend to wash dishes at the end of the day.
But then after breakfast we wash them all.
If we’re leaving in the morning, all is cleaned up and we have toast on paper plates. We never leave before the Sun Is up so you can see what hazards await you.
It’s nice to get up in the morning and not have to deal with dirty dishes right away so that you have room for breakfast dishes. RV sinks are not the largest and they fill up quickly.
Overnight??? I thought that’s where they lived!
Dishes are tools, all my life when I finish with a tool I clean it & put it back where it goes. Kitchen tools are no different. When finished eating, wash them, dry them, & put them back where they go! Then the next meal, they are easy to find, clean, & (with no spots) ready to use again! Just my two cents worth LOL
Would not leave a single dish at anytime let alone overnight. How hard can it be to wash and dry a dish.
This is just part of meal prep, especially when camping. No food or scraps left around for the wildlife. Piles of dirty dishes are just gross
When starting prep for a meal, the boil bucket goes on the fire for the planned dish washing afterwards. We dry camp as a rule, have never had the trailer plugged in at any campsite so water conserving / grey water issues do not play into concern. Dish water goes into a hole post clean up.
Doesn’t bother ME, but it bothers HER, so that’s why I do them.
When I get up in the morning, the first thing I do is make the bed. Why? This first small task completed sets me on an orderly path to methodically complete many other tasks throughout the day.
Before I go to bed, I make sure the dishes are washed and put away. I can go to bed peacefully knowing I’ve completed that days tasks to the best of my ability without undone tasks within my control waiting for me in the morning, and distracting me from that day’s business
Some might call it obsessive or uptight, but for me it sets a rhythm and brings a sense of order and self-discipline to my life. I think these small accomplishments and attention to details cultivate a mindset to be productive and better equipped to focus on achieving goals and doing the things that matter.
That’s just plain LAZY on the part of the person DUMPING their trash in the sink expecting others to CLEAN UP THEIR MESS!
Just let it sit there for DAYS if necessary.
Sooner or later the offender will say something about how disgusting that plate in the sink is.
That’s when you say “Clean It Up. It’s Your Damn Mess”!
YES! And they are harder to clean, the smell is sickening and just gross. But the wife and I share this. If I cook she cleans up and vise versa. I do dishes while cooking so not much to do after. Sometimes depending what we are cooking paper plates become an option to lessen the amount washed.
Bothers me to no end. My wife not so much. She usually takes care of the dishes, I take care of the rest of the RV stuff. We’re full-time in ours.
The picture says something about them. I’d wonder what else needs to be cleaned up.
I do most of the cooking and dish washing aka dishwasher since I’m retired and the best half still works. After dinner I put all the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and sometimes there maybe a pot or pan that I’ll wait till morning to do after breakfast. I do tend to be little bit picky sometimes but hey, enjoy life and don’t sweat the small stuff.
I am not overly concerned but we do load dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Sometimes we leave pans and such to soak occasionally. A lot of time I will go wash the pans and such right before I go to bed. If we have company then they get left.
At both home & in the motorhome I try to keep sinks empty. At home with dishwasher no need to leave in sink. Maybe a pot to soak. In the motorhome, if it’s just a cup or glass I may leave it and wait until a meal to wash with more things. When dry camping definitely leave them and do all at once. Easier to save water that way.
Interesting. What if the question were phrased: do you waste water by washing all dishes right after use? And if the photo was a few neatly stacked dishes, already scraped/wiped off to keep crud out of the grey tank.
My husband once stated (in front of my parents) that as long as I keep cooking such good meals he was happy to do the dishes (my least favorite job!). He usually does all of the dishes. However, I do dishes often in FL (we have a dishwasher in MI) and yes some will sit overnight. My husband ‘snacks’ until after 9:00 most nights, no way am I doing dishes that late!
Me, no. DW, YES, MOST DEFINITELY!!
Same story here
Help, Since I got a new computer I can’t see your polls. What do I need to change?
Sorry you’re having problems with the poll, Greg. Here’s what Jessica, one of our IT folks, explained awhile ago: “Sometimes script blockers and ad blockers interfere with our polls since they are from a 3rd party site. If you have one of these try and turn it off and see if that fixes the issue.” I hope that helps you. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
My dishes stay in the sink every night, I do the dishes every morning before making breakfast.
We wipe all the dishes of food debris and neatly stack them after dinner. In the morning we wash the dinner and breakfast dishes.
Our current RV is the first we have had with a built in dishwasher. As we use dishes they go in and we run it when it’s fully loaded, which is usually once a day since it doesn’t have the capacity a home model does.
That said, if a couple of popcorn bowls or a glass sit in the sink overnight, it’s not going to cause us loss of sleep!
When we lived in our sticks and bricks, I very seldom left dishes in the sink as most went in the dishwasher, and those that didn’t, were scraped, rinsed off, and placed on the counter ready to be washed the next day. A little over 2 years ago, my hubby and I moved into our RV to live full time. The first year I made sure the dishes were washed every night. Last year I relaxed a bit and just scraped and rinsed the dishes off and then placed them in a collapsible tub to be washed the next day especially on days where I made a home cooked meal. Sometimes we do wash dirty dishes during the day as they are used which works if we are home. It doesn’t bother me near as much as it used to have a tub of dirty dishes to wash the next day as long as they aren’t sitting in the sink.