We started loading dishes directly into the dishwasher throughout the day. Morning to night. No sink pile.

At night, we run the dishwasher. In the morning, we completely unload it. Empty dishwasher = ready to be used again.

That’s it.

No piles. No guessing whose turn it is. No dishwasher-as-storage. And surprisingly… way fewer fights.

Note before following this system we were washing by hand or bulk load and unload from dishwasher.