So when we moved in, I started a system with cleaning and our sponges. A little back story while I was growing up, one of the biggest issues my mom had with the kids and cleaning was that sometimes we’d use “cleaning” rags (ones that were mixed with Pine-Sol, Comet, things of this nature) and dry dishes with them. And sometimes we’d ruin good dish rags when we’d use them to clean. Having this background, I decided I needed to start out with a strict system. Decorative dish towels (always seasonal, hanging on the oven) are used only as pot holders, and as dishrags only when they are getting close to needing to be cleaned. We also have two sponges, which are the subject of this controversial post.
I bought two sponges, one green and one pink. I designated the pink one as the “cleaning” sponge, and the green one as the “for dishes” sponge. Exact conversation that occurred tonight as I see that the pink sponge is out, and concluded that Ben was cleaning our George Foreman Grill with it (an obvious no-no).
Crystal: Babe, I’m going to wring out this sponge and put it away, just remember this pink one is for cleaning the bathroom, wiping down counters, etc. It’s our chemical sponge. The green one is for dishes.
Ben: I thought the green one was for cleaning.
Crystal: No, the pink one. It matches my cleaning gloves, that’s how I remember pink is for cleaning. Green is for hard-to-clean dishes. If we mix them up, we’ll get chemicals in our food.
Ben: I’ve been using the green one to clean up Dee’s poop when I can’t get it off the floor.
Crystal: What?
Ben: Yeah, I’ve been using the green sponge to scrape up Dee’s poop when it’s too hard to get off of the kitchen floor when we come home at night.
Crystal: …I’m getting new sponges tomorrow.
