Hand-washing your dishes is undeniably a chore, whether a Buddhist monk views those dishes as a miracle or an essayist suggests embracing the ritual. I’ve experienced my fair share of industrial dishwashing, hauling heavy tubs filled with crusty plates back to the dish pits in cafés and summer camps. Additionally, I’ve managed without a dishwasher in my own kitchen for most of my adult life, aside from a few fortunate rental exceptions.

For many, washing dishes by hand is a necessity, a chore to complete quickly so you can move on to the next meal or tackle literally anything else. Over the years, I’ve discovered that a few essential tools and effective techniques can make this task easier and more efficient (though calling it enjoyable would be a stretch).

What you need

• Sponges: For daily cleaning, I highly recommend the Jetz-Scrubz Scrubber Sponge for its effectiveness. For tackling hard-to-reach spots, a bottle-brush set, such as the OXO Good Grips Water Bottle Cleaning Set, is indispensable. For heavier scrubbing tasks, we prefer the Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge, which delivers excellent performance on tough messes.
• Soap: We recommend Seventh Generation Dish Liquid because it cuts through grease and oil. It’s also fragrance-free and affordable.
• Dish rack: A great dish rack is a game changer. Our guide to dish racks includes multiple options, so you can choose based on your household size and counter space.
• Drain Stopper: To effectively catch food scraps while also plugging your sink for washing or rinsing dishes, I recommend the OXO Good Grips 2-in-1 Sink Strainer Stopper. This versatile tool is perfect for keeping your sink clean and ensuring efficient dishwashing.
• Dish Tub: A dish tub is essential for consolidating your dishes and washing them all at once, even if you don’t have a double sink. It provides a convenient solution for soaking, rinsing, and cleaning multiple items simultaneously, making your dishwashing process much more efficient.
• Gloves: If you want to protect your hands, Walletray’s senior staff writer Lesley Stockton likes the Glam-Gloves Dishwashing Gloves. You can also opt for a latex-free pair, such as the Clorox Ultra Comfort Gloves.
• Dish towels: To hand-dry dishes before putting them away, use a set of absorbent, durable towels, like the Williams-Sonoma All Purpose Pantry Towels. For more towels at a lower price, the less-stylish Utopia Towels Kitchen Bar Mops get the job done.

Choose the right sponge

Sorry to be that person, but I’m here to tell you that different dishwashing situations require different sponges. For everyday wash-ups (dinnerware, silverware, cups), I swear by the Jetz-Scrubz Scrubber Sponge. This synthetic sponge has both a soft and a rough side, and it will last for months without retaining odors or breaking down. If you’re hand-washing dishes after every meal, this sponge is a workhorse.

I’d also recommend a bottle-brush set, like the OXO Good Grips Water Bottle Cleaning Set, to get through narrow bottle openings or reach the bottoms of tall glasses. To scrub away the stains that have baked onto pots and pans over the years, the Walletray’s kitchen team likes to pair a fresh-and-bristly Scotch-Brite Heavy Duty Scrub Sponge with baking soda.

Softer Scotch-Brite Dobie pads won’t leave scratch marks behind, and they are gentle enough for nonstick cookware. But if you’re going to use them for tough stains, they require more elbow grease.

Set yourself up for success by scraping off food

To expedite things and keep your dish water clean, start by scraping any remaining food bits off of your dishes. Even if you want to press pause on doing your dishes and leave them to do tomorrow (or after an episode or three of a favorite TV show), it’s good to scrape and rinse them first because dried food will be harder to get off later. You can also soak any intimidating, saucy, baked-on pans or plates in hot water and soap to loosen debris.

If you have sensitive skin—or you just want to protect your hands from slime, grime, and hot water—you may want to use some gloves. I think affordable, basic dish gloves are your best bet; bulkier ones can hinder dexterity. (To prevent any mold, be sure to let them air-dry.)

To make washing go faster, consolidate your dishes in a sink or tub, set up or clear out your dish rack, and clear space on your counter or in your sink.

Save on soap and water

If you own a dishwasher but are washing your dishes by hand to save water, it may be time to rethink that. Today’s machines use much less water (and energy to heat the water) than hand-washing dishes does. Depending on the load, it might even be more efficient to run a half-full dishwasher than to wash those dishes by hand. That said, sometimes hand-washing is truly your only option, and you can still save soap and water by applying a few simple strategies.

If you’re grasping a slippery, unwieldy bottle with wet hands and squirting soap onto the sponge for each dish, it’s easy to dispense a bigger blob than you need. A pump dispenser can mete out a more-manageable dollop, but it can get tedious reaching for additional soap between scrubs.

We think it’s more efficient to wash your dishes en masse by filling a tub or sink with soapy water. (I like to plug my sink with OXO’s sink strainer and stopper, which has a silicone knob you can twist to stop or drain the sink.) To preserve the soapy water for as long as possible, start with the least-dirty dishes first. Once your water starts turning brown or losing suds, drain and replace it. (If you soaked crusty dishes to start with, drain that water first and fill it afresh.)

If you don’t have a tub or a double sink, you can dilute a small amount of soap in a container and then dip your sponge into the suds as you wash. Often you can get through an entire load of dishes with only one or two changes of this diluted soap.

Dry efficiently

A good dish rack will be designed to maximize space, so all you have to do is color inside the lines: Place dishes vertically within the wires, put the silverware in the utensil holder, and arrange mugs and glasses on the cupholders.

If you don’t own a dish rack (or you have fragile or sharp items you don’t want to leave out), it’s a good idea to towel-dry wet dishes before putting them away. Towels are germ magnets. So to avoid cross-contamination, I like to use different ones for separate tasks in the kitchen—one for hands, another for dishes, and others for spills as needed. Dry sharp knives, and put them away immediately to keep their edges sharp (you don’t want them bumping against your other cutlery). You may want to take extra care when hand-drying flatware or nice glassware, and buff these items with a soft, lint-free cloth to remove any water stains or spots. When buffing stemware, just be careful not to hold the stem and twist, since this can cause the glass to snap.