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Why You Should Let Your Dishes Soak Before Washing Them By Kristen Pizzo Nov. 9, 2025 6:00 pm EST

Procrastinators will be delighted to learn that leaving dirty dishes in the sink to soak is actually a good dishwashing technique. Soaking, or "pre-washing," your dishes before getting out the sponge allows the dish soap to work its magic and start breaking down any food or residue. Soap has the power to clean grime from dishes because it contains molecules that can mix with both water and oil. Once the soap molecules have had time to trap the grease, it's easy to rinse it all off with water. But unfortunately, you can't just put the dishes in the sink to soak and forget about them. Most dishes only need five to 10 minutes of soaking before they are ready to be hand-

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